ch3_fixed_20170405

remembering is living

Begin | Entrar

Chapter 3

RECORDAR ES VIVIR

You know that those people

Santa Rosa Feria de Comida de los Antepasados Santa Rosa Food of Our Ancestors Fair

country longer than me, more than 16 years,

also have the same goals, dreams, as you.

and who haven’t gone back and who are sad.

the same as me.

Of one day going back to Bolivia.

[Speaking Quechua]

And the way that they ignore their sadness

If you are involved in Bolivian culture,

I know people who have stayed in the country

you know that you have a family.

is by being involved in Bolivian culture,

Long live Bolivia!

They bring Bolivia to us here.

These young people cheer us up.

and it’s like being in Bolivia.

And I only think about dancing.

When I dance, all of my stress goes away

All of your stress goes away.

It’s like a return to my house.

came out of a peach seed that I brought from Bolivia.

and there it is resisting.

That time that I’m there outside,

I didn’t ask it to be there.

And every day I go outside there

It connects me…with Bolivia.

I feel a peace...in my soul.

It wants to be there, so there it is.

and I sit and it brings me a lot of memories

The tree that I have here

And the peach tree, only having come from there,

of my house, of my family, of my mom.

has resisted, here it is!

The plant came up and it grew

its fruits can leave, but never never

It’s a return.

it’s a bridge that connects you to something

will they forget from where they came.

We’re still here. We’ll see if in 200 years we still are.

that you’ve had as a foundation.

It’s like a tree that has roots and, to flower,

Making culture of any form,

It’s a return to look for where you are from.

It’s your history and you can’t erase your history.

whether it be singing, dancing, writing,

Because cultures, nations, peoples,

It’s a connection that leads you to your reality,

speaking a language, rituals, traditions,

in this way they’ve survived.

even though you are living in a country with different traditions.

or dressing up as a cholita, whatever it is...

it’s not alone, it has roots

We have been around for 500, 600 years now we’ve been here,

It’s a reconnection.

and it has to depend on them.

the Quechua culture, I think.

It’s like a tree, no? It has roots, its flowers can fly away,

So for me, culture is a historical dependency of your life.

but here I think there will be just one.

Because our calendar system isn’t January and February.

and we prepare everything they like. We still do that here.

feel like I haven’t completed a phase

that you’ve lived and that you’ve liked and that marked you

I will love him, too.’

For the Valle Alto, Todos Santos is really important, so is Carnival and Santa Vera Cruz.

And you sing to her.

It’s something that, since you’ve done it,

Long live our group Los Renegados [The Rebels]

But behind that, this is how it’ll be and this is what we do.

Todos Santos, Carnival, Santa Vera Cruz, they are the three celebrations

Obviously we live by that but the lives of people

and which you want to return to live to feel good.

by an agricultural cycle depending on the season.

[singing couplets in Quechua]

And later we finish with a swing.

of the cycle of my life this year

Todos Santos is for us…we know that our dead haven’t gone far.

you’ve seen it done, it’s part of your life.

That is a resistance to dying, a cultural resistance.

In all of these celebrations of the three big cycles

that we have big and which govern our lives.

from the Valle Alto in Bolivia are governed

They’re there. They are in old trees, in the mountains,

If you don’t do it, you feel like something is missing.

And Santa Vera Cruz you also have to go

To go out singing for the sow,

And why do we swing? Since it’s summer still on the other side [of the equator],

Then that ends, we gather the harvest and the winter comes.

This is carnival for you!!!

Even though there is acculturation of this other language.

cycles that we celebrate, and more too,

The three are from the agricultural calendar

we swing because we say that the souls have to leave

On the other side [of the equator] the winter starts

in the rivers, in the lakes. They’re there.

I shouldn’t be running around in that because of my age

ask for a good year,

that is an expression of gratitude for the harvest

Carnival is a collection of the harvest

That language is very oppressive.

it’s a way to resist dying culturally. You resist.

which the Catholic religion knew very well to put there.

and, by swinging, we push them to leave in peace with joy, singing.

and everything starts to dry.

But as time passes, they move away and they aren’t with us

but I grab my skirt, I put it on, and I go dance

give thanks for what has been given to you,

that is ready to gather.

and gratitude to mother earth.

Even living in a country so big, so consumerist, so commercialized,

You get used to all of that oppression but it’s in a very commercial level.

And when we prepare the ground, it’s the coldest time and Santa Vera Cruz begins.

It’s like kicking the air – go well, goodbye –

and every November 1st at noon, they say, heaven is wide open

because, if I don’t go to even one carnival party,

Maybe, what I see is ‘ok I’ll go pray in your church,

and ask for another year,

It’s gratitude to Mother Earth.

but it’s because it’s a way to continue something

It doesn’t matter. Despite that, people continuing doing this

and they come over the Catholic church and they go home

I feel like I haven’t given gratitude to Mother Earth.

It’s the period of fertility. It’s the agricultural new year really, May 3rd

and it lasts more or less every weekend for a month in Bolivia

it doesn’t matter, right? I will respect Jesus Crist.

leaving your things there.

But it is shown through dance, songs, etc.

and the Valle Alto community has grown a lot.

[if gte mso 9]> Normal 0 false false false en-US-POSIX JA X-NONE

In community, you feel good

not only to raise a building,

We call something a project not only when it’s a structural project.

every time it’s mother’s day or for the soccer team there.

when you help the mothers or the soccer teams.

We also have projects to help people,

Now we are around 480 families in total, from those 12 people.

Our thoughts are still there,

in Bolivia, in my town Santa Rosa.

of which we held tournaments to play soccer.

Each family has 3 or 4 kids – we’re more than a thousand people.

In 1992, 3 or 4 years later, they started to arrive,

I arrived here in 1989 and there was a group of teams

Can you imagine?

We tried to make teams and from the town of Santa Rosa,

they started to bring their wives.

So, all of us have left our town

there barely were enough people in this country, in Virginia.

So that’s how we got here.

but our spirit is there.

We were only 12 men. Women weren’t here yet.

Most of the people that are there are from outside the towns.

And people from the town don’t hesitate

Because really, if they weren’t there,

In this way the town isn’t left abandoned.

They are from the mountains, from towns far away, very far away.

to tell them to come and stay in their house.

that says they are from Santa Rosa,

It’s populated.

They need someone in Bolivia who takes care of their house,

And those are the people that we count on.

Good or bad, it has a population

which is good, they protect our town.

the town would be completely abandoned.

their land, their livestock, their elderly relatives.

They gain our trust.

Orlando Pérez Maribel Pérez Announcer Maribel Pérez Julia García Julia García Julia García Orlando Pérez Luke Sejas Luke Sejas

Voices in order of Appearance | Voces en orden de aparición

we have the right.

And the funds from that will help your town,

just a few people you could easily count from the towns

and all of that money goes to your town.

And in the tournaments, each team hosts

Many years ago there were communities with

everyone wants to give orders, everyone wants to decide things.

now you could do your own championship every year,

But it doesn't work like that. We have leadership

But with the growth of the community you can have

a project for your town, and you can do that championship

and INCOPEA was born from that,

All of that comes from that we’re all from the same town,

We aren’t a lot of teams but everyone wants...

a championship every year.

‘This is my town too, this is my town too.’

not just once every five years.

which I say has to be respected, no?

your own championship today and have your own eight teams

...since we’re all from the same town,

but with the growth of the population,

which was a tournament between the communities.

“We always carry the music from Bolivia. It's a way of arriving at a country - simply by listening to the music...There was never ever a lack of music in my house when we were there [in Virginia]. There never lacked that music that always accompanies us from one place to another." "Siempre llevamos la música de aquí de Bolivia. Es una manera de poder llegar a un país - simplemente escuchando la música... nunca, nunca falto en mi casa cuando estuvimos allá. Nunca falto esa música que siempre nos acompañaba de un lado para otro.” Roly Vallejos Zurita, Santa Rosa, Bolivia - VirginiaEndFragment

[if gte mso 9]> Normal 0 false false false en-US-POSIX JA X-NONE

En Mayo 2016, la comunidad habló de sus planes para celebrar el Dia de la Madre el 27 de Mayo. Habían diferente visiones de como organizar la comunidad y cuales serian las metas de un evento. “Sino mantienen el pueblo, no hay nada…si mantienen el pueblo unido, va a haber mucho mas. Si todos asistimos, siempre va a haber fondos.” - Ruben Machado, Presidente de Santa Rosa LISAR 2015-2016 “No estoy d’acuerdo con eventos solo para compartir, siempre deberíamos recaudar fondos.” - Doña Pati “Pero si vamos todos, va a haber mas dinero, regenera dinero.” - Ruben Machado “Quiero disfrutar con mi gente, con mi pueblo.” - Señora de Santa RosaEndFragment

[if gte mso 9]> Normal 0 false false false en-US-POSIX JA X-NONE