Christmas in Ecuador is celebrated the Eve of Christmas,
Buena Noche. This includes a Secret Santa,
Amigo Secreto, and a dinner. The dinner was absolutely fantastic and I wish I had a photo of every dish: Russian Salad, Turkey marinated in white wine, baked cheesy potatoes, mushroom gravy, red cabbage salad... So Delicious!!! After the meal which can be as late as midnight, the adults drink and dance until the wee hours of morning. This makes sense as to why they open gifts Christmas Eve rather than morning.
In an attempt to create my own family tradition with Anabelle, I had her gifts from Santa Claus under the tree Christmas morning and her stocking stuffed with a jump rope, a wooden recorder, m&ms. She also received pajamas, new clothes and play dough pizza maker. She was thrilled. The remainder of the day is relaxed. Most people don't wake up until the afternoon because they stayed up so late Christmas Eve. In this aspect I miss celebrating the holiday with my family within my culture... As the years progress we will solidify our own traditions and I will feel more secure in the holiday.
New Years is quite the celebration also. We had dinner around 9pm. Another delicious meal
including chicken stuffed with spinach with melted mozzarella, wild rice with parmesan cheese, potatoes, red cabbage salad... I hope to have another one of these meals before returning to Milwaukee.
Besides the meal, another huge aspect of New Years is
El Viejo, the old one. Best way to describe this is like a a scarecrow. You purchase a paper mached face that you add to the clothed body stuffed with news paper. The face can be representative of a political figure, a cartoon character or famous
actress/musician, typically El Viejo is representative of a member of the family. Come midnight, the burn piles in the street are lit with the Viejos on top. You burn the year before to start the new year fresh. It is a cleansing ritual.
Witch hats and wigs are commonly worn this day. Work parties usually have a man dressed as a woman. I don't know why is significant of this tradition. What I have seen more of recently is that the gay men dress as women walking the streets, passing stopped cars for money and hopping on buses.
I enjoyed myself and Anabelle for the first time stayed awake to welcome the New Year (thanks to a late two hour nap).
Besides these two holidays, the only other I have experienced in Ecuador is Carnival ( Monday and Tuesday before lent). For this I was in the town Banos. It is common to soak people with water, smash eggs on their heads, or spray each other with something similar to silly spray. I was a huge target and needed my own spray in order to defend myself.
