Bautismo

I had been invited by one of my friends, Manuela, in Cusco to be the godmother of her sister's daughter. First, I had to go to a charla, or a chat, with a person at the church to discuss the responsibilities of being a godmother. I met up with the girl's father at the church, and was asked again if I was catholic(it was a very recurring theme for the weekend - every priest and nun I met asked me multiple times if I was baptised and confirmed). The whole hour talk was mainly dedicated to a discussion of why we are Catholic and he kept asking a lot of rhetorical questions. So when he asked a real question, I didnt know I was supposed to answer. He only talked about the actual ceremony for 5 minutes. So the next day in the church I couldnt remember what I was supposed to answer. He even wanted me to say the creed in Spanish, so I had to translate it first in my head. The next morning, Manuela's sister and niece picked me up from the hotel and we took a taxi to Chinchero. We went to mass first at the church, which was packed full of people. At the end, there was no standing room in any of the open spaces. The sermon was translated into Quechua and Spanish. They didnt serve communion, there was no room. After mass, all of the family went up to the altar to start the ceremony. Being the godmother, I was supposed to hold the little girl, Norka Rocio. She is about 2 and very plump. Afterwards, I thought my arm was going to fall off. She also didnt like me very much, so I had to keep shoving cookies and candy into her mouth to limit the crying. We answered some of the questions at the front of the church, then we went to the baptismal font. They gave her a candle to hold, and it came very close to burning my jacket, so I grabbed it and gave it to her dad. The font is very large and tall, so there was a stone stool next to the font. I was standing on it, a meter up, and the priest told me I was tall enough and she was probably scared from the height. So I stood up on my tiptoes and held this poor baby over the font while secretly praying that I wouldnt drop her inside of the water. She kept squirming and wriggling, and she made it very difficult to balance on my tiptoes. Then the priest dumped the holy water on her face, and she tried very hard to wriggle out of my arms. After the ceremony, we walked outside, and the next Peruvian tradition started. One of the women had a bag of candy and cookies and the crowd outside starting yelling for her to throw them candy and cookies. People were going crazy going after these treats. After we received the certificate of baptism, we were actively encouraged to donate to the church for the baptism. Then we went back to their house and the party started. We started out with a giant bowl of soup. I was given the place of honor at the only table, and was given a giant plate of potatoes, giant corn, and the backhind of a pig. It was the biggest plate of everyone's. I was very sad, but I barely even made a dent in the amount of food that was there. It is a tradition at the end of the meal to finish it with a small drink of warm pisco. They played a joke on the lady serving it. They watered it down, and so she was mainly serving warm water until she finally tasted it. You always give the first bit and the last bit of your drink to Pachamama (mother earth). They also started serving chicha(alcohol made from ground corn) with a flavor of strawberries out of gas containers. It is was actually very good, which helped because they kept giving me more cups of chicha. We also had giant beers. After the meal, I was made to give a short speech before the haircutting. I was nervous, because these people speak more Quechua than Spanish. But I dont think I did too bad a job. The haircutting was next. The baby's hair is not cut until the baptism, and the godparents are the first to cut the hair. They cut the hair and then make a donation of money or animals. We had a good time, even though afterwards her poor head was butchered. After the cutting, the grandma brings a big package up in front of me. She tells me that she is giving me a gift for being a godmother. She unwraps the blanket and pulls out handmade traditional clothes from Chinchero - a skirt, a hat, and a shawl. She then dresses me and I made quite a sight. I looked I was playing dress up, but it was a great gesture. Then the dancing started (after I made a quick bathroom break in the tall grasses). After a fair amount of alchol, these people were insistent that I dance as much as possible. If I took a break, they would only let me stop for one song. It wasnt hard dancing, you just moved your feet how you felt like it. Sometimes, they would twirl me, but if they were shorter than me, it was slightly difficult. I would have to duck down. I danced with everyone there. This one guy was fairly drunk, and when we tried to leave, he wouldnt let me leave. But the family took care of me and made sure nothing bad happened. Overall, it was a fantastic experience, and wearing the outfit helped because I was freezing cold.