By Larry O’Hanlon
Imagine a Christmas without Santa, carolers, Christmas trees, lights or eggnog. It wouldn’t be much of a holiday.
For expatriate Mexicans living in South Lake Tahoe, many comparable holiday traditions of their homeland are missing, having been crushed under the weight of poverty and isolation.
"It’s only in Mexico," said Marta Botello de Juarez speaking in Spanish of the traditions she enjoyed as a child in Guanajuato, one of the 31 United States of Mexico.
Botello, 26, has lived in South Lake Tahoe for three years.
Three months ago she gave birth to Luz Angelica. Altogether, with Rolando, 2, Liliana, 5, and Juan, 8, and her husband, the family of six barely squeezes into their one-bedroom unit at the Terrace Apartments on Pioneer Trail, east of Ski Run Boulevard.
Liliana got a toy tea set from Santa and Juan received an electric model motorcycle. The gifts were few, the celebration brief.
In contrast, Christmas in Mexico is the longest and most elaborate celebration of the year, called La Navidad. It starts on Dec. 16 and ends on Jan. 6. During the first nine nights of La Navidad, Mexicans perform "posadas," in which they re-enact Joseph and Mary’s search for lodging in Bethlehem (a posada is an inn).
As in the U.S., nativity scenes are set up using everything from paper and cardboard to family heirloom figurines. The bashing of pinatas filled with candy and toys is also common during Christmas fiestas south of the border.
Then there is the Mexican "Silent Night," which differs from the U.S. version by being anything but silent. Firecrackers and other sounds of active celebration are the norm.
But perhaps the biggest difference is what happens on Christmas day. In Mexico, Christmas is a religious holiday. Masses are celebrated, not gifts. Not until Jan. 6, Dia de los Reyes, do children get their presents, as did the baby Jesus when the three gift-bearing kings arrived in Bethlehem almost two thousand years ago.
In South Lake Tahoe few of these traditions remain for families like the Juarezes. There will be no celebration on Jan. 6, because there was barely any celebration on Dec. 25. There is too much work, too little money, Botello said. Other families facing the same plight find it hard to come together as a community and recreate the festivities.
Even the adopted U.S. traditions are barely sufficient, since charity groups rarely can find any help every poor household. That was the case in the Terrace Apartments. As eight-year-old Juan said, "Santa came to some houses and not to others."
It’s hard for a child to understand.