May, a month of tributes to liberty and motherhood

May in Paraguay is replete with the above. In fact, Paraguayans refer to May as the "mes de la patria." Paraguayan Independence is celebrated midmonth, as is Mother's Day. Independence Day is officially on May 15, the same date as the immovable feast of Mother's Day. For many years the country's independence was observed on both May 14 and May 15 since the final machinations for achieving independence were in full swing on the first date, back in 1899. As of today's post, Paraguay is just 347 days away from celebrating its Bicentennial. (The MEC--national Ministry of Education and Cultura--calendar that I cited in last month's post, and repeat here, does a fine job of mentioning all the special days of each month on its web site, complete with colorful icons. Special days of the month = Fechas especiales del mes

http://www.mec.gov.py/cmsmec/?page_id=899

Its May list shows both dates for independence:

May 14, Independencia del Paraguay
May 15, Aniversario de la Independencia de Paraguay

And so as referred to on the "Discovering Paraguay" blog, it's "Happy Independence Days
http://discoveringparaguay.com/home/independence-day-dia-independencia/

Both dates ALSO coincide with the founding of several communities in the country, including nearby Villarrica, capital of the department in which I reside. This year marked its 440th anniversary. I went into town with my host mother Doña Lili to watch the parade, a three-hour long view of all the educational institutions' students and teachers, decked out in their respective uniforms. Little pre-schoolers were kept in line by holding onto low-lying limbolike bars, and/or by holding on to strings attached to the leading flag bearer in front. I've never seen anything like this back home, a big local parade primarily for schools to strut their stuff. One addition for the Villarrica parade was a harp contingent, since the city prides itself on being the harp capital of the world. The harp element included both harpists just walking as they held their harps horizontally, as well as a float on which about a dozen musicians played their beautiful instruments.

Mother's Day is one big country-wide asadofest, with enough leftover meat to get most households thru the next day. For this very devout Catholic country the month is also chock-full of devotions to the Virgen Mother. For example, there were numerous tributes to the Virgen of Fatima around May 13.

Wanted to share (again?) this wonderful video of Paraguay, produced by a Peace Corps trainer last year to show new trainees destined to become volunteers here.

http://discoveringparaguay.com/home/sites-and-sounds-of-paraguay-sitios-y-sonidos-del-paraguay/

Viva Paraguay, Viva! And to all you great moms out there too!