Burning The Old Man

Our old man. He has arms the size of a big football player's thighs

An old man made to look like Huge Chavez

and another to look like Mel Zelaya

In Honduras, many people make these scare-crow-like men on or before New Year's eve. They call them old men. Some are stuffed with firecrackers. At midnight, the old men will be burned, symbolic of getting rid of the old stuff as the new year begins.

Today, Denis and the kids made an old man, which we will burn at midnight. Ours is stuffed with dried pine straw, not firecrackers. The kids had fun making their old man today, but Denis had the most fun of all.

Tomorrow, I have to take kids to visitation and I knew I needed gasoline. Fearing nothing would be open tomorrow, I left this afternoon to buy gasoline. So today for my entertainment, I drove up the main street of Santa Ana looking at the old men. Many were quite elaborate and some looked like ours. One was made to look like Huge Chavez and another like former president, Mel Zelaya. Remember, these will be burned at midnight. I guess that says what the builders of those old men think of those two individuals.

We are taking our kids to church and then watching movies and having snacks until midnight, and then burning our old man.

The fireworks have already begun. It may be a noisy night in Santa Ana.

Happy New Year to all.

Terri