Random Facts - Las Mañanitas

This year I will be experiencing my first Dominican Christmas.  There are very different Christmas traditions here than those of the United States.  One of those traditions involves "Las Mañanitas".  Saturday morning I was woken up at 5 am by a group of Mañanitas.  It literally translates to "the little mornings" but the name actually refers to the people and originates from the fact that this tradition is done very early in the morning.  It is a little bit like caroling, but definitely has a Dominican twist.  The tradition is to get up at 4 or 5 in the morning and get together with a large group of people to walk through the neighborhood singing with the accompaniment of a tambora.  This is like a hand drum, but much louder.  The do not sing soft christmas carol type songs, they sing fast, loud, merengue songs, which is the most traditional type of song here.  They walk through the neighborhood, stopping at each house and sing until the family in the house wakes up and comes out.  Sometimes, they will get invited in for some jengibre, which is a traditional Christmas tea.  You might think that people would find it annoying to be woken up so early in the morning, however, the people here love it and yesterday it created a sense of excitement and joy and celebrating in our neighbordhood, having all been visited by a group of Las Mañanitas. I enjoyed it as well.