World holiday traditions warm an American heart

The winter holidays lend themselves to foreign travel and can be quite a memorable experience when you are so far from home. My time in the Peace Corps gave me many opportunities to witness first hand how our holidays are interpreted in far-away lands.

I was in Chirchik, Uzbekistan, finishing up my training period as a Peace Corps volunteer during what would be Thanksgiving in the states.  My fellow trainees and I decided we should have a traditional turkey dinner to celebrate the holiday, but that was easier said than done — frozen Butterballs were not available in the Chirchik bazaar!

Several weeks before the big day, we found some live turkeys — kind of scraggley looking birds to be sure but heck, they were turkeys, so we bought a half dozen.  As it so happened, one of our trainees was living with a family that raised poultry and they took our turkeys, fattened them up, butchered and cleaned them for us. (None of us wanted that job!)

On Thanksgiving morning, we were each given our assigned dinner tasks, and mine was to make the stuffing. There was no Stove Top, so my recipe came from scratch and from memory. I got some buhanka, a Russian loaf bread, crumbled it and dried it out.

Onions and celery were easy to find. I made an excellent broth out of the excess turkey parts, and even threw in some raisins, dried apricots and pomegranate seeds to make it a bit more “Uzbeky” – but herbs and spices were another matter.  A group of very nice Korean ladies had a spice shop in the bazaar, but they spoke no English and I didn’t recognize a thing. So I sniffed and tasted, trying to find sage and other appropriate seasonings. It was pretty haphazard, but it worked — My stuffing drew rave reviews!

Several weeks later, we were to graduate and be posted to different communities, and would not be able to spend Christmas together.  So we decided to indulge our Christmas Spirit and throw a party at an orphanage.  We worked with some Uzbek locals and found two different facilities for our celebrations.

We contacted the orphanages and were given the sizes for some winter clothes to give as gifts.  As we all remembered what it was like to receive clothes as holiday gifts, we also got a few fun items like toys, candies and little cakes.

As the oldest (and portliest) volunteer, I was chosen to play Santa – or as the Uzbecks refer to him, Qor Bobo – the Grandfather of the Snows. I knew some people from a local theater company and they tricked me out in a gorgeous emerald green, floor-length velvet robe with sequined designs plus ermine cuffs and hem.  I even managed to persuade the costume lady to make me a Santa-style stocking cap, also with ermine trim.  A full white beard and wig completed the ensemble.  I looked sensational, if I do say so myself!

We brought our Uzbek language teacher, Dilbar, to the orphanage in Tashkentalong to translate for me, since I was still unsure of my command of the language, especially with children. I became aware of a small boy who was clinging to my robe and muttering something.  I turned to look at him. He was emaciated and missing an eye — there was just an empty socket on one side of his adorable face.

I couldn’t understand him, and turned to Dilbar for help, finding her in tears.  She said the little boy was saying that all his life he’d hoped that someday Qor Bobo would visit him and he just wanted to say thank you.  I had on rosy-red make-up to make me look jolly, and it was soon running in tear-stained streaks down my face.  Sometimes, in my dreams, I see that dear little face and I wake up hoping that good things happened to him.

It’s an odd feeling being so far away from family and loved ones on the big holidays, but preparing a giant dinner and bringing a little joy to kids who don’t have much are good ways to celebrate, and maybe forget that you miss those familiar things.

Photos courtesy of John Smart.