Welcome to the Peru Study-Service Term blog for Spring 2014! Goshen College students are scheduled to arrive late Wednesday (Jan. 8), which is when the spring program officially will begin. We (co-leaders Richard R. Aguirre and Judy Weaver) have been preparing the study-service program since even before our last group of students departed Lima on Dec. 2. So we can hardly wait for the next group of students to arrive.
Goshen College was closed today, Jan. 6, 2014, because of the snow emergency declared in Elkhart County. However, in Lima, Peru, temperatures were in the 70s and people were walking around in shorts and T-shirts.
In much of the Christian world Epiphany was celebrated today, but Jan. 6 in most of Latin America it is known as “El Día de los Reyes” (The Day of Kings), commemorating the arrival of the Three Wise Men to confirm Jesus as Son of God.
Throughout Peru, Jan. 6 also is known as La Bajada de Los Reyes, and gatherings are held in honor of the visit of the wise men. Today also was the day many people began to take down nativity scenes and put them away until next Christmas. This day also had special significance in Lima, which was named “Ciudad de los Reyes” (City of the Kings)” by Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro because Jan. 6 coincided with the day he decided it should be the location of capital of the Viceroyalty of Peru.
Throughout the Christmas season, we saw many naciemientos (nativity scenes) around Peru. Nacimientos were everywhere, including in bus stations, government buildings, markets and parks. And they came in many sizes, styles and colors. These photos show some of the nacimientos we saw in December.
An elaborate nativity scene in the Arequipa national bus station. It featured an unusual variety of characters and creatures.A squirrel was among the diversity of animals in the Arequipa nativity scene.For unknown reasons, a fairy princess was included in the Arequipa bus station nativity scene.A condor also was part of the Arequipa bus station nativity scene.The nativity scene in front of the municipal government building in Chorillos, a district of Lima.An Andean-inspired nativity scene at the Inka Market in Miraflores.The Colombian government donated this unusual nativity to the malecon (beachfront) in Miraflores.Mary, Jesus and Joseph in the unusual wire and fabric nativity scene donated by the Colombian government. It is on the Miraflores beachfront (malecon).This nativity scene is part of a burial tomb at the Nueva Esperanza Cemetery – the largest in Latin America – in the Villa Maria Del Triunfo district of Lima.The nativity scene in front of Santa Maria Reina, a Catholic Church in the Ovalo Gutierrez, which divides the Miraflores and San Isidro districts in Lima, Peru.The nativity scene at Parque Belen (Bethlehem) in the San Isidro district of Lima. The infant Jesus in the Parque Belen (Bethlehem) nativity scene.The nativity scene in Parque Kennedy, which is in the Miraflores district of Lima.This baby Jesus is part of the large nativity scene in Paque Kennedy, in the Miraflores district of Lima.The nativity scene in the San Isidro Market.The nativity scene in the Residencial Santa Cruz in the San Isidro district of Lima.The highly decorated baby Jesus in the nativity scene of the Santa Cruz apartment complex in San Isidro, Casa Goshen is in this apartment complex.The Andean-inspired nacimiento (nativity scene) at the Casa Goshen apartment in San Isidro.
