December 16, 2014
November second was ‘Dia de los Difuntos’, also
known as ‘Day of the Dead’. I have always been very interested in this holiday
and was incredibly excited to take part in all of the traditions. Yet, I
learned that this day is not for those who are actively in mourning- it is more
appropriate to memorialize loved ones who passed some time ago. Therefore, due
to the recent losses in my family, we did not celebrate to the fullest extent-
which would usually include a family dinner at the graves of family members.
However,
we ate and drank all of the traditional food for this day throughout the entire
month. The typical drink is called ‘colada morada’. The base of it is a purple
variation of flour that is only produced in Peru. We were all given a serving
in school at the beginning of the month, but I didn’t realize how complicated
this drink was until I several hours in the kitchen with my grandmother making
our own batch.
In
addition to the flour- which has to be soaked for several hours and then finely
sieved, the colada includes lots of fruits and spices. We spent a good deal of
the time peeling, cutting and in some cases liquefying and sieving,
raspberries, blueberries (which are very rare in Ecuador), naranjilla,
pineapple and babaco. Every fruit had to be cooked separately before being
added (in a very specific order) to the entire pot. Then we added to the
spices: sweet pepper, cloves, cinnamon, spicy pepper, rosemary and sage- which
were also all cooked separately. All of the work was worth the reward as it
turned out delicious.
Ecuadorians
eat/drink the colada both warm and cold and usually accompanied with a guagua
(a Quichua word pronounced wa-wa) de pan. This is a bread doll which is formed
from sweet dough and decorated with colorful frosting. Usually there will be Dulce
de leche or a type of fruit filling in the head. For Dia de los Disfuntos
guaguas are sold in every bakery. Often, but not always, bread horses are also
sold to give to the little boys instead of dolls.
On
the actual Day of the Dead we ended up going to Colombia which is only three hours
to the North of my city, Otavalo. The drive was very beautiful but the trip was
just a shopping venture. Since the exchange between Ecuadorian currency (the US
dollar) and the Colombian peso is so favorable ($1= 1,920 pesos) it is very
common for Ecuadorians to travel north for what I can only liken to Black
Friday shopping. I bought some coffee and my family bought a TV and lots of
toilet paper! It was so busy (on a holiday) that we waited in the checkout line
for an hour and a half! It was a very amusing a genuine experience!
On
the way back home we stopped in Tulcan, a border city and home to one of the
largest topiary cemeteries in the world and the largest topiary garden in the
Americas. The giant hedge sculptures and
archways were breathtaking and we were able to watch everyone celebrating the
holiday with their families. I really like South American graveyards. Although
they might be considered gaudy by some I find them very light and personal.
Instead of being buried in the ground the majority of people are placed into a
cement wall of cubbies painted white and light blue. Each cubby has a glass and
cast iron shadow box area in front of it were the name is inscribed. In this
little box family photos, little trinkets and silk flowers are also placed.
That
day it was more decorated than usual! Mini flower sculptures were sold at the
cemetery entrance to place in the boxes and people were walking around with
guitars serenading their departed. I am so glad that I was able to experience
this very important Latin American tradition and I hope to bring back some of
the customs to NY- at the least my abuela’s colada recipe!
Sunny
salutations from Ecuador! Ally
:)
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