We flew to Ecuador to see the most traditional day of the dead, we visited Cotacachi, Otavalo and Quito in what is called the Day of the Dead, a few days full of tradition and customs of our Ecuadorian brothers.
- November 1:
We spent tonight in Cotacachi, a town near Otavalo, here we can see how people offer a serenade, there was a show with live music. to be loved, this is known as Huay Chacarai, on this occasion we shared with the Lema Cáceres Family who later invited us to their house to see how the tradition continued and that is that they use fruits and eggs for each member of the family who has left to be with them at that time, the next day they cook and consume the fruits and products.
- November 2:
This date as a holiday was moved by the president to November 3, therefore there was not much movement but we still visited the Otavalo Cemetery and I want to tell you about the peculiarity of this cemetery.
The cemetery that is divided into two parts..
The Otavalo cemetery is divided into the Indigenous and the Mestizo cemetery, this goes back a long time when the Spanish were in the territory, those with European ancestry attend the mestizo cemetery where the customs are not as many as on the other side of the cemetery, they go, leave flowers, clean the graves and say prayers. In contrast, on the indigenous side where people of native origin are buried, it should be noted that this side of the cemetery has a more rural aspect, being only divided by a wall. On the indigenous side they have different customs such as leaving food on the grave and flowers so that later the so-called “angels” collect the offerings to be able to share them with the people who frequent the cemetery that day, in addition to blessing the grave of the deceased. A recurring offering is the pan de guagua, a bread in the shape of a child. They also use coins so that the deceased can bless their loved ones who remain on earth, a coin for a loved one.
We finished the Day of the Dead in Quito with the Festival of the Beyond with artistic representations, small altars with bread from the bus and others, although the rain caught us we were able to enjoy this sentimental and important day of the dead.
If you want to see the video of the Day of the Dead in Ecuador you can see it here: