Happy New Year everyone... well in about 3 hours my time anyway. Which means I am probably a bit late in posting this for all who want to celebrate the Colombian way but... To celebrate the New Year in Colombia you must:
1. Buy a NEW pair of yellow underwear to change into at the stroke of midnight. It is supposed to bring good luck in the new year. I have yet to find anyone to tell me why yellow and why underwear but there you go. Find some fancy yellow knickers and be on your merry way!
2. Also at midnight, I'm assuming AFTER you've put on the yellow undies, you grab a suitcase and walk around the block. This is supposed to bring you a really great vacation in the new year. (At this point in the conversation with my spanish instructor I was really beginning to question the sanity of Colombians!)
3. Again at midnight, a very busy time for Colombians, you give a gift of a stalk of wheat or a little sack of wheat to your loved ones. This is a wish for plenty of food in the new year.
4. You eat a meal of ajiaco at midnight. We did this only at dinner time not at midnight. I'm thinking at the age of 6, the munchkins, midnight is a bit late for dinner. Ah hell who am I kidding I would gnaw off my own arm by then! For those who aren't in the know about Colombian cuisine ajiaco is a soup made of 3 different kinds of potatoes. One of the potatoes, criolla, melts in the soup - literally. I LOVE those potatoes! The stock is chicken and you throw shredded chicken in the soup too. Also included in the soup is a cob of corn. Yes I said cob. They cook it with an herb called guasca that I don't believe they sell in the U.S. but gives a really distinctive flavor to the soup. Traditionally Colombians top the soup with avocado, crema de leche (kinda of like whipping cream) and capers. So simple but SO yummy!
5. Finally everyone eats 12 grapes. Twelve, I believe, because there are 12 months in a year. With each grape you make a wish for the coming year. We did this with the kids. Again - we didn't wait until midnight but it's traditional to do this after eating the ajiaco. I think we may carry this little tradition with us. I like the idea. And my kids were so darn cute! They made wishes not just for themselves but for me and The Diplomat too. Now they are 6 so they weren't sophisticated wishes but I like the fact that my kids aren't so self centered that all their wishes involved toys or things for just them.
That is a lot of things to do at midnight! Ha! I love the suitcase around the block idea though, I would have loved to know that ahead of time... I could totally use a great vacation! :)
ReplyDeleteReading this made me smile. My best friend is Colombian and sure enough every year we celebrate at her house and we must accomplish all of this, and every year I complain and say that I won't do it.....but I do.
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