Living in my Town, Yumbo

-       In Cali people are famous for having light feet, they are the most tenacious when it comes to salsa dancing, I said. Is it like that in Yumbo too? Do you like to dance salsa?

-       Sure, who does not enjoy dancing? We all dance when we have the time. There is so much to do in this life, son, she responds between laughter.

-       What do you remember about your childhood? - I ask her.

There were parties every Sunday in Yumbo, the meeting was organized after the mass, in the main square of the town. Trumpeters, percussionists and other expert musicians met with diverse instruments and made the whole town dance. It was the Municipal Band of Yumbo. Pacho was among the musicians, the one with the big cornet, Nora tells her granddaughter, Vivi, a beautiful-looking nurse from Colombia, who is young and very cheerful. Vivi is almost ready to give birth. 

-       Although I do not think he is still playing, he must have died, but his children must be there for sure, says Nora.

The parties were very nice there and surely, they still are, says Nora. The celebration of the El Señor del Buen Consuelo, in September, for example. They had fireworks, parades, music, dancing and a lot of hullabaloo. The party occurs in the last week of September, every year. They say that the festival began in 1930 as a wish from fray Alfonso de la Concepción Peña, who, after officiating the field mass in the square, next to the sanctuary of the El Señor del Buen Consuelo, decided that the chapel was already too small for the town. The Catholic followers from Yumbo were multiplying and pilgrims started to arrive from other parts of the country. The fray, excited, decided to make Yumbo an example and proposed the idea of ​​a celebration that had the catholic religion as the first component. The idea of ​​the Pilgrim Christ came to mind and eventually became a way to celebrate religion and the local culture of the inhabitants of Yumbo during the last week of September. The saints are taken in a procession, it is a very beautiful festival, gunpowder in quantities. In Easter too. There are freighters, says Nora. 

The freighters are the boys who carry the saints on the Easter pilgrimage. Organized in small groups of approximately six people, the freighters are dressed for the occasion and are in charge of carrying a saint, usually carved in wood and mounted on planks, on their shoulders during the procession. Nora’s grandson and two great-grandchildren are freighters, they dress up and become the family’s pride. They carry the saint of their preference solemn and with pride. Nora remembers the pleasure of tasting scraped ice at those parties. In a small cart, usually located on the side of the road, a woman scrapes ice with a knife and puts it in a plastic cup. Then, she dyes the ice with different colors, Nora preferred red dye. She would then take the cup with dyed scraped ice and ate it while she walked joyfully following the parade. 

Also, from her childhood, Nora remembers the novenas, a very typical ceremony in Colombia that consists of a family-type meeting where they all pray together waiting for the birth of Jesus Christ. The ceremony consists of nine nights, from December 16 to the 24th, where they pray and sing religious songs. Families take turns and each one offers their house as a meeting center during the nine nights of the ceremony. Everyone does it, one family offer the house each night, so that the procession continues from house to house for the nine days. We would gather and sing Christmas carols. It was a way to bless the house, a tradition of our country. In the manger we put Joseph, Mary and baby Jesus, the holy family. There was always a lot of boys and girls in every house, we all sat happy, waiting and singing. Sometimes we even did it all together, with all the neighbors, on the street. All of this changed for Nora since she came to New York. Today and for many years, she meets with fewer people and although her grandchildren participate, they don’t have the same spirit of those children from the streets of Yumbo. 

-       Are there many differences between the childhood of those days and that of your grandchildren? I asked her. 

Children of today are different. Before, when I was young, we learned to respect older people. Besides, Nora adds, we worked since we were kids. Nora learned to sew when she was 12 years old. At that age she started working, using the sewing machine. The absence of her father, who died when she was one year old forced the family to double their efforts to survive.

In my childhood we played without cell phones or tablets, we went out to the street and played so many games. Also, everything was healthier and less dangerous. Nobody thought they were going to be robbed, the doors of our homes were always open, friends and family came and went as they pleased. Now that can’t be.