United States of Colombia, finally!
- Thread starter fermosquera69
- Start date
This update sir, besides totally unexpected, is just amazing, once again I must take my hypothetical virtual hat off
United States of Colombia, chapter 24: Una navidad muy colombiana.
<bilingual_bonus>¡Ven a nuestras almas, ven no tardes tanto!</bilingual_bonus>
Hey all!
Hope your Christmas Eve was fruitful and full of joy and happiness. Today's update is going to be about how Christmas is celebrated in Colombia (in general) and how December affects every behavior (December means any kind of things even to the most agnostic/atheistic Colombian)
Before starting, let's cover the core of these celebrations: the Novena de Aguinaldos. According to Wikipedia (more info here), the Novena is a similar tradition to the mexican Posadas. It is (started, nowadays...) a set of prayers remembering the nine days before Christmas.
The first versions were an ordinary prayer, until Mother María Ignacia added the Joys, which ends with the sing that appears at the first Bilingual Bonus of today's update.
The USofC didn't ban those traditions, not only because of the freedom of cult, but also because the Novenas were (and still are social gatherings, and in some cases, the only chance to meet someone famous and have some drinks and all...)
During the Novenas, there is not only prayers (in fact, the pass of time allowed the Novenas to become more of a social gathering than a prayer), but also food (as buñuelos, natillas and arroz con leche, depending the region), originally from the churches, and then, becoming a homely celebration, with entire families and communities gathering around the pesebre (a miniature of the birth of Child Jesus)
Today's Story Update is going to explain the meaning of a very Colombian Christmas... and Christmas in general.
<bilingual_bonus>Feliz Navidad, y próspero año 2015!</bilingual_bonus>
United States of Colombia, chapter 24: Una navidad muy colombiana.
It's december. Seems that the weather favored the streets at the church of this remote town in the mountains of Antioquia. They waited all the year, every day, cent by cent, they kept waiting and working. And that day came. December the 16th, the day that the prayers united workers and capataces[1], children and adult, men and women alike.
Since they had memory, the Valencias and Londoños (and another families in the State of Antioquia) kept their tradition of gathering money to transform the traditional Novena in a feast. A feast where God and His Creation would meet and remember their Savior...
"But, why we celebrate Christmas, in this war-torn country where all what we did has been to bleed ourselves?", asked Ana María, a rebel girl with desires of adventures and rivers of gold and forbidden activities...
Her sister, Luisa Fernanda, kept arguing with her: "Oh, come on! Can't you see? We are united, we will be united and the Natilleras are the proof of that!" She took some air and said: "Look. For each nonsense word you said, three people keep adorning the Virgen and painting her with the most beautiful colors. Those families that are poor? We bring happiness to them!"
Ana María said: "There are even more poor families out there. Did we helped them? Did WE do something for them?"
Luisa Fernanda turned her eyes to Ana María and said: "You have strong arms, you say you want to go to the mines and get gold and fortune. But, what have YOU done for them? The greatest glory is to give, we always say. And until you have done something for another human being, you will not understand the sense of the Natilleras."
Luisa kept working with the other neighbors, arranging flowers and teaching the kids how to sing the Joys...
Hours have passed and after doing some help, Ana María looked to some people... "Why aren't you helping?"
They said: "We want to help, but everyone is so busy that... we don't know what to do."
Ana María said: "Will you help me please?"
They kept working for hours, and finally, after knowing that they were victims of the Thousand Days' War, she said to them: "I want you to have a home. I want everyone to have a home. How I can start?"
Luisa saw her friend and said: "Everything starts with the first stone. Want to go to pray the novena? It is about to start."
That family smiled in first time. And in that long day, Ana María knew her reason to be.
That first "stone" helped victims around the State of Antioquia, and the initial idea of a Natillera, would soon become the very Colombian version of the Cooperativist[2] movement... but that... is another story.
Let there be known, that no family went without shelter and no soul without the joy of doing the right thing.
Notes
[1] Capataz: spanish word for a kind of boss
[2] I will explore this in part of the following update, which is also going to explore the First World War. The Natilleras IOTL were the first instances pf cooperative projects, which would become very successful enterprises in very important industries for the Colombian economy.
Have a very merry Christmas and a happy new year. This timeline is going to have updates sooner or later, but first, let me finish this year, giving to you a big, big BIG "Thank You!".
<bilingual_bonus>¡Ven a nuestras almas, ven no tardes tanto!</bilingual_bonus>
Hey all!
Hope your Christmas Eve was fruitful and full of joy and happiness. Today's update is going to be about how Christmas is celebrated in Colombia (in general) and how December affects every behavior (December means any kind of things even to the most agnostic/atheistic Colombian)
Before starting, let's cover the core of these celebrations: the Novena de Aguinaldos. According to Wikipedia (more info here), the Novena is a similar tradition to the mexican Posadas. It is (started, nowadays...) a set of prayers remembering the nine days before Christmas.
The first versions were an ordinary prayer, until Mother María Ignacia added the Joys, which ends with the sing that appears at the first Bilingual Bonus of today's update.
The USofC didn't ban those traditions, not only because of the freedom of cult, but also because the Novenas were (and still are social gatherings, and in some cases, the only chance to meet someone famous and have some drinks and all...)
During the Novenas, there is not only prayers (in fact, the pass of time allowed the Novenas to become more of a social gathering than a prayer), but also food (as buñuelos, natillas and arroz con leche, depending the region), originally from the churches, and then, becoming a homely celebration, with entire families and communities gathering around the pesebre (a miniature of the birth of Child Jesus)
Today's Story Update is going to explain the meaning of a very Colombian Christmas... and Christmas in general.
<bilingual_bonus>Feliz Navidad, y próspero año 2015!</bilingual_bonus>
United States of Colombia, chapter 24: Una navidad muy colombiana.
It's december. Seems that the weather favored the streets at the church of this remote town in the mountains of Antioquia. They waited all the year, every day, cent by cent, they kept waiting and working. And that day came. December the 16th, the day that the prayers united workers and capataces[1], children and adult, men and women alike.
Since they had memory, the Valencias and Londoños (and another families in the State of Antioquia) kept their tradition of gathering money to transform the traditional Novena in a feast. A feast where God and His Creation would meet and remember their Savior...
"But, why we celebrate Christmas, in this war-torn country where all what we did has been to bleed ourselves?", asked Ana María, a rebel girl with desires of adventures and rivers of gold and forbidden activities...
Her sister, Luisa Fernanda, kept arguing with her: "Oh, come on! Can't you see? We are united, we will be united and the Natilleras are the proof of that!" She took some air and said: "Look. For each nonsense word you said, three people keep adorning the Virgen and painting her with the most beautiful colors. Those families that are poor? We bring happiness to them!"
Ana María said: "There are even more poor families out there. Did we helped them? Did WE do something for them?"
Luisa Fernanda turned her eyes to Ana María and said: "You have strong arms, you say you want to go to the mines and get gold and fortune. But, what have YOU done for them? The greatest glory is to give, we always say. And until you have done something for another human being, you will not understand the sense of the Natilleras."
Luisa kept working with the other neighbors, arranging flowers and teaching the kids how to sing the Joys...
Hours have passed and after doing some help, Ana María looked to some people... "Why aren't you helping?"
They said: "We want to help, but everyone is so busy that... we don't know what to do."
Ana María said: "Will you help me please?"
They kept working for hours, and finally, after knowing that they were victims of the Thousand Days' War, she said to them: "I want you to have a home. I want everyone to have a home. How I can start?"
Luisa saw her friend and said: "Everything starts with the first stone. Want to go to pray the novena? It is about to start."
That family smiled in first time. And in that long day, Ana María knew her reason to be.
That first "stone" helped victims around the State of Antioquia, and the initial idea of a Natillera, would soon become the very Colombian version of the Cooperativist[2] movement... but that... is another story.
Let there be known, that no family went without shelter and no soul without the joy of doing the right thing.
Notes
[1] Capataz: spanish word for a kind of boss
[2] I will explore this in part of the following update, which is also going to explore the First World War. The Natilleras IOTL were the first instances pf cooperative projects, which would become very successful enterprises in very important industries for the Colombian economy.
Have a very merry Christmas and a happy new year. This timeline is going to have updates sooner or later, but first, let me finish this year, giving to you a big, big BIG "Thank You!".
¡Feliz año nuevo!
Hey all!
I had some stressing and inhumanly long days thanks to work and parents' visits from the Christmas and New Year holidays, which slowed the updating processes... Well, <bilingual_bonus>año nuevo, vida nueva</bilingual_bonus>, and better the days will be...
The 2014 Christmas Special Update ended an "era" both in the scope of the TL and in the similarities with OTL Colombia.
For all who didn't know, the last update was in December 1913, which means that World War One is on the horizon...
What's coming soon in this TL?
I'm going to investigate on this to keep it up with the usual quality of this Timeline.
Until that, some glimpses of the future...
"Hier die größte Verteidigung der Vereinigten Staaten von Kolumbien gebildet / Aquí se forma la más grande defensa de los Estados Unidos de Colombia" -Inscription written in the Federal War College, Bucaramanga, State of Santander
"States, and cities, can't be developed alone. We always look for our brothers and sisters. And this new planning structure for our cities is no exception. The combined efforts of energy, manufacture and transport industry, and the people, have brought the greatest urban experiment ever seen into our time. I, as President of the United States of Colombia, declare that the municipalities of Puerto Santander, Puerto Wilches, and San Vicente de Chucurí will be joint into the Metropolitan Area of Barrancabermeja!"
There will be more glimpses, but these are just ideas that bugged me to leave my head and become parts of updates. Any opinions? Comments? Stay tuned!
Hey all!
I had some stressing and inhumanly long days thanks to work and parents' visits from the Christmas and New Year holidays, which slowed the updating processes... Well, <bilingual_bonus>año nuevo, vida nueva</bilingual_bonus>, and better the days will be...
The 2014 Christmas Special Update ended an "era" both in the scope of the TL and in the similarities with OTL Colombia.
For all who didn't know, the last update was in December 1913, which means that World War One is on the horizon...
What's coming soon in this TL?
- The Dreamers' comeback?
- A different World War One?
- Colombians in WWI (no, totally not Colombia in WWI)
- Fluff updates about the (New) States
I'm going to investigate on this to keep it up with the usual quality of this Timeline.
Until that, some glimpses of the future...
"Hier die größte Verteidigung der Vereinigten Staaten von Kolumbien gebildet / Aquí se forma la más grande defensa de los Estados Unidos de Colombia" -Inscription written in the Federal War College, Bucaramanga, State of Santander
"States, and cities, can't be developed alone. We always look for our brothers and sisters. And this new planning structure for our cities is no exception. The combined efforts of energy, manufacture and transport industry, and the people, have brought the greatest urban experiment ever seen into our time. I, as President of the United States of Colombia, declare that the municipalities of Puerto Santander, Puerto Wilches, and San Vicente de Chucurí will be joint into the Metropolitan Area of Barrancabermeja!"
There will be more glimpses, but these are just ideas that bugged me to leave my head and become parts of updates. Any opinions? Comments? Stay tuned!
¡Pues feliz año nuevo!
And now, continuing along with what I have caught up with. I have to blame... the fact that I'm still trying to get used to my tablet to type in. The keyboard, aside from being a barbarian... er... American keyboard, is really hard and it is also not very sensible on perceiving the keystrokes.
But aside from my rant, I actually enjoy the idealism contained within this timeline. From that rather unexpected chapter about Chicha and Beer, to the Christmas chapter.
It's really enjoyable to read this timeline rather than the flood of dystopic timelines that have been cropping up lately. Not only it feels good, it is more soothing for me.
And now, continuing along with what I have caught up with. I have to blame... the fact that I'm still trying to get used to my tablet to type in. The keyboard, aside from being a barbarian... er... American keyboard, is really hard and it is also not very sensible on perceiving the keystrokes.
But aside from my rant, I actually enjoy the idealism contained within this timeline. From that rather unexpected chapter about Chicha and Beer, to the Christmas chapter.
It's really enjoyable to read this timeline rather than the flood of dystopic timelines that have been cropping up lately. Not only it feels good, it is more soothing for me.
Oh, thank you! I hope to keep the idealism even with the grim years of World War I (1914 is coming...)
Not an update per se, but the results of a visit to the Casa de la Moneda (Mint House) here in Bogotá:
Hope you enjoy them
Hope you enjoy them
United States of Colombia, chapter 25: El Despertar del Siglo XX.
Hey all!
The TL has reached a point where world events start to convolute butterflies around Colombia, Latin America and even the entire world. The year is 1914, and some things did happen prior to the beginning of the conflicts which sparked World War I.
IOTL, the convolute situation about the Isthmus and the treaties concerning Panamá Canal, made the Reyes government to recognize the independence of Panamá which by this time was an entirely independent country, recognized and protected by US forces. ITTL, instead, the comission to solve matters at the State of the Isthmus did its job right, and the Herrán-Hay agreements were in full effect. Somehow, the Comission quelled the independentist movements and agreed them to be listened at the Congress in Bogotá.
This was already known. But what wasn't known was the part that Nicolás Esguerra, politician and lawyer played on this. Some circles in Bogotá came to the point to say that thanks to him, Panamá still was a state, even with the treaties between the USofC and the USofA which some people still thought to be an offense for Colombian sovereignty.
Esguerra, after all those efforts, gained a name in the political circles. But for the common Colombian, he was barely known. But after the National Party approved his candidature for Colombian presidency, the people knew him better, which allowed him to win the elections against Rafael Uribe Uribe, for the Liberal Party, and José Vicente Concha, for the almost gone but not forgotten Conservative Party.
The results were like this:
Esguerra won in Bolívar, Magdalena, Boyacá, Cundinamarca, and Santander
Uribe Uribe won in Cauca, Caldas, the Federal District and Panamá
Concha won in Antioquia
Until that, having the Catholic Church (unlike OTL) lost a great part of its political power, some new ideas were transmitted more openly, being the first workers/native social movements, in both Federal District of Bogotá and the State of Cauca.
The Workers' Union of Colombia (Unión de Trabajadores de Colombia) did a parade between the Plaza de Bolívar and the Perseverancia sector (in Bogotá) in commemoration of the victories of the workers' movement and the (often bloody) steps that led to that victories (8 hours worktime being one of them). (More info -in spanish- here ), between workers of the different barrios (sectors/quarters) of Bogotá, namely Catedral, San Pablo, Las Cruces, Santa Bárbara, Las Aguas, Egipto, San Victorino, Las Nieves, San Diego and Chapinero.
Meanwhile, in the State of Cauca, Quintín Lame started a native social movement (IOTL was an uprising) and tried to acknowledge the needs and troubles that the Caucan natives were having by the time. The movement, in silence and without any shot fired, came to be known as far as the state of Tolima and even in some resguardos in the National Territories. Quintín Lame, using native knowledge and traditions made the governments of Cauca and Tolima to listen to his claims in 1917, but consequences would be felt several years later.
Meanwhile, the Elect-President Esguerra, knowing that he won the Presidency, at the very moment of his victory, after celebrations and hearing his competitors' recognition of defeat, started to visit the Palace of San Carlos, to know about what soon-to-be former President Reyes was doing.
What he discovered in relation to Foreign Relations would be chilling for him...
And that finishes -for now- today's update.
I was going to do a Story Update regarding what expected to Esguerra in Foreign Affairs, but I prefer to research more in depth about WWI and how it would affect the USofC in terms of market and migrations.
For now, I hope you enjoy this update.
<bilingual_bonus>Hasta la próxima!</bilingual_bonus>
Hey all!
The TL has reached a point where world events start to convolute butterflies around Colombia, Latin America and even the entire world. The year is 1914, and some things did happen prior to the beginning of the conflicts which sparked World War I.
IOTL, the convolute situation about the Isthmus and the treaties concerning Panamá Canal, made the Reyes government to recognize the independence of Panamá which by this time was an entirely independent country, recognized and protected by US forces. ITTL, instead, the comission to solve matters at the State of the Isthmus did its job right, and the Herrán-Hay agreements were in full effect. Somehow, the Comission quelled the independentist movements and agreed them to be listened at the Congress in Bogotá.
This was already known. But what wasn't known was the part that Nicolás Esguerra, politician and lawyer played on this. Some circles in Bogotá came to the point to say that thanks to him, Panamá still was a state, even with the treaties between the USofC and the USofA which some people still thought to be an offense for Colombian sovereignty.
Esguerra, after all those efforts, gained a name in the political circles. But for the common Colombian, he was barely known. But after the National Party approved his candidature for Colombian presidency, the people knew him better, which allowed him to win the elections against Rafael Uribe Uribe, for the Liberal Party, and José Vicente Concha, for the almost gone but not forgotten Conservative Party.
The results were like this:
Esguerra won in Bolívar, Magdalena, Boyacá, Cundinamarca, and Santander
Uribe Uribe won in Cauca, Caldas, the Federal District and Panamá
Concha won in Antioquia
Until that, having the Catholic Church (unlike OTL) lost a great part of its political power, some new ideas were transmitted more openly, being the first workers/native social movements, in both Federal District of Bogotá and the State of Cauca.
The Workers' Union of Colombia (Unión de Trabajadores de Colombia) did a parade between the Plaza de Bolívar and the Perseverancia sector (in Bogotá) in commemoration of the victories of the workers' movement and the (often bloody) steps that led to that victories (8 hours worktime being one of them). (More info -in spanish- here ), between workers of the different barrios (sectors/quarters) of Bogotá, namely Catedral, San Pablo, Las Cruces, Santa Bárbara, Las Aguas, Egipto, San Victorino, Las Nieves, San Diego and Chapinero.
Meanwhile, in the State of Cauca, Quintín Lame started a native social movement (IOTL was an uprising) and tried to acknowledge the needs and troubles that the Caucan natives were having by the time. The movement, in silence and without any shot fired, came to be known as far as the state of Tolima and even in some resguardos in the National Territories. Quintín Lame, using native knowledge and traditions made the governments of Cauca and Tolima to listen to his claims in 1917, but consequences would be felt several years later.
Meanwhile, the Elect-President Esguerra, knowing that he won the Presidency, at the very moment of his victory, after celebrations and hearing his competitors' recognition of defeat, started to visit the Palace of San Carlos, to know about what soon-to-be former President Reyes was doing.
What he discovered in relation to Foreign Relations would be chilling for him...
And that finishes -for now- today's update.
I was going to do a Story Update regarding what expected to Esguerra in Foreign Affairs, but I prefer to research more in depth about WWI and how it would affect the USofC in terms of market and migrations.
For now, I hope you enjoy this update.
<bilingual_bonus>Hasta la próxima!</bilingual_bonus>
About volunteers at WWI
<bilingual_bonus>Hola, ¡buenos días!</bilingual_bonus>
Hey all!
Hope you have liked prior updates and the progression of the TL so far... I have a question to make but I don't know if it's normal to ask this on a Latin American related post...
In an alternate WWI scenario, how possible (or plausible) is for Latin Americans to volunteer for a side (maybe the Entente or Germany, for example)
<bilingual_bonus>Hola, ¡buenos días!</bilingual_bonus>
Hey all!
Hope you have liked prior updates and the progression of the TL so far... I have a question to make but I don't know if it's normal to ask this on a Latin American related post...
In an alternate WWI scenario, how possible (or plausible) is for Latin Americans to volunteer for a side (maybe the Entente or Germany, for example)
United States of Colombia, chapter 26: Apague y vámonos.
Hey all!
In the previous update, Elect President Esguerra saw with worries the first signals of the conflict that would be known as the Great War, in the traditional document of succession that former President Reyes gave to him.
IOTL, the years prior to the Great War didn't affected what some would call "the step from the mule to the airplane". The first Telephone companies and an expansion and upgrade of the telegraph network were in order. ITTL saw the same developments about Telecommunications and soon, a big part of the United States of Colombia would have at least access to a telegraph, from the crowded streets of Bogotá and Medellín, to the capitals of the National Territories, which were distributed in the following way:
National Territory: Origin-Destination
Caquetá: Popayán-Mocoa
Casanare: Tunja-Tame
La Guajira: Santa Marta-Riohacha
San Andrés Archipelago: Cartagena-San Andrés
San Martín/Llanos: Bogotá-Villavicencio
Sierra Nevada: Santa Marta-Espíritu Santo
Vásquez: Bogotá-Puerto Reyes.
A wider communication through telegrams/telegraph and telephone (in the cities) allowed the businesses to grow fast (as fast as businesses could grow in the dawn of XX Century), but in states with heavy European influence (yes Santander, we're looking at you) the effect of the situation in Europe started to affect the states' economies. The influx of Europeans fleeing from what they saw as "a very bad omen" started to impact in states like Magdalena, Bolívar, Santander and Antioquia, and with them, more variety of customs and cultures.
In general, before World War I, the United States of Colombia had a slow but steady growth. Slow because there were more inhabitants and steady because the different enterprises and the improved communications (road, train, telephone and telegraph) helped to cover the migrations' impact in Colombian life.
And now, let's get to the Story Update:
United States of Colombia, chapter 26: Apague y vámonos.
Daniel's face was blank. He received a telegraph from a distant cousin in Germany, where he told that they were moving to Colombia. He said, in the cryptic language of telegrams, that Europe was getting unbearable. The Embassy in Bucaramanga started to send letters to their nationals in Santander to urge them to enlist. The Kaiser was calling, and most of them answered the call. But there were more that came.
The tales from Europe said that Franz Ferdinand wanted to federate the regions of Austria-Hungary[1], but they shot him [2] and the rest was chaos... People started to sell whatever possessions they had, all they wanted was to leave Europe, to leave the past, to start anew. Until then, armies getting ready, trenches and foxholes ready, and the horror...
The war had started, and all what was left to do was to hope it doesn't hurt them so much...
Well... I confess that writing this chapter was one of the things that kept me at hiatus with this TL, not because there were few sources, but because writing about the pain and sorrow of leaving what you used to call "home", or to leave home to fight in another's war... pretty bleak if you ask me.
Hope you like this update, and if not... well, I hope to have better luck next time.
[1]: He was planning to create some sort of United States of Austria... more info here
[2]: He was killed as IOTL, as always, more info here
Hey all!
In the previous update, Elect President Esguerra saw with worries the first signals of the conflict that would be known as the Great War, in the traditional document of succession that former President Reyes gave to him.
IOTL, the years prior to the Great War didn't affected what some would call "the step from the mule to the airplane". The first Telephone companies and an expansion and upgrade of the telegraph network were in order. ITTL saw the same developments about Telecommunications and soon, a big part of the United States of Colombia would have at least access to a telegraph, from the crowded streets of Bogotá and Medellín, to the capitals of the National Territories, which were distributed in the following way:
National Territory: Origin-Destination
Caquetá: Popayán-Mocoa
Casanare: Tunja-Tame
La Guajira: Santa Marta-Riohacha
San Andrés Archipelago: Cartagena-San Andrés
San Martín/Llanos: Bogotá-Villavicencio
Sierra Nevada: Santa Marta-Espíritu Santo
Vásquez: Bogotá-Puerto Reyes.
A wider communication through telegrams/telegraph and telephone (in the cities) allowed the businesses to grow fast (as fast as businesses could grow in the dawn of XX Century), but in states with heavy European influence (yes Santander, we're looking at you) the effect of the situation in Europe started to affect the states' economies. The influx of Europeans fleeing from what they saw as "a very bad omen" started to impact in states like Magdalena, Bolívar, Santander and Antioquia, and with them, more variety of customs and cultures.
In general, before World War I, the United States of Colombia had a slow but steady growth. Slow because there were more inhabitants and steady because the different enterprises and the improved communications (road, train, telephone and telegraph) helped to cover the migrations' impact in Colombian life.
And now, let's get to the Story Update:
United States of Colombia, chapter 26: Apague y vámonos.
Daniel's face was blank. He received a telegraph from a distant cousin in Germany, where he told that they were moving to Colombia. He said, in the cryptic language of telegrams, that Europe was getting unbearable. The Embassy in Bucaramanga started to send letters to their nationals in Santander to urge them to enlist. The Kaiser was calling, and most of them answered the call. But there were more that came.
The tales from Europe said that Franz Ferdinand wanted to federate the regions of Austria-Hungary[1], but they shot him [2] and the rest was chaos... People started to sell whatever possessions they had, all they wanted was to leave Europe, to leave the past, to start anew. Until then, armies getting ready, trenches and foxholes ready, and the horror...
The war had started, and all what was left to do was to hope it doesn't hurt them so much...
Well... I confess that writing this chapter was one of the things that kept me at hiatus with this TL, not because there were few sources, but because writing about the pain and sorrow of leaving what you used to call "home", or to leave home to fight in another's war... pretty bleak if you ask me.
Hope you like this update, and if not... well, I hope to have better luck next time.
[1]: He was planning to create some sort of United States of Austria... more info here
[2]: He was killed as IOTL, as always, more info here
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