CHAMPAING SHOWER

Imagine a group of people throwing champaign at each other’s bodies, eating grapes with complete focus and concentration, and running around the neighborhood with their luggage. It may sound a little crazy or weird, but that is the way some Colombian’s people celebrate the New Year. If you are Colombian and you live in another country, you may have to sacrifice the most part of your New Year traditions. We called these traditions “Agueros”. When I just came to Chicago three years ago, I decided to forget about my traditions for the New Year. I was in America, and I wanted to enjoy an American New Year’s celebration. I didn’t have any family here, so I went to my friend’s house. I was waiting for that day with excitement. When we got there, I was completely surprised to see everybody doing different things but celebrating, at least not the way I thought. I still have the picture in my mind. Most of the people were playing video games, talking on the phone or watching TV. They didn’t have any music at all. It was just one word to describe it “BORING”. That was the most boring night of my life, and at that point I wished I could be at home celebrating with my crazy family and doing weird things. Last year, for New Year’s, I decided to take the plunge. I was in Chicago celebrating with my husband and some friends at home. I decided I was going to have fun and keep my traditions for good luck during the holiday.

The first tradition says that you should eat twelve grapes, and with each grape you eat you make a wish for the New Year; it can be about money, health or love. Before twelve o’clock, I separated the twelve grapes for each person. I also packed my luggage and I put a champaign bottle on the table ready for the toast. At twelve o’clock, I explained to everybody about the grapes, and I thought everybody would be really excited about the idea of making wishes. They just had to eat a grape and make a wish, easy. When everybody had their own grapes, I was really surprised when some of the guests told me they didn’t know what to ask for. They basically had everything they need. I couldn’t believe my ears. In my country, people spend most of the time praying to God in order to get things and wishing they could have everything they don’t have. I was really confused; I didn’t know if think that these people were so happy about their lives that they just couldn’t ask for more, or if they were so selfish that they couldn’t think of the rest of the impoverished world. That day I felt really bad. Everybody was looking at me like “why are you so dissatisfied with your life that you need to eat grapes and make wishes”?

After my first failure I decided to keep going with my plan. The second tradition says that if you pack a bag and run around your neighborhood with your bag, you will travel a lot during the next year. So I put some clothes inside my bag, I took it and I went out alone. I knew nobody was going to follow me. I did it while my husband was trying to find a place to hide, so he didn’t have to give explanations of my behavior to anybody. When I went out I saw everybody staring at the window looking at me and maybe thinking “this girl is really weird”. But the hardest part wasn’t the public embarrassment; it was all the snow outside that made it hard to walk. It was also so cold that after ten steps, I went back home. I wonder why I didn’t travel anywhere this year!

The third omen says that if you get some champaign on your head or body after the toast the next year you are going to have a lot of money. I decided to give everybody a glass of champaign for the toast. At that moment I wasn’t going to do anything different than drink my champaign, wish a happy New Year to everybody and go to bed. Everything was fine until I decided that it would be so much fun if we could get some champaign on our body for prosperity. So I took my glass and I dropped the Champaign on one of my friend’s head. You don’t want to know what happened that night.

If you think those things are not weird enough, let me tell you that we also hide coins in plants for prosperity, fill our pockets with coins and bills, wear yellow underwear inside out, hide potatoes under our beds, boil aromatic plants and we clean our houses with that water. We also mop our house from inside to outside while we pray, and if you want to find your soul mate the next year, the first person you have to kiss on the New Year has to be the opposite sex. After my experiment I learned that “when in Rome do as the Roman’s”. I have decided to keep my traditions just for my family celebrations in Colombia. I also decided to ask for less and feel more thankful for all the good things I have in my life. I feel so lucky just thinking about the people who love me and the ones I love and care about. I can’t ask for more love, health and wealth in my life.