A Holiday Everyday, Somewhere in Ecuador

I have been told that there is an official fiesta here everyday someplace.  Each city, town, pueblo, and neighborhood has its own independence celebration in addition to the nationally recognized holidays. 

Here is the holiday line up from last week:

• All Saints’ Day, November 1
• All Souls’ Day/ Day of the Dead, November 2
• Independence of Cuenca, November 3
• Independence of Azogues (a town near Cuenca), November 4, (AKA another reason not to work or go to school if you live in Cuenca)
• Mama Negra, first Saturday in November

Because of the action-packed fiesta week, all schools and government agencies were closed for at least Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday.  Many Cuencans use the break as an opportunity to escape to the countryside or the beach, but many others join the tourists that come from near and far to participate in the fiestas of Cuenca. Here in Cuenca, the party began on the Friday before the official days with the opening of art fairs, the first round of fireworks and concerts.

I expected All Souls’ Day, Day of the Dead, and Cuenca’s Independence Day to each have a different tone but instead found that the three seemed to blend together into one on-going vacation of colorful parades, artisan fairs, music, and various other events.  Here are a few highlights:

guagua de pan

• On Sunday a few other Fulbrights came down to visit. 
• On Day of the Dead, we attended an early morning mass in the crypt of the Catedral Nueva.  This is the only day all year that the crypt is open to the public.  I also ate a guagua de pan (bread baby.)  These are individual servings of bread in a person shape that remind me of gingerbread-people.  They are traditionally eaten on this day with colada morada, a fruity, purple drink.
• On Cuenca’s Independence Day I stumbled across Ecuador’s president Rafael Correa when passing through the Parque Calderon, Cuenca’s main plaza.
• Also on Cuenca’s Independence Day, I saw a wood car race followed by a donkey race, both of which started almost an hour late due to an argument about where the ambulances should stand by between the local police, national police, an ambulance driver, a man dressed as the pope and the devil. 

That sign says "Volcanic Threat Zone."  This is
not uncommon signage for Latacunga.

This past weekend I headed north to Latacunga, a town 2 hours south of Quito, where another Fulbright ETA friend lives, and where the infamous Mama Negra takes place.

Approximately 9:30 a.m.  Those are moss monsters.
I have no idea what the significance is.

There's the Mama Negra!

Mama Negra (which literally translates to “black mama”) was really something.  The featured event is an early morning parade of mixed traditions and origins that lasts into the early afternoon before fading into a gigantic party.  Each year a local man is chosen to portray the Mama Negra in the parade by dressing as a woman and painting his face black.  The Mama Negra and the various other characters involved in this tradition are said to save the city from eruptions of the nearby volcano, Cotopaxi, every year.  Throughout the parade, huacos, dressed in white, come and pull bystanders such as myself into the street and perform cleansings.   The huacos surround you, chant blessings about volcanoes, and end by spiting a fine spray of alcohol all over you.  By noon everyone was drunk and it was not uncommon for a stranger to put a bottle of some unknown substance up to your mouth.  Luckily we all survived the Mama Negra in one piece and I will now hopefully be spared of death by lava. 

This huaco is looking for someone to cleanse.

Cotopaxi