Fiesta Tipica

I have been looking forward to this day all year! If I could pick one weekend for you to come visit, this would be it. In my opinion, this one day is way more worth a trip to Honduras than visiting the hottest “tourist” spots in the country. It’s a day when our students and their families can be proud of and celebrate their Honduran heritage. To me it represents a rare day when the school community comes together to put on a fundraiser like none other.

The students all don traditional outfits that make them look like pint-sized adults trapped in children’s bodies. The boys wear jeans with button-up shirts, both covered in colorful patches. Their western boots were made for walking paired with cowboy hats and flashy belt buckles. The girls get all dolled up with beautiful dresses, intricate braids, and a little too much make-up. Bright colors can be seen everywhere as they adorn these kids’ outfits! Last year I did not join in the traditional clothing but this year I decided to embrace my new-found Honduran self. I had a beautiful dress made for me in the traditional-Honduran fashion. The dresses are big with lots of ruffles and panels that stretch out into a flowing, grandeur dress. They are ideal for twirling around like a Honduran princess.

They took the traditional dresses to another level this year. The day included an “India Bonita” competition amongst the primary and secondary girls. Each grade had one or two representatives that would create a dress using only materials from the Earth and that are native to Honduras. (Emelyn and Xochtil were the indias for 3^rd grade.) These dresses that the girls made were beyond anything I had imagined! They used coffee, beans, corn, feathers, leaves, flowers, and shells or husks from fruits and vegetables. The girls walked down a ‘runway’ in these ornate dresses with poise and grace. The secondary girls had an added element of answering a question that pertained to their opinion or knowledge about Honduras. Only one girl – the 2^nd grade contestant – was escorted by an “indio” and that was my favorite feature of the whole program. This little boy courageously walked down the aisle in a barely-there burlap outfit that resembled something Tarzan would wear. But peeking out from his loin cloth were his little green underpants! Too cute. The elected winners were Jhosselyn from 5^th grade and Sara from 12^th grade. All of the girls looked absolutely beautiful!

Another one of my favorite features of the day is the little village that pops up on the school grounds. Our students’ families come together to make this a memorable event and I am always impressed with the end result. The men are in charge of creating “champas,” or huts, for the women to sell food out of. I am convinced that if you asked fathers, uncles, and brothers to do the same thing in the States, they would not produce anything remotely similar or as impressive. This year each grade was assigned a department in Honduras to represent with their champa – they had to construct it, decorate it, and sell food out of it that was unique to their particular department. The men pulled together bamboo, palm leaves, grass, tree stumps, and Lord knows what else to construct the champas. All next to each other, it really does look like a small village. This year 3^rd and 4^th grade teamed up to build one together. We represented the department of “El Paraíso” and sold chocobananos (chocolate covered bananas), rice in milk, green mangos, and water.

Also new this year, we decided to have a “foreigners” hut and sell our own typical food from it. the champa was not nearly as extravagant as what the other grades made, but our food was quite popular. We made and sold pizza, cookies (sugar, oatmeal chocolate chip, and mint chocolate chip), brownies, and welsh cakes. All of our food was a hit and we were sold out of it very quickly! I, of course, love all the food options this day has. I eat enough food for an entire day’s meals. There are so many delicious menus to choose from – baleadas, horchata, pupusas, oranges, chocobananos, chicken, tajadas, carn asada, lemonade, soup… whatever you could ask for (and is a traditional meal found in Honduras)!

The day is filled dancing as well. All of the primary grades dance to traditional songs and put on a show. The songs range from romantic ballads to ranchera tunes to upbeat punta numbers. The kids all shake their little hips in a true-Honduran fashion. They twirled around, danced in lines, clapped their hands, tipped their hats, swirled their dresses, and marched to the beat of catchy Honduran music. My girls this year are huge dancers so they looked spectacular up there! It was such a marvelous day celebrating Honduras with brightly-colored outfits, delicious food, delightful dances, and families all coming out to support their children and our school. Fiesta Tipica acts as a fundraiser for the school and this year they raised 37,000 Lempiras which is equivalent to $1,850. It was definitely a successful and fun-filled day for everyone!

Please be praying for one of our teachers who is returning to the States tomorrow to be with her family for the whole week. Her family is experiencing a time of deep turmoil and heartache so she decided to go home to be with them and support them with her love as best she can. Pray for her peace of mind with leaving her classes in our hands for the week so that she can better focus on her family. Pray that God is ever present with her whole family and he guides them through this troubling time. They all greatly need your prayers this week.