February 2009

The most impressive Carnaval figures are scary devils February is the time of year for two big celebrations in Santo Domingo, Independence Day and Carnaval. This year they came back-to-back, on Friday and Saturday, the 27th and 28th, respectively. We missed both the Carnaval and the Independence Day celebrations because we were on our first choir tour. The choral group to which we belong, Arpa Evangélica, gave three performances in La Romana that same weekend. For us February mainly featured this tour and the Diocesan Convention (February 13th and 14th) in San Francisco de Macorís. In most places Carnaval is a pre-Lenten celebration, but here it stretches into Lent. The festivities move from city to city on succeeding Saturdays, until they culminate in a big parade along Santo Domingo’s Malecón. Representative groups from other cities come to participate in the parade here. This year our only Carnaval festivities were those of the Ovejitas de la Epifanía preschool where April works. One day the children wore their costumes to school, some resembling the traditional outfits that you see in the big parades, but most representing whatever the children imagined they would like to be.

There are humorous figures too	Scary devils come in all colors	No Carnaval parade would be complete without beauty queens

The children arrive on Carnaval morning	Roxber eyes the evil limpiabota (shoeshine boy)	Alexa the abeja (bumble bee)

Ramón is scared of his giraffe costume	José Antonio is ready for action	Ana Michelle and Mhell dressed in the traditional Dominican flag dress

The colors soar above

Independence Day is traditionally celebrated with a big parade, too. Groups from every branch of the military march along the same route.  This year, however, several days before the event local papers reported that President Fernandez had cancelled the parade because the military’s reputation was so badly damaged by recent drug trade scandals. When the time came, the parade happened as usual, giving rise to considerable consternation over the report of its supposed cancellation. What was going on? Some said that this was the President’s way of signaling that he was going to counter the military’s involvement in drugs. In other words, he wasn’t going to turn the usual blind eye to corruption of this kind and magnitude. A few days later he sacked 31 generals. (In the Dominican military the ratio of generals to those of lower
ranks is apparently quite high.) We’ll see if he also does something more substantive.

	On Independence Day soldiers march....	Flags fly....	Citizens march...

It’s hard to make a diocesan convention seem exciting, and this one was no exception. However, we have now been to two and we’ve been impressed by the way they hold a convention here. All the political jockeying takes place in pre-convention meetings held in various places around the Diocese. By the time of convention it only remains for the outcome of these meetings to be ratified. This means that the central business of the convention is not the political process but reflection on the stated theme—this year it was “Dios es fiel” (“God is faithful”). The theme is explored in the keynote address and in the Bishop’s speech. This year’s keynote speaker was the Rev. Augusto Sandino, Vicar of San Esteban, San Pedro de Macorís. He eloquently interpreted the subject of faithfulness—God’s and ours—in the book of Habakkuk. The Bishop subsequently touched on similar ideas as he described the state of the Diocese and his goals for the coming year. Delegates were then given an opportunity to respond in discussion groups.

Evening Prayer on the first night of the convention	Ashton Brooks tells the convention about the new seminary planned for the Caribbean-Central American region

This is yet another example of the way the Dominican church avoids the divisiveness that plagues so many Episcopal dioceses and congregations. Here we keep focused on a common vision as the primary concern, so that the disagreements and complaints that are typical of church groups remain secondary.

Seminarians Alfredo and Carlos with a delegate in the lunch line	Animated conversation over lunch

Five who were present at the first convention were also present at this 51st convention	The staff of volunteers from the host parish, Jesus Nazareno, takes a bow

The choir trip to La Romana was fun (aside from the occasional bus break-downs and April’s getting some kind of intestinal bug). It gave us an opportunity to get to know our fellow choir members. We mostly see them at rehearsals without having much time for personal conversations. By traveling, going to the beach, and picknicking with others, you can get a better idea of who they are. We were all the more impressed by how most choir members see their singing as an evangelistic ministry to which they are personally called. We are not just making music, but witnessing to the glory of God. And we are glad to a part of this.

Boarding the Arpa Evangélica bus for La Romana	Making the most of a bus break-down-- at least we're by the Caribbean	When the bus broke down we posed too

Our performance at a Sunday morning service	The choir tour also included several hours of good beach time

Peace,

Michael and April