New Year's Eve is always a night for celebration. In most countries people celebrate the coming of the New Year.
Ecuador is unique by having a ceremony to say goodbye to the Old Year.
All throughout the country on the 31st of December, young people and
old go to extraordinary efforts to maintain one of the magical
traditions of Ecuador.
Symbolism is rife. The Old Year, or "Aņo Viejo" is represented by
various creations. A model house is made of branches and burnt to
ashes. Life-size dummies, akin to our Guy Fawkes, made of sawdust and
dressed in old clothes, are sold in the streets. Ornate masks are sold
for adornment of the dummies.
The idea is to represent some happening, activity, or person, that
has resulted in a negative impact on the community, or your well-being.
Often this is a politician, judge, army leader etc, whose actions you
disapprove of. The appropriate mask is worn by the dummy. A
controversial political happening may be the subject of a very elaborate
construction, which is put to the torch at midnight. What a great idea
for Australia!
The creativity of the people is encouraged by having a competition for
the best effort. In Cuenca, where I was, the Amistad Club and Azuy
Union of Journalists organise such competition. You have to register
your creation and explain what or who it represents and detail why
public notice should be focused thereon. A jury of Club members
commences its tour of exhibits at 4pm and deliberates over events.
Prizes are given. What a rich feed stock for newspapers the next day!
The final day of the Old Year is lots of fun. Young people dress up as
widows, witches and skeletons, etc, symbolic of the Old Year. They stop
cars in the street and beg for a donation, which I suspect goes to buy
fireworks. I approached a group of kids in fancy dress on a Cuenca street and admired their dummy.
"This is the President of Ecuador" they inform me proudly.
"Can I take a photo of him?" I ask, slipping a few thousand sucres into
an outstretched paw.
I admire a fancy procession of floats with pretty girls on horseback,
that stops briefly at a church for a blessing. Towards dusk, the centre
of town around San Francisco Church and the market is blocked off to
vehicular traffic. From the balcony of my room in Hotel Milan, I watch
in amazement as people stack wood for bonfires in the middle of the
street.
The quantity of rockets and bangers available is enough to start a
revolution. I ponder over events, safe in my hotel eyrie, camera at the
ready, fortified with rum and Coke, watching all these preparations for
who knows what?
Periodically I venture down to street level for an empanada, and to
see what's going on. Close to midnight the groups in the plaza below
light their bonfires. Sparks are flying from a particularly big
construction one block away. I watch them beat the dummies with sticks
and then hurl them onto the bonfire. There is great cheering and revelry
as the dummies burst into flames and sky rockets soar into the night.
The outcome of the burning is that it releases a great euphoria.
Misfortunes and bad memories of the past year are burned away. There is
a purification of one's thoughts. The path ahead is made clear for new
hope and happiness. In this moment, resolutions for the New year are
made.
The old year has gone. There is hugging and kissing and tears. The
celebration of the Old Year in Ecuador is a wonderful tradition and
truly a magical event not to be missed.
Questions?
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