Interesting customs and traditions in Ecuador

Año Viejo

The burning of the dummy or effigy that represents the past year (bad things) known as “Año Viejo.” This tradition creeped me out at first because in buildings and even on the streets there were these dressed dummies that resembled human beings. Then on New Year’s Eve they burn them.  As in literally setting them aflame until they disintegrate to ashes.

My landlord last year had an elaborate one dressed in an old suit and hat with artificial facial features. This thing was waiting to be burned for about two weeks. So at midnight neighbors start pouring out on to the streets setting off fireworks and burning these dummies in front of their building. On my block they burned a few of them. The following morning the neighbors would begin cleaning the remains and spent fireworks casings. At one place they had an entire family of dummies with children. It’s a century old tradition.

Drinking a Concoction of Booze from a Bowl

This custom is witnessed at nightclubs. A friend of mine invited me to party and afterwards the party moved to a nightclub. So the Ecuadorian group that I was with were in a circle and then they bring along this big bowl with about a dozen straws inside. The bowl is a concoction of hard alcohol and they start to pass the bowl from person to person who take turns to drink from it through the straws. I thought it was a one off thing, but then at another event the same thing happened and afterwards the dancing begins. Locals enjoy sharing alcoholic beverages this way, and similarly it's witnessed among neighbors who hang out together at neighborhood tiendas (grocery stores) drinking beer from one glass before weekends and holidays.

Colada Morada

Colada morada is beverage that locals traditionally drink on Día de Los Difuntos. It’s made from many ingredients including strawberry and raspberry. People make the beverage at home in a pot and offer it to visiting family members. In Quito locales and mercados compete with one another and then popular chefs who serve as judges taste and award the winner of the year. This year the winner was mercado San Roque. They usually serve it with bread which resembles a body.

These are 3 customs/traditions that easily come to mind but there are more as this is a custom/tradition rich society.