Reading: East of Eden by John Steinbeck
Well, this is the weekend of the fiestas of Milagro, so I figured that this would be a good time to elaborate a little on what exactly is involved with an Ecuadorian fiesta, specifically those that are hosted by a community/city. Warning: this may get a little graphic… if you’re particularly attached to roosters, you might want to skip this one.
Anyway, the best comparisons that I have for fiestas here is like a county fair… or for a bigger city like Milagro, think state fair. Anyway, the fiesta is held on the date the community was founded but the shenanigans usually start several weeks before that date, with the finally weekend of dancing, drinking and debauchery.
Now, I have to say that Ecuadorians, in general, are by no means night owls. The majority of my community is in their house by eight and bed by nine. If you’re still up at ten, it’s a late night. However, when they have a fiesta, you can plan on the event not even starting until eleven at night and you probably won’t get out of there until three in the morning.
Most of the time is spent watching people dance; it seems to be a favorite Ecuadorian pastime. At first I thought this was because people were shy. But then after suffering through a few dances myself, I thought it might be because they get bored dancing the dance to the same music song after song. Now, I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s because the mixes of songs little last for thirty or forty minutes and no girl in her right mind wants to dance with the same drunk guy for that long.
The whole thing almost makes a college frat party seem enjoyable, with the switching of partners, your own personal cerveza instead of draining the glass as it’s passed along with the forty around the table. Not to mention, the average DJ Frat Boy at least as the decency to change of up the music a little… Plus, if you don’t like your dance partner because he’s a bad dancer, too fresh or you’re just not feeling it there’s no cultural taboo about leaving his ass on the dance floor.
As I am clearly not a huge fan of dancing down here, I have to say I rather enjoy the daytime events that go along with fiestas. There’s usually your typically fair-like exhibits, performers, parades, etc. For the Parroquia, they even had a donkey race, which I got to compete in… although, my poor donkey was mounted mid-race by one of his competing donkeys. I think I can honestly say that in all my years of riding, it was my first time that I literally was caught in the middle of horse/donkey sexual relations. I think the whole ordeal really messed up my donkey’s game face. Needless to say, we lost, horrible.
However, when the smaller villages have their fiestas, things are a little more informal and therefore a bit crazier, in my opinion. For example, one of the fiestas that I went to had this great game that can only be described as like playing break the piñata but with a rooster and a machete. The set up is simple – you dig a hole and bury a rooster in it up to his neck. The key is to make sure that the game is played with a dull machete, otherwise it’ll be over far too quickly.
Usually the contestants are the women from the reina pageant (more on this later) from the night before. The first place or reina, is blindfolded and given three swings with the machete at the rooster with the hopes of killing him. Each woman is given a turn until one has successfully killed the poor rooster and the lucky slayer gets to take what is left of him home. For some reason, no one could understand why I (because yes, I got suckered into a reina pageant) did not want to participate in this barbarous event.
As for the reina pageant, no fiesta can be complete without having a crowned reina. Usually, all of the community organizations nominate one girl/woman depending on if it a senorita or senora bonita to complete to be reina. It is a pretty typical pageant in the sense that it consists of tacky, colorful dresses and fluffy, phony speeches. There’s a crowning ceremony, sashes and lots of bouquets of flowers. And sometimes, if you’re really lucky, they’ll name you senorita de deportes just for a reason to get the gringa up in front of everyone.
The verdict is still out on if I hate pageants or chop-a-rooster more. Just leave me to the donkey race.
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| Typical Ecuadorian fiesta |
Anyway, the best comparisons that I have for fiestas here is like a county fair… or for a bigger city like Milagro, think state fair. Anyway, the fiesta is held on the date the community was founded but the shenanigans usually start several weeks before that date, with the finally weekend of dancing, drinking and debauchery.
Now, I have to say that Ecuadorians, in general, are by no means night owls. The majority of my community is in their house by eight and bed by nine. If you’re still up at ten, it’s a late night. However, when they have a fiesta, you can plan on the event not even starting until eleven at night and you probably won’t get out of there until three in the morning.
Most of the time is spent watching people dance; it seems to be a favorite Ecuadorian pastime. At first I thought this was because people were shy. But then after suffering through a few dances myself, I thought it might be because they get bored dancing the dance to the same music song after song. Now, I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s because the mixes of songs little last for thirty or forty minutes and no girl in her right mind wants to dance with the same drunk guy for that long.
The whole thing almost makes a college frat party seem enjoyable, with the switching of partners, your own personal cerveza instead of draining the glass as it’s passed along with the forty around the table. Not to mention, the average DJ Frat Boy at least as the decency to change of up the music a little… Plus, if you don’t like your dance partner because he’s a bad dancer, too fresh or you’re just not feeling it there’s no cultural taboo about leaving his ass on the dance floor.
As I am clearly not a huge fan of dancing down here, I have to say I rather enjoy the daytime events that go along with fiestas. There’s usually your typically fair-like exhibits, performers, parades, etc. For the Parroquia, they even had a donkey race, which I got to compete in… although, my poor donkey was mounted mid-race by one of his competing donkeys. I think I can honestly say that in all my years of riding, it was my first time that I literally was caught in the middle of horse/donkey sexual relations. I think the whole ordeal really messed up my donkey’s game face. Needless to say, we lost, horrible.
However, when the smaller villages have their fiestas, things are a little more informal and therefore a bit crazier, in my opinion. For example, one of the fiestas that I went to had this great game that can only be described as like playing break the piñata but with a rooster and a machete. The set up is simple – you dig a hole and bury a rooster in it up to his neck. The key is to make sure that the game is played with a dull machete, otherwise it’ll be over far too quickly.
Usually the contestants are the women from the reina pageant (more on this later) from the night before. The first place or reina, is blindfolded and given three swings with the machete at the rooster with the hopes of killing him. Each woman is given a turn until one has successfully killed the poor rooster and the lucky slayer gets to take what is left of him home. For some reason, no one could understand why I (because yes, I got suckered into a reina pageant) did not want to participate in this barbarous event.
As for the reina pageant, no fiesta can be complete without having a crowned reina. Usually, all of the community organizations nominate one girl/woman depending on if it a senorita or senora bonita to complete to be reina. It is a pretty typical pageant in the sense that it consists of tacky, colorful dresses and fluffy, phony speeches. There’s a crowning ceremony, sashes and lots of bouquets of flowers. And sometimes, if you’re really lucky, they’ll name you senorita de deportes just for a reason to get the gringa up in front of everyone.
The verdict is still out on if I hate pageants or chop-a-rooster more. Just leave me to the donkey race.
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