Our first adaptation was the Christmas tree. The daughters of our friends LW and JW were very insistent that T and I have a Christmas tree, and they found a small plastic one for us in the church. LW gave me some gold bells she had bought at the dollar store in Rabat (where, inexplicably, all of the merchandise is marked with prices in dollars). Then the girls made us some Christmas tree ornaments out of construction paper and staples. I was quite happy with the result.
We also made some adjustments to our traditional Christmas Eve dinner. When I was growing up, my mom would usually make a simple but satisfying dinner of clam chowder (which I never ate), potato soup, and homemade bread. For various dietary reasons, potato soup wasn't going to work for us, so I went with Moroccan bessara instead. We bought some khobz at the nearby bakery and finished the meal off with shlada limun, a simple salad of oranges, cinnamon, and orange flower water.
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| In case you're wondering what that weird stuff on top of our soup is…it's traditional to top bessara with olive oil, cumin and (if you like) cayenne and/or black pepper. |
Midnight mass was another tradition in my family. Oddly enough, there are three nuns (members of the French order Little Sisters of Jesus) in Azrou. They had a Christmas mass – in French, of course – at 8:30 on Christmas Eve. T and I went to the mass with the Ws and one other person. We were the only people there besides the three nuns and two priests. It was not like any mass I had ever been to before.
Late on Christmas morning, we had brunch with the W family. That was probably the most unadulterated American part of our Christmas celebration. LW had made Russian tea (in my mind, a classic Midwestern winter drink) and a very American-looking breakfast casserole. And to top things off, we saw our first Moroccan snow as we were walking to the W's house for brunch. The snow didn't stick around or anything, but snow falling on Christmas morning is always special.
On Christmas evening, we got together with other Christmas celebrators for dinner. We had turkey, tamales, lasagna, hummus – it was truly an international Christmas dinner.
So there you have it. My first Christmas outside of the United States. Same, but different.
It sounds like a lovely Christmas. Same, but different. Familiar enough to be Christmas? Nice enough to be merry?
ReplyDeleteYou should talk about what the Mass was like that made it unlike any other Mass you've been to before. You should also talk about the nuns.