Happy New Year Ecuadorian Style!

Before moving to Ecuador we knew there would be many cultural differences we would face.  The most obvious and most difficult being the language difference.  Day to day activities we took for granted in the USA became extremely difficult and tiresome for us here in Ecuador.  However, after nine months of language learning we function quite well in our day to day activities, and are increasing weekly in our conversational Spanish.

Aside from learning Spanish there are dozens upon dozens of cultural differences we have had to learn about living in Ecuador.  After living here for nine months we have encountered (in some manner or another) almost all of the different celebrations or holidays Ecuadorians celebrate.  Some are very much the same as in the USA like Christmas while others are non-exsistent in Ecuador like Thanksgiving.

However, some holidays are the same time of year, but celebrated in a different way.  One of the most interesting ones we have encountered thus far is the traditional Ecuadorian way of bringing in the New Year.  Like the USA they have fireworks, parties, and resolutions for the upcoming year, but unlike the USA they do two unique things.

Starting around noon on December 31st you begin to see men, teenage boys, and boys dressed up like women blocking the streets. They call them "viudas " (which is translated widows).  The key idea is these "viudas" are mourning their spouses (the ending year).  Typically they dance in front of the car, bus etc. until the driver gives them some money, usually a few cents. As the day progresses into night more and more "viudas" make their way into the streets.  As Kim and I learned the hard way it makes travel very slow because they are stationed about every 100 yards on most streets.

2 Viudas blocking the street

A group of viudas posing for a group of gringos

The second interesting thing Ecuadorians do is called "Año Viejo".  Many if not most Ecuadorian families and some businesses put a doll in front of their house or business.  These dolls range from small to very large, and they put mask on the doll ranging from Shrek to the president of Ecuador.  The dolls sit in front of the house until Midnight New Years Eve at which time they take the doll (Año Viejo) and burn them.  Burning the "Año Viejo" represents both saying goodbye to the old year, and burning away all the bad things that happened the previous year.

  

                      We hope you all had a Merry Christmas and a great start to the New Year!