Merry Christmas from Ecuador

Christmas Day in Ecuador is a day for family, and exchanging gifts is very important. Actually, one of the first items to appear on supermarket shelves is an assortment of gift baskets of various sizes that employers ‘are expected’ to buy for their workers. Contents range from a bottle of wine, to cooking oil, rice, spices and other food items. 

Having decided to remain in Ecuador for Christmas holidays, I was rather eager to experience their celebrations. In Quito, my friends told me that festivities tended to be personal and although traditionally religious they incorporated civic celebrations as well.

My pesebre.

Early on in December you start to notice nativity scenes called Pesebres [sometimes clothed in traditional Ecuadorian costumes] erected in various locations including parks and church compounds. These are very elaborate and in fact for most homes, pesebres take the place of a Christmas tree. I made sure to get myself a pesebre. All around in parks and plazas [town squares] people hold Novenas, which are public gatherings where people perform religious hymns and prayers.

Christmas Eve is Nochebuena, and families gather for dinner [cena de Nochebuena] which may traditionally include  turkey or chicken, salads, fruits, selected cheeses, rice, wine or the local drink chicha. I had a turkey cena de Nochebuena with a lovely Polish-Ecuadorian family, which was prepared by a black Colombian maid [interesting demographics here].  I did not attend the midnight Misa del Gallo, the Christmas Eve mass, which I later learnt is the highlight of the Christmas prayers.   

We turned this house-plant
into a christmas tree. 

Christmas Day as I pointed out earlier is a family day, to visit and exchange gifts. Had I really understood this, I’d have attended the Misa del Gallo and avoided the disappointing, sleepy Christmas day service. We even tried mass in two different churches, hoping for ‘vibe’ and life, but we found rather ‘ordinary’ rushed services, with more empty pews than not, of sleepy-looking people. It didn’t feel very Christmassy.

Most Ecuadorian homes I’ve been to have a shrine, adorned with flowers, candles and statues of Maria and baby Jesus. During the Christmas mass, I noticed that most people brought their baby Jesus to the church for priests to anoint/bless with holy water.

I will travel to the coast for New Year’s and though I feel like I’m leaving the festivities behind I am looking forward to a few days of warmth and quiet. Mompiche is a very small town.