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| La Mama Negra |
This weekend the fiestas of Latacunga have officially drawn
to a close. La Mama Negra is a festival that begins on September 23rd with the
parade of the pueblo and basically continues until the 11th of
November with the celebration of the Independence Day of Latacunga. I quickly got my fill of
endless fireworks.
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| Fresh |
The festival is a blend of every culture that exists in
Ecuador. Afro-Ecuadorian, Spanish and Indigenous aspects are all represented in
the parade. The melting pot of culture makes it virtually impossible to
understand what is going on. At one point in the parade people are giving
praise to the Virgen de la Mercedes (Catholic), at another a people are being
rubbed down with live guinea pigs and get alcohol spit on them to cleanse their
bodies (Indigenous), and a man dressed as a woman with a painted black face rides
a horse through the streets. It is all a little bit confusing. The main point,
as far as I could tell, was to give thanks to the Virgin of the Mercedes for
protecting us yet another year from Cotopaxi a mildly active volcano situated
right outside our city.
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| Gettin' our march on |
But where does Todd “Pepe” Hemelstrand come into the picture
you might ask?
The principal of my school was asked last year to one of the
5 principal characters in the festival. He, as the Captain, invited me and 3
other Gringos that live here to a part of his entourage. We all happily accepted.
The last 2 months have been spent preparing for La Mama Negra at my school. To
say that the school has been consumed by the preparations for this parade would
be an understatement. Almost every day we would have either a meeting or a 2
hour practice at which times school would be invariably cancelled. I wish I
could say that all that practice led to a flawless march but there were still
mistakes made by the goofy Gringo…
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| Found this on the internet. We famous! |
When the day finally arrived we met up at 6:30 in the
morning. We marched to the houses of each character and the parade grew from
there. By 12:30 we were ready to officially start the parade. The sun was
beating and my ornate, cumbersome costume did little to keep me cool. Luckily
it cooled off about an hour into the parade.
The festival is known for the liquor that is guzzled in the
streets from dawn ‘til dusk. We, as a part of the parade, were instructed to not
take any drink from anyone. This had less to do with sobriety of our group and
more to do with staying alive. Every year people are drugged and foreigners are
at an even higher risk.
As the parade progressed I noticed the police presence intensifying.
At certain spots in the parade our security detail would have to beat back the
crowds to allow us room to march. At the end of the parade we simply filtered
into the crowd. At this point the national police were dressed in full swat
gear apparently ready for action. I had heard from many sources that last year
was “tame” because only 2 people came to enjoy their last Mama Negra…
The parade ended and we loaded buses to head to the city
where my boss lives. There he threw a party for 4000 people. He hired bands of
traditional Ecuadorian music and pop music alike. We danced late into the
night.
Today, the 11th of November, is the Independence Day
of Latacunga. This morning we had another parade but this was much tamer than
La Mama Negra. Each high school in the city was involved and marching bands
played. This holiday coincides with Memorial Day so it was nice to get to enjoy
a parade.
La Mama Negra was quite an experience. I am glad that school
allowed me to be a part of something so important to them. Going from “that Gringo”
to feeling like you are “one of the guys” is great. I am integrating slowly but
surely. I now have a greater understanding of what it means to be from
Latacunga. Even better than that though, I know what I am going to be for
Halloween for the foreseeable future.
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| Colegio Vicente Leon |
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| Ecuadorian Mlitary |
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| Little Ecuas! |
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