A Paraguayan Birthday: Parties, Patience, and Pictures (March 2011)

On March 5^th, I went to my host-cousin Clariss’s birthday party. It was a huge bash, held outdoors, with gifts, a cake, asado (grilled cow), lots of beer, tons of picture-taking, and about 30 people, friends and family. She was turning 2. Although she won’t even remember the event, this is one of Clariss’s most important birthday parties. Here in Paraguay, birthdays at ages 1 and 2 require the same or a greater amount of preparation and enthusiasm as all the others. Older children often pull out the albums of their 1^st and 2^nd birthday parties to show us how much their parents love them and “introduce” us to all their family members. 

Paraguayan birthday parties in the Campo always take place after dark and are always outside. Cumbia and reggaeton music blast from a loud speaker system the entire night (this seems to be the preferred splurge of middle class families who have a bit of extra disposable income). In Paraguay, if it doesn’t last until sunrise, then it’s not a party. So we get together around 8pm, sit around talking and drinking beer for a couple hours, and depending on the family, the food will come out between 9pm-12am. At Clariss’s party for example, the asado came off the grill around 11pm, so we were all STARVING. The first round of eating is for the kids- because by this point they are pretty much dead from not eating for so long. Then, the women collect the dishes, wash them, and the second round of eating begins with the adults. As a vegetarian, I was able to eat the rice salad and mandioca that came on the side, then cut up my asado, pretend to be eating it, but was really slipping onto Herre’s plate next to me. 

Finally after midnight the cake came out. Everybody gets their picture taken with the birthday girl, and we load up with sugar from the cake and soda pop to keep us bouncing for the rest of the night. After the cake is when people will start leaving, little by little. Children and the elderly are usually the first ones to go, as those who remain continue to talk, drink beer, and dance. At Clariss’s party, my host-mom and I left around 2:30am to go to sleep, and there were still a handful of people sitting around, drinking, and dancing. 

When we got in the house, we realized there was an extremely loud cricket in the house and went on a mission to kill it, which turned out to be a nearly 10 minute endeavor. Needless to say, we were exhausted the next morning , but igual no mas, my host mom Laura was up and about early in the morning sweeping, feeding the animals, and cooking. Que guapa!