"Holidays" Weekend

The Ecuadorians sure know how to celebrate holidays.  This weekend, October 31 - November 2, we celebrated four holidays.

1) Dia de las Brujas (Day of the Witches, or Halloween).  Halloween is not very big here since its origins are not in the Spanish or indigenous traditions.  Still, some of my friends had Halloween parties with costumes.  Many restaurants and bars have similar parties.  I think most of this is from the strong American influence in Quito.

2) Dia de los Santos Todos (All Saints Day).  I didn't witness a huge amount of ceremony/ritual, but we did walk into a church in Cotacatchi where they were having a special All Saints service.

3) Dia de los Funtos, or Muertos (Day of the Dead). THIS is the big holiday.  Most families gather for fellowship and to honor their deceased relatives.  They go to the grave(s) and place flowers.

In Cotacatchi, people leave business cards or little notes to show the families that they were there.  The indigenous people gather in the morning to eat food around the grave, say prayers, and tell stories.

Instead of regular flowers, they place paper flowers around the graves.  The family and I spent 2 days in Cotacatchi to visit the grave of Marjory's parents.

4) Dia de la Independencia de Cuenca (Independence Day, city of Cuenca).  Ecuador celebrates the independence of the country and every major city.  Cuenca, a city I haven't yet visited, is supposed to be beautiful with large churches and beautiful scenery.



 Check out my Picasa Photo Albums to the upper right for many more pictures and stories from this weekend.