Top 5: Ecuador Traditional Festivals

Ecuadorians are the kind of people that love to celebrate everything. With brightly colored traditions, exciting festivities, and local charming food are often what make up the biggest event of the year in many communities.  In the following post, we will mention our most important traditional festivals celebrated in Ecuador.

Carnival

Carnival is a traditional festival in Ecuador, what occurs as the rest of the world during the first weeks of February, and it represents the last opportunity to have some crazy fun before the somber religious season based on the catholic manners. Carnival is characterized by spraying foam at anyone and everyone nowadays. Several years ago people used buckets or water balloons in order to wet friends or pedestrians passing by all for entertainment (believe or not). Around many cities of the country, you will find parades and festivals with Ecuadorians celebrating this another unique festival.

One of the most known celebration of the carnival is in the city of Ambato located 2 hours south of Quito, this is the only city in Ecuador where people don´t play with water as we mentioned, as they named the festival as “La fiesta de las flores y frutas” where colorful carriages transit along the crowd. They are fantastically decorated with flowers, fruits and even pastries! The design of the carriages must take months in advance, but the effort and creativity are worth it to see.

Holy Week

Holy Week is a very particular time of celebration in Ecuador as many demonstrations in the catholic religion goes on.  During this week locals recreate a dramatic procession of Jesus’ steps to his crucifixion. Thousands of people walk in this passionate demonstration of repentance over the streets of the most important cities. The procession, called the “Procesion del Jesus del Gran Poder”, takes place on Holy Friday. It starts in the morning and ends around 3pm, the hour it is believed that Jesus died. Characters include the Cucuruchos, a word that literally means “Cone.” These are men and women dressed in purple robes wearing pointy cones upon their heads. Thousands of cucuruchos walk among Jesus’ journey, symbolizing penitents who are wanting to repent and turn away from sin.

People anticipate the Holy Week several weeks’ prior they start preparing Fanesca, this is a traditional soup that is only eaten in the weeks leading up to Easter. This customary soup is a rich mixture of twelve different grains (representing the twelve disciples) and salted fish. It contains squash, beans, cheese, peas, corn, and peanuts and is garnished with hard boiled eggs, empanadas, avocado, and fried plantains. Many Ecuadorians enjoy it with family as its creation and consumption is a social family activity.

Inti Raymi

The Festival of the Sun, lasts several weeks from the end of June to the beginning of July, as a celebration of solstice happening in the 21^st of June. The ritual serves to give thanks to the god Inti (Sun), for giving the energy that provides the harvest. It is perhaps the biggest and most important indigenous celebration in Ecuador. 

Inti Raymi consists of several weeks full of dance, music, food, and spiritual rituals. If you want to participate in the country’s most significant indigenous festival, we recommend joining the festivities with a guide during these months.

Festival Yamor

This weeklong festival takes place the first week of September in the Otavalo city located 2 hours north of Quito. Yamor is a traditional drink consisting of seven different varieties of corn. It is typically non-alcoholic, although those that are fermented longer contain a small amount of alcohol. The purpose of the festival is to thank mother earth for the corn harvest. There are many reasons to visit and join the Yamor Festival. This Ecuador traditional festival includes a grand parade including dancers as they play traditional Andean music.

This music can be found all throughout the festival, as there are live music concerts during the week with national and international artists. Other activities include fireworks, bullfighting (the bull is not killed), and one popular event in which swimmers compete crossing the San Pablo lake waters. A Yamor Festival Queen is crowned, and she supervises many of the week’s festivities.

Foreign tourists and locals alike express the excitement of the Yamor Festival. If you are in Ecuador during the beginning of September, we highly recommend that you check it out for this one of a kind experience.

Mama Negra

This is festival celebrated twice a year in September and November, Mama Negra is Latacunga’s biggest event of the year. The celebration is amazingly beautiful, as traditions combine Spanish, African, and indigenous influence. Many locals and tourists gather to witnesses this tradition that processes through the streets of Latacunga a city located 3 hours south of Quito. This tradition is a parade composed of bizarre characters, and the highlight is of course Mama Negra, the Black Mother. Musicians, dancers, and bands are all a part of this magnificent theatrical celebration, ending with an appearance of Mama Negra on horseback. What Mama Negra represents varies based on who you ask. Some say she is a mix of the Virgin Mary and African deities, while others say that she is a liberated slave that became the matriarch of the slaves that were brought to Ecuador.

The festival is believed started in 1742 following one of the eruptions of the Cotopaxi volcano.

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As you can see Ecuador is full of magical traditions that you as a traveler are more than welcome to witness and experience all these festivals when you visit our country.

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