Fiestas de Quito - traditions and experience report
Amélie
December 6th; most people will probably think of St. Nicholas Day when they hear this date. For Ecuadorians, however, this date brings something completely different to mind, because in Ecuador one of the most important festivities of the year are celebrated on December 6th, namely the founding of the capital city of Quito. Quito was officially founded by the Spanish in 1534. However, the “Fiestas de Quito” have only existed since 1959, but since then there have been more than enough celebrations every year to make up for the previous years. Contrary to what you might expect, the celebrations don’t just take place on December 6th, no, the festivities in Quito start at the end of November. This is when the “Reina de Quito”, the Queen of Quito, is crowned, officially launching the festivities. From this day onwards, Quito celebrates for two weeks straight.
Every year, the city organizes various events such as concerts, fairs, parades, performances or speeches by important people such as the mayor of Quito. Most of the artists are rather unknown, but there are always some internationally renowned Latin American pop and rock artists performing. For the cultural aspect, the museums stay open a little longer during the festivals and there are cozy cultural events. The best thing about it all is that all events are free and tourists are always warmly welcomed by the locals.
Traditions at the Fiestas De Quito
Like every festival, this one also has its own traditions, which I would like to briefly introduce to you.
The whole city and the surrounding areas are decorated in the red and blue colors of Quito during the festivities and “Que viva Quito” is written everywhere. This phrase is also constantly shouted, sung or simply said as a greeting. During the day, children race down the steep streets of Quito on their homemade Coches de Madera (wooden go-karts). The Ecuadorian card game cuarenta is also particularly popular and is mainly played during the Fiestas de Quito. Whether in squares, cafés or at home, Quiteños and Quiteñas play this game everywhere. Typically played in two teams of two, the game can be literally found everywhere during the festivities. There are even organized tournaments with prizes to be won. A few glasses of Canelazo are a must during the game. This is a typical Ecuadorian hot drink made from water, sugar, cinnamon and naranjilla pulp. All of the ingredients are typically boiled together, poured into a bottle and topped up with Aguardiente. Aguardiente is a type of brandy that is very popular in Ecuador. Depending on how strong you want your canelazo to be, you can decide for yourself how much of this alcohol you want to add. However, the non-alcoholic version without alcohol is also delicious. The drink is consumed all year round in Ecuador, but especially during the Fiestas de Quito you can buy it on every street corner. In the evening, everyone goes dancing on chivas, which are party buses without chairs with an open area where people dance while the bus drives through the city and a DJ plays. The chivas often take a short break at various places so that passengers can get off and continue dancing in the square before returning to the party on four wheels.
The weekend before December 6th
Of course, I couldn’t miss out on the festivities, so I spent the last two weekends in Quito and I was really surprised by the huge crowd of people in the city. When I arrived in Quito in August, the city center, museums and restaurants were much emptier than you would expect for a capital city. But for the last two weeks the city was completely overcrowded, all the buses were full to the brim, you had to push your way through huge crowds and the restaurants were more than busy. There was a different event every day, but as I had to work during the week of course, I only got to see the weekend ones.
On Friday, November 29th, for example, there was a concert on the Plaza de San Francisco, but the square was so full when we arrived that we decided to go to “La Ronda” instead, a beautiful colonial street with lots of bars and clubs. Of course it was packed here too and you could only move forward slowly. After a bit of dancing in the street – the bars and clubs were of course already full when we arrived – we went to the Basilica del Voto Nacional, from where numerous chivas started their one-hour city tour. For 3 US dollars, we were chauffeured through the streets of Quito with loud music before being dropped off back at our starting point. Most people stayed at the park in front of the Basilica to enjoy a little canelazo and a bite to eat at one of the many street stalls. At 3 am we went to a friend’s house for a little after-party before finally going to bed at half past four to get at least a few hours of sleep.
The next morning, we went straight on to a parade at 11am, before I went home in the afternoon for lack of sleep to get some rest before the evening. However, I was so tired that I accidentally slept through until the next morning, when I made my way directly to the north of Quito to attend another parade. Afterwards, I went to the city center, but the events there had already finished by that time in the afternoon, so I just spent a relaxing afternoon in La Carolina Park.
The highlight of the festivities
After 4 days of work, it was continuing celebrating on Thursday, as Friday, December 6, was of course a holiday. After lunch, we spent the afternoon at work playing Cuarenta and of course drinking some Canelazo. We played the first two rounds without prizes, as me and the other intern had to learn the rules first. From the third round onwards, things got serious and there was a champagne and a red wine to be won. There were eight of us in total and we played two against two and the winners of the two groups then competed against each other in the final. Despite a few silly mistakes from my side and probably mainly because of my good playing partner, we both won.
Of course, I took the red wine I won with me to enjoy with my friends before we set off into the hustle and bustle of Quito. There were concerts again that day, but we were again too late to find a free spot, which is why we went to the Carolina district. There was music, canelazo and lots of people partying in various places. Of course, we couldn’t miss a chiva ride that evening either, before we went to another place with music afterwards. There we had a typical late-night snack (chips with a type of coleslaw and sausages) and just chilled out a bit before heading home at sunrise. After 5 hours of sleep, we had a late breakfast at “Encebollados Los del Triangulo”, my absolute favorite restaurant in Quito. Afterwards, the dancing continued as a small band played live music in front of the restaurant. Unfortunately, it started to rain in the early afternoon, which meant we couldn’t really do anything, but instead just waited in another restaurant and then ate something before going back to partying. We went to the Carolina district again on Friday. I could hardly believe it, but it was even more crowded here than the day before. On the Avenue de los Shyris, a handful of chivas arrived every 10 minutes and it still took us more than 1.5 hours to finally get into one. Unfortunately, the ride was only 25 minutes this time, which was a bit disappointing to be honest. As it was still raining afterwards, half of the group went to the club while the others (including me because I was really tired and was going to a house party from some French people I met the next day) went home.
That´s how two weeks of celebrating unfortunately where over. I definitely have to say that the Fiestas de Quito were a completely different experience. They cannot be compared with any other festivities in Ecuador or in other countries and were truly unique. So if you are planning your trip to Ecuador at the end of November/beginning of December, be sure to plan it so that you are in the capital for at least a few days during the Fiestas de Quito. We will be happy to help you with your planning and give you tips on the festivities.
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