"Fall" Colors

It was just Halloween, but it sure didn’t feel like it. Not because nobody in Masealama nor Turfloop, nor probably the entire province of Limpopo for that matter, was dressed for the occasion. Instead, it did not feel like Halloween simply because of the landscape, rather than changing from colors of green to the beautiful earthy reds, oranges, yellows, and eventually to brown, the colors are shifting from brown to green. Some of the trees are starting to bud, producing beautiful purple flowers, and every kind of fruit you can imagine. The brown grasses are now green. People are planting their crops and tending to their fields. Nor did I see a single carved jack-o’-lantern! This is a very odd feeling for me. Hearing, knowing, that the leaves are changing back at home, Denver has received snow just days after having 80 degree weather, and the east coast having power shortages due to mass amounts of snow does not make sense to me. It’s hot out.

I know it is now November. I know that it should be fall. I know that it was just Halloween, Thanksgiving is right around the corner, and Christmas is coming. But it sure doesn’t feel like any of this is true. The only thing that feels like this is the case is seeing Christmas decorations up in the grocery stores. In fact, they put them up much earlier than in the states. I saw them decorating the Shoprite in Polokwane nearly a month ago! Provided they do not recognize Halloween or Thanksgiving as holidays here in South Africa, so their next holiday is Christmas, but nearly three months in advance? Come on. It has always bothered when stores in America dress up their aisles for the next holiday the day after the previous holiday concluded, but I guess it makes me feel a bit more at home here when they decorate for the coming Christmas early too.

The next few months are going to be a bit strange for me. I imagine the intensifying heat and lack of snow in November and December will be the hardest things for me to wrap my mind around. It’s not that I don’t understand that I am in the Southern Hemisphere and the weather is opposite of what is back at home, but my mind and body have come to expect these changes to occur. None the less, I believe it will be a good experience for me to have. It will be fun to see the different ways the people of Masealama celebrate the birth of Jesus. I am excited to be involved with their traditions and share with them a bit of my own. After all, I don’t think Christmas is about freezing your butt off or having snow on the ground, rather it is celebrating the birth of the Son of God, the greatest gift of them all. And last time I checked, Bethlehem doesn’t have snow in December either.

I don’t suppose I’ll be attending any ugly sweater festivities this year…