I started to think about how different the New Year starts in a melting pot city. Albeit MIAmi is not as big a cultural melting pot as I would like, it does bring a lot of different cultures into your life. On Friday while at Publix (the local market chain) picking-up a few things for the night it started to dawn on me and found myself really noticing because of the diverse/eclectic mix of customs/traditions intertwined into my own end of year.
All is going well before midnight; gave myself my “Walter Mercada” cleansing bath and done some of the spiritual cleaning of the house, or more commonly know in Miami as “Un baño y un despojo de casa,”and was ready to head over to my sisters’ place in Little Havana to wait for the stroke of midnight. I arrive with gifts in hand. For my sister a bottle of Agua Florida and a bouquet of yellow & white flowers, she needed to give her house a “despojo” but had not been able to get to the store before it closed. For my brother-in-law a nice big bottle of “Ponche de Creme” (or Trinidad’s version of Egg Nog) which was so good during Noche Buena we had to order more. For my niece a new pair of sunglasses she had been wanting. For the little one the presents that uncle Santa had left under his imaginary non-existing (this year) X-mas tree along with the reinforcing of the myth. And for the rest of the people, mostly family friends, sitting around in the living room a bottle of Moët Imperial to toast the New Year.
Done with handing out the presents, it’s time to eat. I get a serving of some of the best Cheviche as a quick starter and followed by the main course of “Lechon asado con morros y yuca” and of course I top it all of with some “mojo criollo” and some hot sauce which comes from Central American influences I received growing up. As I’m finishing up, niece-in-law begins to prep the glasses with 12 grapes for each person in the house. As the time draws closer my sister starts running around looking for the bottles of “sidra” to pop and begins to call everyone into the living room again to watch on Spanish TV the Ball Drops in Time Square. I grab the bottle of Moët and prepare to pop it as the clock strikes midnight… “¡FELIZ AÑO NUEVO! HAPPY NEW YEAR!” That’s when the crazy amounts of firework begin to fly, along side of the stupid bullets idiots have also shot into the air. This is one tradition I find completely stupid since we live in the city and this is not conducive of city living. (Luckily this year there were no deaths by stray bullets but there was news report of a home hit by one in Sunrise. But that will be a subject for another entry.) Once everyone was sitting again my sister walks up to each one with a bowl of water, fragrant with Agua Florida and white flower petals so each person can dip their hands and cleanse themselves off.
No way I’m staying put on the first night of the year, but I’ll tell more in tomorrow’s entry since I need to get this posted for today.
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