Two Years Below Chimborazo: Festivals, Festivities & Similar Activities

Central Quito, with certain plazas labeled, where various festivities were known to occur

Around the end of the year Ecuadorians focus on enjoying life. It is a time of holidays and associated celebrations. It is not a time to expect a lot of work to be done. The following, pieced together from photographs, memory and my letters home, is a taste of what I experienced around the New Year:

Day of the Dead - November 1 & 2, visit the graves of ancestors and leave food. For a time of great liveliness and cheer, it is ironic that this end of the year period begins with the Day of the Dead.

Celebrating Quito in the streets

American Thanksgiving - Late November dinner at the Peace Corps doctor’s home along with 8-9 other volunteers and the Peace Corps Director for Ecuador. Included martinis, turkey and the traditional trimmings.

Co-op Volunteer Conference - November 28 is start to our semiannual volunteer gathering consisting of discussions among ourselves leading hopefully to constructive suggestions for the Ecuador Cooperative Federation. We also participate in courses volunteers had requested on subjects where we felt weak.

Pre-Conference party - November 25 we Quito residents plus other volunteers in town for the conference enjoy a Spaghetti dinner with wine at residence of some female volunteers living in our barrio Vicentina. After dinner a CARE worker we had invited played folk songs on his guitar.


Dancing at a big party

Quito Foundation Day - December 6 marks the Spanish founding of Quito by the conquistador Sebastian de Benalcazar. [The city existed long before the arrival of the Spanish. Historians believe the indigenous Quitu people originally established it as an important urban center.] The founding of Quito is officially commemorated with bullfights (I attended a few), a tradition which is a relic of Spanish colonial rule.

Misa de Gallo - On December 24 Ecuadorians celebrate a special mass called the “Rooster Mass.”

Christmas - On December 25 Ecuadorians go all out with citywide Christmas pageants. This is the day of the Paseo del Niño children’s parade.

February/March Carnival - beginning on the weekend before Lent and continuing until Fat Tuesday, Ecuador’s Carnival celebrations are in full swing. Quito celebrations include people throwing water balloons, spraying foam, and other frivolous activities.