tumbin´ the yunse

I went to a really fun fiesta last night. It's the beginning of Carnival season in Rinconada Llicuar. Apparently Carnivales last for a month and culminate in 3 days which are really, really crazy Carnival at Fat Tuesday, but that's still a ways off. Last night was the first Yunse. I remain mystified by the origin of this celebration, (wikipedia had nothing) but basically they start by cutting down a pretty big tree. Then, they put a whole lot of stuff in the branches, like plastic dishes chairs, mop buckets, and clothes. Next, they move it to another spot, stand it up, and plant it. Finally, people are invited to take turns cutting it down again and when it falls it's like a giant adult piñata. Everyone runs like crazy underneath the giant, heavy, falling trunk to get their buckets and t-shirts. It is insanity accompanied by a fireworks castle, Huyano music, and an all-night dance drenched in Crystal beer and chicha.

I discovered that there are a few catches to the Yunse, for me. First, the people who put it on are just folks from town and they spend a lot of money on the whole affair. They're called the Majordomos. The folks that the Majordomos invite to chop at the tree with an axe are supposed to contribute money and put it on the next year, but it's an honor to be invited. So even though I didn't really know this before yesterday, when they invited me to cut the tree down I suspected that this was somehow asking me for money and fortunately I called my host mom over to help me communicate with this random drunk guy who was trying to hand me the axe. She told him that I would do him the honor of taking a few stabs at the tree but in my special position as a ¨volunteer of peace¨ that I would not be paying for the following year´s Yunse. He was into it so I had to take the axe and hack at this tree in front of oh maybe, 800 people. As I was hammering away at this tree, which really they want you to do some damage because it takes along time to chop down a tree, I was thinking so I'm surrounded by a circle of drunk men dancing the marinara waving red, green and blue flags and I'm chopping down a piñata-tree and in the Spanglish that is my inner monologue of late I had this cryptic ditty about tumbin´ the Yunse going in my head. (Tumbar means to chop in Spanish.)

Tumbin the Yunse
Tumbin the Yunse
Crystal oils my axe
These go-go guys marinera their flags
Probably will want me to drink lots of chicha after this...
Tumbin the Yunse
Wait what happens if it falls this way?
A donde debo correr?
Tumbin the Yunse
Is that guy urinating over there?
Hay dios mio.
Tumbin the Yunse

I hate it when I start to giggle to myself in front of 800 people. At the end of the day, one of the main things that I'm learning in Peru is how to do bizarre stuff that kind of freaks me out gracefully and in front of hundreds of people. I suppose that this is a good skill to have; I mean seems like it could serve me well later and I mean wielding an axe is kind of cool.

Photos to come. OH and they douse you in water and talcum powder as part of the fun. It was a blast.