cultural experience.

so i got to attend yet another mexican cultural event today. really cool. i went to a bachelorette party as put on by the female teachers/coordinators/staff at school for the third and fourth grade spanish teacher who will be getting married on saturday.

it was a really rich party, filled with many symbolic and precious events. first, we just talked and "warmed up"....then was the symbolic gift exchange. i was asked to bring matches and a light bulb. (yeah....i had that same look on my face...the one you're showing right now....) light bulb? matches? whatever. okay.

what happened was....i read a small tribute to mari (that's the teacher's name) about what those things mean for her and her husband in their soon-to-be marriage. it talked about how that lightbulbs go out and need to be changed, but that the light of joy and peace makes the home what it is. it talked about matches being reusable....being independent of any other source but themselves (they are not dependent on electricity or something that can fail them)....so it is with joy....it's something that remains and can be re-lit again and again....without exhaustion. it talked about how light makes things clear....how it illuminates all things and retires the darkness of confusion.

others read passages about cleaning products, cooking, a beautiful well-worn bible, etc...all things that are symbolic, but also very literal. i loved being a part of the celebration.

afterwards, we had cake...and the older women (the married women) gave her advice on what makes their marriages work...or what they have learned from failure. i was dumbfounded by some of their words. very wise women. i was delighted to see their personalities beyond what i see at school everyday...and to hear the hearts of women who have much to offer.

a great cultural experience for me....