A Local Holiday

Culture is what defines and distinguishes any given group of an interacting community of people, as a whole. We've discussed foods, clothing and family, but pieces of culture can be beliefs and stories passed down among generations. Another distiniguishing aspect of cultural groups is how they celebrate these beliefs. On October 7th, every year, businesses, schools, and restaurants of Rosario,

Argentina close down in observance of "Dia de la Virgin de Rosario." Students in uniforms gather around to sing songs and wave banners in religious praise, occupying the middle of shut-down intersections as couples listen in over a cup of fresh coffee from nearby cafés, and the police help out by blocking the streets with patrol cars.

I myself had no inclination of what the holiday was about, or how much significance it had to some people. That was until I got the crash course lesson, finding a street baracaded off by pulsing light police suvs and having the curiosity to venture down the danger. Actually, I thought I was walking to a protest, one of the many that the people here in Rosario assemble for that commonly close streetways.

But I didn't find protesting, I found cheering! Check it out, I pulled out my Flip-Cam and caught

a bit of it on Camera. I hope it's not to loud.

From what I saw I felt like this was a very popular holiday. I tried to interview some locals on the history and influences of the holiday later, but no one could seem to come up with a good response. Person after person, I interviewed I was told that they didn't know what the day was about, they just knew it was a local holiday celebrated soley in Rosary, that had become ingrained in the invisible structure of the society. But, from the boys and girls that I saw in this assembly, it seems like to at least some people there are deep deep values held in this event.

When I came home Mom was making pastas for dinner, so I sat down to give a hand and to ask her a few questions about it:

"So, do you know why people here celebrate this day?"

The Feast of Our Mother the Patron of the Rosary, she tells me, is a religious holiday from Catholic and Christian roots to give honor to the Virgin Mary, whom in traditional and local Rosarian beliefs, they turn to to ask for protection for the city.

"Has this holiday been around as long as you have lived in Rosario?"

She told me that as far back as her memory goes, back to being a little girl in elemenary school, she remembers the city has observed this holiday.

To the Catholics it is time to honor the Virgin Mary, the mother of Jesus. It is a time spent with family and friends feasting and singing songs, and then in the evenings spent in a special Holy Mass. To the rest of the city, it is also a time to spend with family and friends, to take a long weekend for an adventure, but everyone in the community, no matter what they believe, is effected by this local holiday because it is and will always be an honored tradition. But I think that another reason why they continue to keep it around in tradition is because it has become a unique celebration in which they can hold to as their own, and it helps to distinguish them as their own culture.

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What are some local traditions in Oregon, or specifically in Portland that have become distingushing parts of the culture? Of about all the places in the world I can think of, I think Portland may have the most. Hint..."Keep Portland Wierd"

Why would Portland want to stay Wierd in the first place?

Hmm... I'm going to be thinking about that one myself for awhile.

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Until the next time,

¡Hasta Lluego Cumpañer@s!

- Philip Muir