Girl in Guatemala: A Peace Corps Blog: Noche de Brujas (Night of the Witches)

Happy Halloween to all my friends stateside! In Mexico and Guatemala, Halloween is referred to as Noche de Brujas or Night of the Witches. It is NOTHING like American Halloween - no candy, carved pumpkins, ghost stories, trick or treating, or costumes. I'm definitely feeling some fomo (fear of missing out) with all the fun Halloween parties going on back home! Anyone wanna send over a carrier pigeon with one of the following: candy corn, pumpkin seeds, or last years Halloween costume?

Speaking of slow ways to get mail, I want to take this time to give a huge shoutout to my one and only momma who sent my FIRST letter! It may have taken a full month to actually get here but better late than never. For all y’all who might be thinking that the art of letter writing is dead, it totally is not. So dust off those envelops, stamps, and if you’re feeling crazy, you can even write me in the cursive you learned in elementary school. I’ll attach my mailing address below in case I’ve inspired you! I promise I’ll write back and cherish your letter for at least two years! PSA: I can’t receive any packages, which means consuming boxes of Mac and Cheese and soymilk is only feasible in my dreams but thank you to those who have tried!

Josephine Bingler, PCT
Cuerpo de Paz/Peace Corps
3a Calle 6-48, Zona 1
Santa Lucía Milpas Altas, Sacetepéquez
Guatemala, Centro América

On my side of the world: Today is Dia de Los Santos (Day of the Saints)! My family got up around 5am, we gathered our offerings (food, alcohol, flowers), and headed to the cemetery. For days, we have been preparing food and beautiful flower arrangements to bring with us to the cemetery. Clearly, my host ancestors were down with a good time because my host dad made sure to pick up some coronas to leave at their graves. The reason for leaving offerings to the deceased is because on this day, it is/was believed that their ancestors would rise from their graves to eat, drink, and be merry during the night. The next day, family members would return to the graves and all the food/booze would be gone. They truly believed that their deceased relatives ate everything and were now resting fat and happy! Well, it turns out it ended up being the bollos (Guatemalan term for drunks) who would stumble into the graves to steal the alcohol and then when their drunchies (drunk munchies) kicked in, they would eat all the food around the graves! I could not stop laughing at Don Rodolfo telling this story. Today many people still hold onto the belief or hope that their ancestors do rise during the night to eat their offerings, but really it’s the bollos and the chuchos (dogs). Tomorrow, we'll be returning for Dia de Los Muertos for an even bigger celebration of the lives of the dead!

I also just got back from four amazing days at FBT (field based training). Our training class was split up and assigned to live with a currently serving volunteer in their site. My site was about 5 hours away in a department called Totonicapán. It was a beautiful site, very different from where I’m currently living. The population was heavily indigenous and the first language spoken there is Quiche. I was in awe of the culture, the food, and the beautiful, traditional traje (clothing) the women wore. In Guatemala, each indigenous community has their own special style of traje. You can identify where a woman is from just based on the style, pattern, and colors of her traje. During my four days, I helped with an English class, a cooking class, played in a soccer game on a completely female team (woo girl power), took a beautiful hike with some local jovenes, visited the mercado (market), and soaked up all the amazing Peace Corps advice that my volunteer had to offer. It was a really great time to reflect on what my future in the Peace Corps will look like! Here’s a little peak into my FBT.