Poor Hugo.

At 10pm one night, I heard a pound, pound, pound happening outside our house. Our neighbor cooks over an open fire and regularly chops firewood for cooking. I assumed it was her hacking away. Hugo peaked out the window to see what was happening. It turned out to be our landlord. She and her son were planting a tree in our front yard. Random. Especially at 10pm. Hugo went out to talk to her. She said she had to plant it THAT night or the tree wouldn't grow. When Hugo told me that, I laughed. There are sooooo many odd customs and beliefs here. When I told Hugo that, he had to agree.

He said, "Did I ever tell you about the tradition for the Saturday before Easter?"

"No," I said. I have heard a lot about random beliefs and customs (enough to fill an entire blog posting on its own), but I hadn't heard the Saturday-before-Easter one.

Hugo buried his face in his pillow, obviously embarrassed. "My mom used to lasso me by the feet and hang me from a tree."

"WHAT?!"

"On the Saturday before Easter, people take things they want to grow and hang them upside down from a tree. If you hang something upside down on that particular day, it is supposed to grow. Like...plants, animals...people."

"What?! How long would you hang there?!"

"Until I wanted to get down."

"How many times did she do that?!"

"Every year. But it never worked. I didn't grow."