An Afternoon at Church

10-9-06

Jesu and some of the Kadiapattinam friends showed up at our hotel yesterday looking for us. The boys who danced for us earlier in the week were performing in the Church Catechism Celebration. They said we needed to be there at 2:00. When we arrived, our group was in a back room frantically putting on their costumes and make up. It was a scene I have experienced a million times before. Teachers frantically trying to get the students ready, and students excited and nervous about their performance. The costumes were beautiful, and the boys in them were radiant.

The relationship between boys and girls here is very different. The boys hold hands and walk arm in arm and sit on each others laps as best friends in an easy and natural way. Ways that American boys would never touch one another. And while American girls will hold hands in some cases, the girls here stay in physical contact with one another in a very intimate and sweet way. When I suggested that in America this is very different, and that kind of hand holding and snuggling would only be between boys and girls they were mortified. Even married couples show no public signs of affection here. The women walk together, and the men walk together. Rarely have I seen couples together.

But back to the church program…….I arrived at 2:00, and our group of friends did not perform until 5:20. That is the longest I have sat in a church event in years! Between each performance was preaching from nuns and priests. The room was PACKED (well over 500 people) and stuffy. But no one seemed to notice, and few left early. Ultimately, I had to stand out on the walkway (the hall was on the second floor). I got to watch bus loads of people come and go. Children lined up to visit with me, as did the younger adults. I was hot and wanted an ice cream. So when the ice cream cart showed up down below, I asked a young boy if he would run down to get me and ice cream, and get one for himself too. I had to ask over and over before a young girl was brave enough to take my money. She brought me my ice cream, but did not have one for herself, she implied that would be wrong.