I have it from credible, native Ecuadorian, sources that I'm still allowed to wish a Feliz Año Nuevo, Happy New Year, to you up until the 6th of January. So, ¡Feliz año! Right, now that that's out of the way, prepare to be shocked:
Now, if you're not Ecuadorian or you haven't visited Ecuador during New Year's Eve, you are now forming for yourself a series of questions and revelations, which may include the following: "Are those men?, Are they wearing dresses?, Those ARE men!, Wait, those are street-walking transvestites!, Why are there a bunch of street walking trannies?, Why am I looking at a picture of street walking-trannies? and, finally, What the hell was Chris doing and where the hell was he to have taken a picture of these finely dressed gentlemen?" Don't worry, there is a completely "logical" and "normal" explanation to all of these inquiries.
Firstly, although I might have a hard case to prove, these gentlemen are in fact NOT street-walking transvestites, but rather viudas, or widows. Wait for it, it will all come together I promise. I´m actually even asking myself how, but one way or another I will explain this so it makes perfectly good sense, just wait and see! I already introduced you to the term año nuevo, right? Well, here is an año viejo, "old year":
Surely, at this point, you are getting more than just a little annoyed with me. I can just imagine you saying, "Those weren't widows, they were trannies, and this isn't an old year, it's a smurf that someone has tied to the front of there car!" "Lucy, you've got some explainin' to do!"
Deep breath, and here we go! Well,the Año Viejo, has to go somewhere, right? I mean the old year can't simply just disappear. It kind of dies, doesn't it? Well, what happens if we decide to help the good ol' old year on its way out? How about, while Mr. Old Year is on his death bed, in his final hour, we stomp on him, fill him full of combustibles or douse him with flammables and set him on fire! That's exactly the fate that awaited Mr. Smurf above.
This tradition is common throughout Ecuador and many other Latin American countries. The idea is to create a large doll or effigy, which tends to represent something or someone from the old year. In the case of the photo above, this "old year" is designed after the Smurfs movie; words can´t describe the pleasure they must have felt from burning something from that awful movie! Many of the dolls are made with the faces of politicians, famous people or even family members. This doesn't mean that they want to burn their family member, but rather incinerate and send packing any bad energy or luck that that person may have had during the past year. If the año viejo is an effigy of a politician, you can bet they weren't happy with something that politician did that year. In other words, were saying "CHAU" to the old year and any bad things that happened during it by burning the hell out of it! In the case of the dolls designed like smurfs, the Simpsons or other cartoon or commercial characters, those are just for fun or examples of how commercialism infiltrates even the most unique of cultural practices. In the end, it really doesn't matter who or what the old year is designed after, just as long as it's understood that it represents the past and it will be turned to ashes with the stroke of midnight on New Years Eve. Part of the "old year" floats away and the other half gets swept up off the street the next morning, and that's how they invite the Año Nuevo in!
I know what you're thinking, "That's all good and fine, you have to burn off the old year, but what do the cross dressers have to do with anything?" Like I said, the año viejo dies, well it's strictly "logic", the old year leaves behind his wife when he dies. As a result, the lovely viudas, widows, go out into the streets, dressed to the nines, to stop cars in the streets and ask for money to support their children now that there husband is dead. It's all for fun and it's really quite hilarious. Those men who wish to participate, borrow their mothers' or sisters' clothes, and sometimes makeup, get dressed and make for the streets of Ecuador. The parties are the biggest and best in the small neighborhoods where large groups of friends get together to practice the tradition.
Apart from stopping the cars, the viudas put on quite a show; they usually dance suggestively ("suggestively" is saying the least) to earn the 5 cents that every car is expected to pay for the orphaned children of the año viejo. Any Ecuadorian knows that, if you go out late on New Year's Eve in your car, you will be stopped frequently and be provoked to pay up the offering. If you're not interested in this, you don't go out driving or you stick to the major highways, but you may also get stopped on those!
Okay, so maybe dressing up like a lady and asking for money isn't your thing, no worries, there are other traditions that you might enjoy. In fact, there are a whole lot more traditions, but I'll just talk about two more that I really like. One involves uvas, or grapes, and the other requires a maleta, suitcase. Let's talk grapes first.
At the stroke of midnight, if you want to have a good New Year, filled with lots of luck, you better have 12 uvas in your hand or pocket, ready to eat. When the clock hits midnight, with each bell strike after, 12 in total, you must eat a grape. Now, if you have large grapes with seeds, this is quite a feat. No worries, the traditions, as I'm sure you've gathered from the men's dresses, have flexible rules. You can eat your grapes at your own pace at midnight and MOST people won't judge you. No need to start the New Year off with a nasty stomach ache. Where does this tradition come from? If you asked an Ecuadorian or other Latino, they may not really know, but Wikipedia does have the answer! It happens that this tradition dates back the end of the 19th century in Spain, where vineyard farmers began the tradition in Alicante and Murcia. They said that eating the 12 grapes would bring good luck with a plentiful harvest in the coming year; they also, conveniently, sold, and continue to sell, more grapes at the end of the year. Don't underestimate the power of the grapes! I know someone who didn't have her grapes last December 31st and she had a terrible start to 2011.
Another favorite New Year tradition of mine is "The Running of the Suitcase," as I call it. What this tradition consists of is blowing the dust off of whatever suitcase your storing in the closest or attic and taking it down to the street to roll it around the block. Running around the neighborhood with your empty suitcase is a perfect way to ensure that you will have a year full of fun and exciting travels, plus it's the only time you can test your luggage out in the street without the neighbors looking at you funny!
Now, for your viewing pleasure, a few more images of men in dresses:
And here are some pics of the general festivities:
There it is, my expertly crafted blog rationalizing the practice of Ecuadorian men dressing up like their mothers and sisters, the burning of life sized smurfs, the gorging of twelve grapes and the sprinting around with your carry-on. I hope you’ve enjoyed it, but I can assure you that you didn’t get as much as a kick out of it as I did live and in person. Nothing more funny than watching a grown man try to dance Salsa and Cumbia in his sister’s high heels. As I wrap up this blog entry, I want to sincerely wish you a Happy New Year once again. I hope your year is full of éxitos, successes, and alegría, happiness. At the same time, I hope mine goes well again because, at the moment, I´m unfortunately feeling a bit resentful with the aftermath of the holidays. The festivities give you vacations, bring you friends and loved ones, and let you have fun and enjoy life to its fullest, just in time to send the friends and loved ones away on planes and in cars and cut the vacation off after the first week of January. Well, I plan to continue to have fun and enjoy life to its fullest, but I’ll have to do so a few friends and loved ones short. In the meantime, I’m feeling, “Alone again (naturally).”
