Dia de los Difuntos

It has been a while since I posted, but I have now gotten myself started in school, just had a 4-day weekend that I have spent in the house alone so I got a lot done. Generally, I hate being alone for four days -and so dread  holidays- but on this particular 4-day span I enjoyed the quiet and was able to get a lot done.  This was only complicated by a day of no water in my neighborhood due to a major city construction project – but we knew this was coming so I was prepared as far as drinking and bathrooms -so it really was just a day without a shower. Anyway, I think I have established my routine of teaching and Spanish lessons- have planned a bit ahead so should be posting more regularly.  I am using this as my own record of this time in my life - so I am motivated to do this -and also trying to to be "real", warts and all.

Thursday Nov. 2 was Dia de los Difuntos (the Day of the Deceased) and Nov. 3 was Cuenca Independence Day. Saturday and Sunday were Saturday and Sunday. As the way the calendar fell this year, this has resulted in a 4-day weekend which I think has resulted in a big beach weekend.

 I have been doing a lot of thinking about the Dia de los Difuntos as it is so very similar to Homecoming in NC churches. It is not a time of parades and big parties, but of family visits to the graveyard. Both traditions  include the  traditions of going to the graveyard to visit with family and friends, people returning to their home church to participate, and while you are there… doing a lot of eating. In NC we called this Dinner on the Grounds – which means a meal on the church grounds or the graveyard (which was generally part of the church grounds). In N.C. each church schedules its own Homecoming, generally in the summer,  and in Ecuador it is Nov.2 and a national holiday.  I suspect the uniformity of date in Latin America is due to a Catholic influence of combing pre-Columbian festivals to All Saints Day. But while Ecuador has a specific day, I think the actual celebrations vary from town to town. While the newspaper in Quito talks about people visiting the graveyard during the day, one of my students told me that in her hometown people spend the night in the graveyard.

 While food  is important for both celebrations, Ecuador has special foods: Colada morada – a black corn flour fruit drink (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colada_morada) and  t’anta wawa (bread shaped like a baby) or in Spanish  guagua de pan.

The bread is typically filled with jam or cheese. While I like this picture, the colada marando does not have chunks of fruit in it – which has been present in all that I have had.  I have not had the bread, but I have eagerly partaken of the colada marado and it is delicious.  In fact, I have just gone and heated up some (it is a hot drink) as I write this. I had my first colada marado about a week ago as I gift in a restaurant.  I told my housemother about it and she has cooked it several times since then.  I was very sad to find out that it is a special holiday food and it will disappear after the holiday until next year. I think the traditional way of eating it is to dip the head of the bread into the drink and then bite it off.

Because of the similarities I have been doing a bit of research on the origins of celebrating the dead in this way.  As far as homecomings in the South of the USA – I have read that they originated in the AME church,  originated in Southern Southern Baptist churches, and originated in NC during colonial times. I suspect that all of these are origins and each built  on existing traditions..  Since I am neither Baptist nor an AME member, but definitely a tarheel I decided to share information on Homecoming as a NC tradition. https://www.ncpedia.org/church-homecomings. In Quito, people talk about the indigenous origins of the Dia de los Difuntos – but indigenous is such a catch-all word ( indigenous = non-European) and covers such diverse cultures that it is not very informative.  I think this day is common in the Andes but not celebrated as much in the Amazon.

Before this year I assumed that the NC tradition of homecoming came from NC’s Celtic heritage.  This assumption was  a result of my observations during  visits to Ireland and Scotland and, particularly in Ireland, seeing the commonality of routine (weekly, monthly) visits to the graveyards to  check-in and visit, the lack of sadness about these visits, and the regular decoration of graves with flowers, etc. But my recent “searching/surfing” led to the statement that festivals celebrating and visiting the dead have origins in Africa, indigenous communities (not specified), and the European Catholic Church. But then I found this article (https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/festivals-dead-around-world-180953160) which adds Asia. So if we use the five continents taught in Ecuador; America, Asia, Africa, Europe, and Oceania we have all the continents covered.

It is all very interesting to me as it shows the diversity of various cultures while also demonstrating a universal human bond.

So now my four days is drawing to a close and I have to do some logistical stuff instead of musing. I have managed to get an Ecuadorian phone so now have an Ecuadorian whatsapp.  For those of you who have Whatsapp - you can let me know via my US number (for a few more days) or email and I will contact you.  Now that the US has gone off Daylight Savings Time I am on the same time zone as EST.