New Years in Ecuador

Coming to Ecuador we didn't have any particular expectations for New Years and thought it would be fairly similar to Canada, with lots of eating, drinking and dancing. We soon learned Ecuador has a lot of their own traditions.

On our first day walking around we noticed a stuffed scarecrow at a construction site and thought that was kind of interesting but as we walked further we noticed most of the stores also had these "stuffed people" sitting outside their stores and many had them tied to the front of their cars, including public buses. There were also people selling them on the street.  After doing some research we found out that the masks placed on the "puppets" were of their politicians and at midnight on New Years everyone burns the life size "puppets".

That's not where their tradition ended however. One New Years eve we went exploring the Old City in Quito, which was packed with people. There we found  people selling masks, wigs and costume pieces. They don't celebrate Halloween and it appears that New Years is a bit of a costume party for them.  So of course we followed the local custom and bought our own New Years masks.

Puppets seen everywhere

Puppet burning at midnight

One of the most amusing thing however was all the men dressed up as women. As we were walking around my brother had one of them hit on him which was quite amusing, especially since he wasn't quite sure how to react and thought they might be pickpocketing. Apparently on New Years eve its tradition for the young men to dress up as women and tie a skipping rope across the street to stop cars. The "he-shes" then does a dance for each car and goes to the window for a small donation before letting you drive on.  Driving around on New Years eve you see them everywhere so the locals stock up on pennies and give a penny to each because even on a short drive you can easily give away 20 pennies.

He-she's dancing in front of the cars

In the evening, most of the celebration takes place in the streets. People park their cars on the streets and  blast their car stereos as loud as possible while drinking, dancing and socializing. And this isn't just the young people, it's everyone!

Prior to midnight we were given 12 grapes, with each grape representing one month of the year and just before 12:00 we were told to eat the grapes and make one wish for each grape we ate. When we told them we usually make a New Years resolution in Canada, they thought we got ripped off, only getting one "wish".

Fireworks are also a big deal here and you can buy some really good ones. Come midnight they set the life size "puppets" on fire in the streets and the fireworks begin. We had about 20 of our own  fireworks which we set off but the sky was just filled with them - you didn't know where to look.

They do the usual  "Feliz anos" and hugs at midnight. Then some of them run around the block with a heavy bag for good luck in the New Year.  Then they start passing around a shot glass that they fill with liquor, you take the shot then they fill it again and pass it onto the next person. So people you don't even know are giving you shots. And it's at this point that the dancing is in full swing...at least by the girls.  Most of the guys just sat back and watched, although Trevor got into it showing off his break dance moves. 
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Overall one of the best New Years I've ever had and one that my brother and I won't forget!

Ps - Anyone who spent New Years with me last year...no sidewalks talking Espanol ;)