Here in Peru, Christmas Eve is more important than Christmas Day. Families gather together on Christmas Eve to have dinner and open presents. Generally this is not done until close to midnight. A traditional Peru Christmas Eve dinner includes roast turkey (prepared with a mildly-spicy Peruvian red sauce containing garlic, chili pepper powder, vinegar, and other special ingredients to give it a kick), mashed Peruvian yellow potatoes (there are 3,000 different types of potatoes in Peru), white rice, rice pilaf, potato salad, a sweet potato sauce that is similar in consistency to apple sauce, and a salad which consists of beans, carrots, and beets. Dessert includes hot chocolate made with cinnamon and clove (delicious, even if it is the summertime here!) and Peruvian fruitcake, called "paneton", which is light, tasty, and delicious, and is a world apart from the clunky, tasteless loaf that they have in the USA.
At midnight there are fireworks all around the city.
Christmas Day is more of a time to rest and relax with family and friends.
Santa Claus, by the way, is called "Papa Noel" in Peru.
Christmas also marks the beginning of the summer season here in Peru, so right after Christmas many families head to the beach for summer vacation. The coast of Peru has some of the biggest and finest waves in the world, and so it's common to see many people surfing on Christmas morning.
These are just a few of the Christmas traditions here in Peru. What are the local Christmas traditions where you are doing ministry? Have you embraced them and leveraged them for your ministry? It's not too late to do so!
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