Halloween in Honduras

We began the night at a Halloween Party in the Gibson’s community. Elijah dressed up like a puppy, I as a kitty. When he saw my cat ears and whiskers, he began giggling with delight. He immediately knew what I was and was enchanted with the idea that we could dress up as animals. He started making cat sounds: “meow!” “meow!” and then I began making dog sounds: “ruff ruff!” Douglas, one of Rey’s disciples at AFE, must have thought we were crazy as this was his first Halloween experience.

The party at the Gibson’s community lacked for nothing a good Halloween party should offer. The kids were dressed up in amazing costumes. Michael Jackson’s Thriller set the mood. There was a smoke machine, lights, and even a catwalk for the costume context. We could have been at a Halloween party in the States, except that everyone spoke Spanish.

Before the party finished we headed back to the Miller community for a church rally. Apparently Halloween is an evil holiday in Honduras and many churches gather for prayer meetings on this night. Our church, Amor y Vida, was not having a prayer meetings as much as a small group rally. I think Elijah actually had more fun here. It had all the elements of Elijah’s ideal party: brightly colored balloons, cheers and shouting, singing and dancing. Elijah sweated the night away in his furry puppy costume, waving a balloon and clapping at the appropriate times. After our skit, we headed home to put Elijah to bead. And just as many new parents do, we fell asleep as soon as Elijah was in bed. Overall, it was a good bicultural celebration of this American holiday.