Carnival!

Today, Molly and I volunteered at the Latino Day Festival in Mount Pleasant. Not quite sure what was going to happen, I had no clue what I was going to be doing. When I got there, I was told that I would be surveying random attendees about what they thought about the Festival. As I was on my fourth or so survey, this woman dressed in a decked-out in jewels dress grabbed my arm and told me that she needed help. Walking through all of the different groups that were preparing for the parade, I truly realized how ignorant I am about the Latin culture. Yes, I know that there are many different Spanish-speaking countries, but I wasn’t fully aware of the extent that each country has a completely distinct culture. All of the costumes were different, ranging from angel outfits to men on stilts with colorful hats to showgirl-like costumes.

Not quite sure what the woman wanted me to do, I was startled when she handed me a huge colorful “Bolivia Carnival” banner. I was so stoked to be able to actually walk in the parade- I never imagined that I would. As I was walking, I was so surprised at the immense number of people who was there to represent their country and cheering and whooping as the country where their ancestors are from walked through the parade.

However, I did feel guilty because I knew absolutely nothing about the country that I was representing or about their carnival. All I knew is that Bolivia is a South American, Spanish speaking country. Towards the end of the parade, I felt even worse when a woman came up to me and asked me about Bolivia’s Carnival and how she could contact the group who was performing behind me. After researching it, I found out that it is referred to as the Carnival of the Oruro and takes place for three days and three nights with different dancing groups who dance the Waca Waca, Kantus, Potolo, Morenada, and many others.

This was one of the first times in my life where I really had no clue what was going on- my Spanish is not top notch, so I didn’t understand when the people working were instructing me. However, I feel like this was a good thing for me. I shouldn’t always be in a comfort zone and should literally “get out more.”