Burn the Old Men for New Years

New Year’s Eve is the biggest holiday in Ecuador.  Cuenca is often considered the epicenter for one of the most unique traditions.

Life in Ecuador has a pretty good write-up:

One big part of the festivities for New Years Eve in Ecuador are “los años viejos” (the old years). People make large scarecrow-like dolls often of the people they dislike or of notable people from the past year. Some come complete with signs detailing their sins. And then at mid-night everyone lights them on fire. The symbolic meaning of course is the forgetting of the bad of the past year and the hope that the coming year will be better.

Another interesting feature of Ecuador New Years celebrations are the “vuidas” (the widows). They are widows because their husbands are the ones being burned that evening, but the basic truth is that a bunch of really brave -or really stupid- men dress as women to beg for beer money. Kids will dress up too and beg for candy.

We walked around looking for rations for New Year’s Day.  Most of the businesses, including restaurants, would be closed.  We eventually found some bread and yoghurt.

Our first experience with burning was at Parque Calderon across form our hotel.  No that’s not a dead body laying in the street:

We found a restaurant on Calle Larga for dinner.  It was about 7:30 and the place was empty.

Eventually Regina (Sweden) and friends Natasha (Finland) and Nicole (Germany) joined us.  By this time, the place was packed.

Natasha, Nicole, Ellen, and Regina

We had dinner and headed over to a plaza that had a band and quite a few dummies.  We hung around listening to music and people-watching for a while.  They took off to burn their dummy.  We headed home.

Although many burn the dummies in the street, every barrio, or neighborhood, has their event too.  By the time midnight came around, we were, believe it or not, lulled to sleep by the sound of the fireworks blasting off throughout the city.  There were so many, that it formed a rather lush concierto of sound.

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