Juliana Navidad A La Colombiana Chiva Culiona |top| (2026)

Forget the office party. Forget the quiet dinner at El Cielo . During the week between the Novena (Dec 16-24) and Día de los Inocentes (Dec 28), the Chiva Culiona reigns supreme.

When December hits Colombia, the air changes. It smells of natilla , buñuelos , and gunpowder. But in the bustling streets of Bogotá, Medellín, Cali, and beyond, there is one phrase that echoes louder than a vallenato accordion during the Novena de Aguinaldos : Juliana Navidad A La Colombiana Chiva Culiona

So Juliana did the only thing she knew: she improvised. She tore the hem of her linen shirt—a stupidly expensive thing from a Yorkville boutique—and wrapped the hose. She borrowed a woman’s hairspray to seal a leak. She convinced a teenage boy to sacrifice his bicycle’s inner tube for a belt. And when the battery whimpered its last, she ordered everyone out. Forget the office party

It is the Colombian philosophy of "Disfrutar la vida" (enjoy life) packaged into a moving vehicle. When December hits Colombia, the air changes

A nine-day prayer marathon leading up to Christmas, filled with carols ( villancicos ) and traditional snacks like buñuelos and natilla .