Party!

The Toledanos (and Janine!) with their children (L-R): Omar, Glorycela, Angelica, Amira, Delilia and Froylan

I was introduced to the customs involved in a Belizean celebration (and more relatives than I could count) last weekend. It was Mrs. Toledano's 80th birthday on February 8th. Due to schedules, the party was on Sunday. This is my story of a Belizean party - from beginning to end:

Saturday 

On Saturday, I went into the kitchen, which was the center of activity. Ribs were being prepared, veggies were being cut, and people were gathered. One of the granddaughters mentioned I would get to watch the whole family run around like chickens with their heads cut off. [Side note: I saw no headless people. On the contrary, I was awed by how everyone had a job and knew what to do without asking. While the discussion may have been in Spanish, I would like to think that it was just tradition. Everyone knew what to do because they had done it before and this was the way it was done (in fact, they all assured me if I got married in Belize, they would help with the party).]

Watching preparations for the Rellano Soup

It was very interesting to think that no one expected me to be caught up in the preparation. I wanted to help anyway and I did get to. I started by peeling garlic (ajos) and then onions (cebollas). The Toledano family says if you cry when you peel onions, you are jealous. I must have MAJOR jealousy issues because my eyes were gushing! The crazy thing was, I didn’t even cut them. Mrs. Toledano did. I just separated the rings. We were making Escabeche for lunch because that is the birthday girl’s favorite soup. Me too! It was the best Escabeche I’ve had so far! Sour oranges make it SO much better than vinegar.

Cooking Escabeche the Belizean way!

When lunch was finished, one of Mrs. Toledano's daughters and I started decorating for the party. She decided we needed supplies and I offered to join her shopping trip. It took one long time! I really enjoyed it because it was just like shopping with my aunts. We first went to party shop in someone's house to buy a castle princess piñata. I should mention that this party was not ONLY for Mrs. Toledano. It was also for her two granddaughters. One was born on 8th and the other on the 9th. One of them was having her Quinceañera this year! She loves piñatas. Everything we bought had to be in three – from masks to cakes (yes, we had three cakes) to balloons. As Mrs. Toledano's daughter herself admits, she likes to go all out. Through her dedication we found some pretty “rare” things, like balloons that said "Quinceañera"on them. 

Birthday girls!

After going to the piñata shop, a party shop, A&R, SP Warehouse and Western Dairy, we came home. Then it was time to do the actual decorating.  Midway through, we went out again for paper plates because, “nobody else was going to worry about what to put the cake on.” We tried out three different stores and found them at Beijing Store. While I went to bed before the decorations were done, the results that I saw in the morning were beautiful!

For dinner, I had a bun with the leftover pork stuffing from the Relleno. Relleno is a Belizean soup that is generally only eaten on special occasions, like Christmas and birthdays or weddings. It is chicken stuffed with ground pork and egg. It also has jalapenos for flavor. I have to say I was shocked at the color of the stuffing. It was so gray, but it tasted good. I was looking forward to trying to whole soup.

Sunday

Interesting tidbit: in the morning all close family members started pouring in to help with the party. They all had breakfast here before they started working. The thing is, they all ate the Rellano. I was so confused. What were we going to eat for lunch, if we ate it all for breakfast? I needn’t have worried (we had SO much food leftover!), but I didn't expect to eat the special food before the special meal...

Birthday Mass

Before the party there was a Mass. It was set for 11am, but the actual start time was midday. The Father has lived in Belize for umpteen years but even I can recognize that his Spanish accent needs help. I can’t complain (or criticize; mine is atrocious too) because it meant that more of the Mass than I expected was in English. The service was simple. There were some prayers and songs (in Spanish), the Father said a few words about Mrs. Toledano and her granddaughters (in English), then we gave the sign of peace and it was done.

While the mass was happening, I noticed that all the daughters were in the service and their husbands were monitoring the food. I thought that was really cool!

I helped serve drinks and food, until I realized my help wasn’t helping. There were too many willing hands. So, I sat down and ate my Rellano. It was good. The conversations that flew around me were mostly in Spanish. Unless, someone was talking to me, I zoned out. Everyone was talking SO fast, I couldn’t even recognize the topic of conversation. I realize now that the Toledanos had been speaking very slowly to me. That's okay; now I know that I still have a lot to learn! I wasn’t a wallflower though. Many relatives came up to me to chat. The Toledano family has produced MANY teachers (at least five maybe more) which is why Mr. and Mrs. Toledano call me, “La Maestra.” It is quite an honor.

The Toledanos love pork (or maybe all Belizeans do too). We had Rellano, Pibil (pork that has been smoked underground for 8 hours on hot rocks) and ribs! Wow!

Time for the Rellano!

Being at this party was similar to partying with my family. In fact, I couldn’t help but remember Dzia Dzia’s* 80th birthday party. I kept noticing similarities: traditional food was served, family was reunited after many years, kids were running around, many pictures being taken, there was dancing and lots of laughter. I guess it doesn’t matter which culture you grow up in: family is family.

After eating, I moved outside. It was there I got to see the piñata smashed and the kid games. They dragged me into the games, so I got to partner with one of the kids to pop a balloon. It sounds simple but the balloon was placed in between us and we had to hug each other tightly to pop it. We won, so we must have been skilled.

From about 5-7pm (some 8 hours later), people started to trickle out. The festivities hadn’t ended though, which is why some people stayed. Around 8pm there was supposed to be a memorial for Mrs. Toledano’s sister who passed away last year. I was pooped and so I bowed out of that event. I think it was a good idea for me because it didn’t actually started until 9pm. That would have been a full day!

Mr. Toledano, Me, Mrs. Toledano!

 That was my experience of Belizean party!

*Polish word for "grandfather"

“There is more in you of good than you know, child of the kindly West. Some courage and some wisdom, blended in measure. If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit