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Health & Fitness

'Tis the Season to Be Jolly

I like to think that the spreading of Christmas joy and cheer is written into my Peace Corps contract. What better way to do that than bringing Christmas out into the streets?

I love Christmas songs. They happen to be a central part in my love for the holiday season.

Jingle Bells, Deck the Halls, Jingle Bell Rock and my personal favorite, Let it Snow, as sung by Bing Crosby at the conclusion of the greatest Christmas movie of all time, Die Hard.

I don’t think there’s any better way to get into the holiday spirit than letting loose with friends and family singing some of those timeless classics, whether baking some Christmas cookies, hanging up Christmas lights, putting up Christmas trees or wrapping Christmas presents.

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These songs really connect with Americans, and to a greater extent, the Western idea of Christmas. It’s definitely a solid part of me, and the one part of Christmas I couldn’t wait to share with my community here in Ankazobe.

I introduced the idea to my English counterparts here at the C.E.G, Madams Enoelinne and Lea, about two weeks ago. A chief activity in all of our English Clubs is singing, so I figured why not make the students’ skills public?

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While not a big caroler back home, the idea of taking these kids house to house through Ankazobe, singing these classic Christmas songs at the top of their lungs was just too good to pass up. After a pretty quick pitch, Enoelinne and Lea were sold, and I went to work putting together my own carol books to help the students learn.

We held our first practice session Nov. 30. At this time, there were around 80 total kids in English Club. We split them into two groups to which Enoelinne, my Peace Corps partner, Brianna Janz, and I could teach four to five songs. The students would be singing before the town the following week. Silent Night became the No. 1 because it’s a well known song in Madagascar, and even those who don’t know the words already knew the tune. Went nice and smooth, no problem.

Next up was Jingle Bells. The first verse ended up being a little bit of a challenge. I mean, when would these students ever come across “bells and bob-tails” or “one-horse open sleigh” in everyday conversation? There were quite a few pretty hilarious attempts at first, but in the end the kids got a pretty similar sound down that, while not perfect, was definitely solid after only 20 minutes of practice.

And then there’s Deck the Halls. When I was going through songs, I was singing a few aloud to try and remember some of the tunes, and a few of my students walked by my window and heard the “Fa la la la las." That shot the song straight up to the top when I initially asked them what songs they wanted to learn. Everyone wanted to start dropping fas and las.

Now, I love this song. Been singing it since elementary school. But the language is so old, it was tough not to laugh as theses Malagasy children were singing about “boughs of holly” and the “ancient Yuletide carol.” I will say one thing: they can hold their own in the fa and la department against any classroom in America. Yeah, that’s a challenge.

As for the big day? Well, prior to it, my C.E.G director, Esperat, extended an open invitation to any of the 700 students to come and join us on Dec. 7. My head almost exploded. While it didn’t get out of control, Enoelinne, Lea and I did end up getting just over 100 students showing up for a little caroling action.

Of course, this meant more practice. We divided the students into three groups, and I went class to class leading them in the tunes for about an hour, then we brought everyone together for one last, gigantic rehearsal. They were ready.

I slapped on the most disturbing Santa Claus mask I’ve ever seen, and we marched into town. House to house, church to church, business to business we went, bringing our own special blend of holiday cheer. I even learned something about Malagasy traditions myself. Santa Claus, called Papa de Noel here, is supposed to throw chocolate and other candies as he walks the street.

With my Santa mask and jolly exterior, a small army of kids began to follow our every step, waiting for Papa de Noel to toss candy into the streets. As much as I would’ve liked to oblige them, candy’s expensive, and I definitely can’t feed everybody. I even had a mother who was so mad about me not having chocolate, she began decrying me as a phony. “This man’s not the real Papa de Noel, otherwise he would’ve given me chocolate!” Huh.

In the end, though, it was a resounding success. The students loved it, the teachers loved it, and more importantly the community loved it. Everywhere we sang people stopped what they were doing to come and watch, and the first question out of everyone’s mouth after we finished was when would we do this again? I’m definitely marking this as one big win for Peace Corps.

Bonus fun fact: I had a couple come up to me, while I was wearing the Santa mask, asking if I would hold their newborn for a photo. Yep. I was one lucky girl’s first Papa Noel. Pretty awesome.

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