Patronales- Independence Day(s)

Ok, so it was a bit more than a couple days to get this next post up- I was too busy collecting material for new blog posts to write old news.  But, you'll have to wait for that :-P.
Coming soon: Furball! (no, I'm not keeping it), and Thanksgiving in Cerro Punta

In the meantime, Los Patronales and the Anniversary of the Separation of Santa Rita from Cabuya.

For a few weeks, I'd been hearing about the coming 23rd of October.  They were selecting the Reina, and as the time grew nearer, getting decorations up and even put a grandstand by the Casa de la Cultura (community center/space).  All of my schools' bands were practicing daily, and it seemed something was up, although it wasn't clear what for, or why the 23rd of October was particularly important.  I've found it rather difficult to get answers to cultural things, perhaps because they forget that I'm not local, and haven't been observing their holidays for my entire life.  So many things we as people take understanding for granted, which is far from intuitive or clear to an outsider.
At any rate, eventually the Expected Date rolls around, and what do you know, but all of the significant mucky-mucks of Santa Rita are there, and my schools' bands, as well as a couple other groups!  And they are celebrating, as mentioned above, the separation of my town from the next town up the road.  Because they do like their independence days, as you will soon read!
It was pretty exciting to see the hard work of the marching bands, and the practicing at all hours of my school-age neighbors, pay off in the form of a parade around la vuelta (the loop).  The bands were impressive, considering I believe only my secondary school had more than “lyra” (some vaguely lyre-shaped xylophone cousin) and drums; they have a brass section as well!  The parade was ended by the Reina in Carnaval-esque costume (think sort of heavily sequined mermaid with a matching headdress) and one of her Damas, in a traditional pollera.
And then there were brindis, and socializing, and soon I ran away to do some grocery shopping in Anton.  Woohoo!
 (Side note on this, at the post-parade segment, a woman who lives in a little town up the road invited me to a mass/celebration in a town called Loma Larga, which means Long Hill.  It was noisy, and hearing English is hard enough in a crowd, let alone interpreting Spanish, so there certainly was some room for misunderstanding...at any rate, as far as I got it, we arranged that on the 28th, I would meet her at a certain bus stop, and we would go to this celebration together, because it the town is a bit of a hike off of the road.  So, I get to the appointed stop, and wait.  And wait...for about an hour...yeah, I know, hardly any time in Panama-time, but that's an aspect of the culture that I'm reluctant to embrace.  Eventually, I start to wander, end up talking to a lady who owns a store, who hooks me up with another lady who was about to head to what I believe was the event I was invited to, so she showed me the way.  I never did find the lady who invited me, but 2 other ladies ended up sort of taking charge of showing me around, and I ended up with their contact information, an invitation to another event in December, and vague plans of taking them on the walk to El Valle!  The event on Loma Larga was their Patron Saint Day, Saint Judas.  There was a mass, a procession (walked perhaps a quarter-mile and turned around to return), and the brindis, because there are always brindis.  Yay free food!)

And now we come to the Patronales, which I eventually figured out weren't about Patron Saints, but rather the weekend of Independence Day- related things.  National Anthem Day, Flag Day, and The Anniversary of Separation from Colombia are all together, but I don't recall the exact dates of each.  Whatever the dates, my schools participated in parades for the entire long weekend!  On Saturday the 3rd, we had the parade in Santa Rita, which was very similar to the 23rd, but with more bands, and -amazingly- uniforms!  Everyone was suddenly decked out in snazzy uniforms, with funny hats and matching boots and everything!  In all of the other performances I'd seen, other than folclorica stuff, all of the kids just wore their school uniforms, but now suddenly they seemed bands worth considering!

(Another side note: I'd promised Julie, my friend and one of my closest PCVs that I'd go to her town that night to go with her to a baile that her town was having, for the Patronales, so after watching the parade, I skipped town to head over to hers.  There, we hung a shelf in her house, chatted, wandered over to their Casa de la Cultura a couple times, returning to Julie's house because the baile still hadn't started, but eventually went back, and ended up watching a cock-fight before the dance actually started.  Have I mentioned that a “baile” is a dance?  Well, if not, “baile” = dance.  It was...interesting.  More interesting watching the audience than the birds, but not sufficiently so to make me need to see another.  My hitherto undefined inclination to see a cock-fight was satisfied, and even now it makes my stomach turn a little to think about how one of the rooster's spur would occasionally get stuck in the flesh of the opponent.  However, certainly another cultural experience to check off of the list!)

On Sunday, my schools went to the town of Rio Hato for another Patronales parade, but I hopped back into Santa Rita to see a bike race at the invitation of a lady in the community, actually, the woman who teaches the folclorica dances at the schools- and it was the real deal!  It was one of the most official looking things I'd seen, for all that it still did start in hora panameña (ie, late).  There were 4 or 5 teams of bikers from around Panama, mostly in real bicyclist-looking apparel, and it was another pleasant surprise (after the uniforms in the parade).  Perhaps it's unfortunate that my expectations of what to expect have rather been lowered in my months here, but it is delightful to be thusly surprised!  There were, of course, brindis, after the race, and there was a group selling soda and grilled chorizo to raise money for a Christmas party for the community kids.

Monday brought a big parade, again with my main Primaria and Secondaria, in Antón, a name which should be at least slightly familiar by now.  Due to a connection that my neighbor PCV Richard had made with the Mayor of Antón, we were Invitado to watch the parade from the grandstand- a big honor!  As invitados (~invited ones), we got to sit in on the opening meeting.  Also, a portion of the brass section of my Secondary's band was chosen to play the national anthem!  I walked through the parade route with my Primaria, because there wasn't a specific place in the line-up for Peace Corps Volunteers, until we got to the grandstand where I broke off to go up and watch the rest of the parade.  It was really cool to see band after band from all over the country come through, ranging from elementary to colegio, which is 10-12th grades, but are divided into areas of study.  I watched 10s of bands and performance groups go by, when what do I see but another friend-PCV marching with her school!  The parade started a mere half-hour late, practically on time around 8:30.  By about 3, I was ready to go, particularly upon finding out that it would probably last until 6 or 7 PM.  Apparently there are 80-some school bands that come...and then there are the “private bands.”  It was all very impressive, but I was done parade watching by that point... and I had to get to Penonomé for a very important “V for Vendetta” watching party with some other PCVs, because it was Nov 5th :-)  Heading eastward on the Interamericana (the Pan-American Highway) was the most traffic I'd ever seen on it, but fortunately I was heading west, which was clear as usual.  I got to Penonomé without issue, though thoroughly exhausted, and we chilled in the hotel, interneted, and went to see “Skyfall” in our months-old movie theatre-  yep, “Skyfall” opened in Panama before it did in the US :-D.  We picked up a couple pizzas from a gas station that serves surprisingly good pizza, and eventually watched the main feature.
The following day, Tuesday Nov 6, did feature a huge parade there in Penonomé, for which I didn't stay, though I did get to see the beginnings of the Election Day coverage before I left to come back home.  And thus went the Patronales.

I'm writing this on Monday, November 26th, which I had off of school due to Wednesday, the 28th, being the Anniversary of Independence from Spain.  I'll let you know if I get to see something interesting related to that ;-).

Next time (barring further distractions, which will almost definitely come as the school year comes to a close), PUPPY and THANKSGIVING!

(Note, due to my week-charge of internet running out, I'm actually posting this on Saturday Dec 1- IT'S DECEMBER!!  I was going to add pictures, and even had them selected, but apparently the fates don't want you to see them.  They're not even pretending to upload.  However, when I go Home for the Holidays, I should be able to orchestrate a massive photodump onto the interwebs- woohoo!)