This past weekend, JP and I were the padrinos (godparents) for a 14-year-old girl making her first communion. The way this happened was a little odd so I thought I would share the background. A few weeks ago, JP told me at dinner that he had agreed to be the padrino for the baptism of this same girl. He explained that the girl's older sister, who is in her mid-20s and knows JP from when he was a JV here, had come to see him at the clinic while he was working. He said that he had agreed, and she proceeded to tell him that the baptism was the Saturday of that week and that there were meetings up in town on two nights that week that he needed to go to. As we talked, he figured out that it would be difficult to do it due to his work schedule at the Posta and he felt a little weird because the request was so last minute. I hadn't been involved with anything like this before, so I wasn't sure about it either, but after we talked about it, JP decided that he would prefer to decline this invitation for the reasons we had talked about. So, the next day he went and found the sister and declined, we got a present for the girl anyway, and figured the matter was settled.
Then, several weeks later, we received an invitation for both of us to attend the first communion for the same girl. JP was asked to be the Padrino again, and he accepted, telling me it was less of a big deal to be padrinos for a first communion than for a baptism. A few days later, the sister asked JP if I would be the madrina (godmother) and he accepted on my behalf. The idea of being a padrino in some cases means that you are committing to support the person emotionally, but in some cases it also means that there is some financial support expected as well. When JP accepted the invitation he asked about what was expected of us and the sister explained that they wanted us to be in the role of advisers rather than financial supporters.
So, we asked around to find out what kind of gift we were supposed to get, and I went up to town and found the part of a market where they sell first communion gifts and got a rosary and a rosary guide book. We got up bright and early on Saturday and walked over to the church. There were 20 children from Habitat receiving first communion, and they all wore their school uniforms (most from Miguel Pro but a few from other schools as well).
Here are the kids lined up to receive communion. The mass was nice, and Fr. Fred said a nice homily. We were somewhat surprised that photographers came into the church and sold 8x10 photos to the parents of the children receiving communion right in the middle of mass, but no one else seemed to mind or be surprised.
After mass we took the obligatory photos:
JP and I with Candy and Fr. Fred
After mass there was a small celebration for the parents and children at the school, but there wasn't room for the padrinos because there were so many kids in the celebration. We were invited over to the family's house the following day. We went over after mass on Sunday morning and had cake and hot milk. It was the first time I had a chance to talk to the family and we actually had a good visit, talking about our life here and in the states and telling stories. So even though it was kind of a strange experience, I actually think it went well and the family told us to think of ourselves as another set of aunts and uncles to give advice and be supportive to the girl, which seems like a good idea.
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