Christmas Day in the village always begins early with bells ringing to call us to church while it’s still dark. When the service finished around nine, everyone went home to change clothes and to prepare for the festive day ahead.
Today’s celebrations were sponsored by one of the big men in the village, so things looked different than they have in the past. Balloons were strung up throughout the community hall, and special foods from Honiara had been brought in to augment the special day. Different groups sang carols while we drank hot, very sweet tea and ate yeast rolls for breakfast.
I really appreciate that our house is near the area where all of the dancing and feasting took place. So we could easily walk home for a bathroom break or a drink of water or when our introverted selves just needed a few moments of quiet.
Yesterday, one of the village leaders asked Aaron about borrowing our spade to dig a trench for when they killed the pig. Today, four pigs had been slowly roasting underneath the hot stones of a motu. When the men pulled these juicy guys out and carried them to the community hall, you could hear everyone’s stomachs growl!
Olivia and Katherine roamed around with their friends and holding babies, and I enjoyed a chance to move around among my friends, too. Mamas around here are so busy just taking care of everybody’s daily needs, and it was a treat to have time to just sit and visit.
We brought our lelenga to add to the feast, and then everybody lined up at the front of the community hall. Ten at a time we walked through the line and filled our plates. All I wanted was lelenga and some of the tender pork.
After the feasting, we listened to quite a few speeches. Our village chief, Hensi, sent greetings to our college kids, and Aaron was able to send greetings back to the village from Sarah and Benjamin. Then the dancing began.
Olivia has been taking private lessons this week to learn the new dances for Christmas. I’m thankful that her friends took the time and energy to help her be ready for today. Olivia is working really hard to finish her time in the village well, and today was a big part of that.
All of the festivities wrapped up around 5:30. Twelve hours of partying hard with our neighbors, and we were ready to fall into bed.
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