NOTICES OP PERU. 



293 



CHAPTER XIL 



Nacimientos — Christmas Eve — Christmas — Ride to Chorillos — Salteaddres — 

 Bathing — Harbor of Chorillos — Callao — La Presidenta — Carnival — Mira- 

 flores — Magdalena. 



About the season of Christmas, those wealthy families in 

 which there are children, form with dolls and toys a repre- 

 sentation of the birth of our Saviour, which is placed in some 

 convenient apartment, where it may be visited by their friends. 

 These are termed familiarly, nacimientos" or births. Some- 

 times mass and prayers are said before them ; and one of the 

 common pastimes of the season is to pay visits from one to the 

 other, all over the city. This has at least the merit of being a 

 beautiful method of instructing the youth in that portion of the 

 history of the son of God. 



On Christmas eve, or noche buena,'^ as on almost all holy- 

 ^ays, the plaza becomes a scene of mirth and amusement. 

 The fresco tables are more numerous, as well as the fires of 

 the women frying fritters and fish ; and the irons of those who 

 make barquillos are plied more actively than ever. Stalls 

 are placed along the Portdl de Escribanos, loaded with a va- 

 riety of cooked poultry, pic^intes, stews, sausages, and pu- 

 cheros. All classes make merry ; the mendicant and miser, 

 the formal lady and woman of light manners, the old and the 

 young, allow their bosoms to expand with joy ; yet the pious 

 stand aloof from all that tempts the appetite in the plaza, till 

 past midnight, indulging only in ices and iced drinks. Lights 

 were twinkling in every direction, though the moon and stars 

 shone as bright as day. 



The great altar of the cathedral was lighted with hundreds 

 of candles, and the choir was full of instruments and voices. 

 The naves were crowded through the whole night with wo- 

 men sitting or kneeling on the pavement in saya y manto, 

 while the priests celebrated mass decorated in cloaks of gold 



