"CHRISTMAS DAY: Our Gergering believers had a really special day planned,
more so than any other Christmas we've seen in here. The special day
actually began earlier in the week when the new believers in the village of
Takamap carried on their heads baskets of "saksak" (sort of like dry corn
starch, made through a long process from sago palm) to Gergering to later be
mixed with grated coconut and mumued (cooked on hot stones and covered with
lots of banana leaves to steam or bake it). Christmas Eve day saw pigs being
butchered and mumued, garden root crops gathered and readied for cooking on
Christmas Day. It was common to hear "brrrup brrrup!", the sound of the
ladies sikiraping (grating) dry coconuts to mix with food for extra flavor
and grease.
Christmas morning, believers from the villages of Takamap and Waira hiked to
Gergering for 2 hours and 1 1/2 hours respectively, to take part in a 2 1/2
hour Christmas service with special singing, verses read, teaching, and a
little bit of acting with the story of Simeon and Anna in the temple with
the baby Jesus being portrayed. It was a blistering hot morning sitting
underneath roofing tin on hard benches, but it was worth it to see the
Gergering believers create such a special service all on their own. This was
the "first" real Christmas for the new Takamap believers, an exciting day
for all of us to be a part. : )
Special service over, it was time to take a brief rest at home (a big glass
of cold water sure tasted good about that time!) and then it was time to
head over to someone's house for a big "kaikai bung" (food gathering), as
the whole village had been previously divided into 4 large groups and we
were marked to eat in one of these groups. We had lots of good bush food,
cooked in a mumu or boiled in coconut grease...all our kids decided that
this was more delicious than our American traditional Christmas meals. : )
The Gergering folks had cooked plenty so that the Waira and Takamap folks
could be fed while overnighting.
With eyelids feeling heavy after a big meal in the warm afternoon, we were
thankful that the next part of the celebration took place outside in the
grass yard next to the church, and that it clouded up and actually rained
lightly. 3 different large groups had prepared an "Ek Spesel", or a sort of
cultural samsam (singing dance), complete with hand motions and special
Christian song that tells a story. All the ladies in these groups were
"bilased", or decorated culturally with flowers, coconut fronds, leaves, etc
on top of their already colorful meri blouses and laplaps (clothes). They
were a colorful sight to behold. : )
The smaller village of Lualu had also planned a simple little service and had decorated
their humble rough cut small church building with many red flowers and
bright green leaves. With a very low roof made of tin, it was sweltering hot
in there and we found we had to sit by the door and frequently step outside
to just keep from feeling lightheaded. Afterwards, cooling off with others
in the shade of a tree after church, we were invited to join them in their
Christmas "potluck". While much smaller scale than in Gergering, and no pigs
had been butchered, the simple greens cooked in coconut grease were
delicious, as well as the taro, kaukau and rice. As we sat underneath this
simple house built on posts, with about 25 men, women, and children, eating
their simple Christmas meal, we were blessed to know that these folks know
nothing BUT the true meaning of Christmas, for they have no materialism to
distract them. : ) They were so hospitable and so gracious to us."
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