Monday, June 16, 2014
Election of the Madrina - Guatemala's Beauty Pageant for Teachers
Last week I went to the district-wide event in my town hall. A beauty pageant for teachers with four teachers competing. There was no school Friday so that all of the teachers could attend this event. It was on the hora Chapin (Guatemala-time). It was supposed to start at 8am, but when I got there at 8 there were only five people sitting in the audience. Finally at 9:15 they started with the national anthem, the anthem of Central America, the song Mi Linda Totonicapán (my beautiful Totonicapán), and a prayer. Finally at 10:00am the first contestant walked out. I should really know by now that late is on time.
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Any idea on how the "contestants" are chosen--or do they take whoever volunteers?
ReplyDeleteIf I understand this correctly, the audience is just other teachers from the district. Do you see any purpose to this event other than entertainment? Do you think it serves as a morale booster or as a bonding experience for the teachers?
Could you see this with the teachers of Cambridge? Me neither.
I'm not sure how the contestants are chosen - it is probably some mixture of they want to do it and they are elected by the other teachers.
DeleteThe "purpose" of this event seems to be mainly entertainment and if I am being bitter about the number of hours of classes taught, an excuse to practice dances and do arts and crafts. On a brighter note, there is usually a "traje típico" section with formal traditional-wear that I think plays a role in preserving the vibrant Mayan culture. There is also usually "fantasy-wear" where they dress up as Strawberry Shortcake (the character) or fairies. So you win some you lose some.
The video shows some of the spirit of the contestants and the sense of fun. Thanks for the effort to put it all together in such a great format!
ReplyDeleteStarting late is a whole other thing... sounds like the baby shower that my mom and I attended in February when we arrived a few minutes before the 1pm time on the invitation, on a Saturday, thereby, disappointing some of our relatives because we were missing "Saturday lunch" together, only to find that the rest of the guests all arrived much closer to 3pm. We were initially embarrassed for the expectant mom and the family who had prepared it all, and we were starving. Finally we asked if we could eat the food that was all out. It was amazing but by 3;30 there were almost 70 people there. Why they all came so late it still a mystery but the invitation was quite clear. If it had also been a contest for cutest pregnant mom to be, I would have disqualified myself as prejudiced and too hungry to think clearly. Glad you got to see your towns whole contest last year. Do you know any of those teachers who were contestants?
The contest was for the whole school district (22 schools) and I work in 11 so I only knew one of the participants, but had seen the others around at other events.
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