Corpus Christi

Saturday June 1, 2013. Last week I was in the parade for La Noche Romantica (The Romantic Night) (when I looked like a leprechaun) which precedes our huge town festival, Corpus Christi. For La Noche Romantica, we dressed in indigenous garb and paraded through town to the park where we went from tent to tent as the Priostes (leaders of various organizations in town) gave gifts to the mayor. Then we listened to a bunch of traditional music and danced (yeah, that’s when I danced with the mayor on stage in front of the whole town). Que verguenza.

48 hours later… I sit down to eat lunch and my host grandmother serves me a bowl of soup first as usual. It has potatoes (surprise surprise) and broth and suddenly I find something that looks like an alien in my soup. So I eat the broth around it and leave the squiggly meat behind in the bowl. My host grandmother says “why didn’t you eat the meat?” to which I respond “but what is it?” and she says something to the effect of “oh you know, that stomach thing of a chicken. It’s good! Eat it. And I’m going to check to make sure you don’t throw it away when I’m not looking.” Sigh. It tasted like chicken.

Anyway, back to the party. So there were little festivities all week. We went to a big mass on Thursday night at the church, which had little kids dressed as angels dancing, and ended with a procession around town. Many people didn’t walk in the procession, including my host family, because it was POURING outside with thunder and lightning like I’ve never seen. Yes, it was raining a lot, but the reaction of the community was hilarious. When mass was over and everyone had to head home, they were freaking out! I saw a woman open up a patio umbrella and there were 6 people under it. Then my host mother and her friend started saying that we need to call a cab because “how could we possibly walk in this?!” (Our house is about 4 blocks from church.) We made it home somehow. That afternoon, my kids’ English class, my teachers’ workshop, and my rumba class all got canceled for the festival.

Friday, I was supposed to co-teach all day and somehow ended up helping with festival plans all day instead. The students made handpainted vases for us to hand out to people we know in the parade so we packed those up. And the teachers bought a bunch of flavored homemade alcohol (basically moonshine) that they bottled up to pass shots out during the parade as well. I had to rent my costume and buy ribbons and hairclips. Then I went to the government social work office to help make sandwiches for everyone in the parade. Then we went to the Visperas, (eve) which are the parties the night before the big party. There were 2 pre-parade parades. The first had little kids and primary schools; they played traditional Ecuadorian music and danced and there were tons of street vendors. I tried ‘chilenos’ which are little fried balls of dough with sugar, they tasted like donut holes, therefore, delicious. There were also ‘huacos’ which are imitation shamans (witch doctors) who cleanse your spirit by rubbing poison oak all over you and spitting ‘trago’ (alcohol) on you. My host mom asked the policeman next to her to stay close because “the ‘huacos’ are going to bother my gringa friend” and before she could even finish her sentence, the crazy clown-looking shamans put a lasso around my chair, forcing me to stand up and walk into the middle of the parade so they could ‘cleanse my spirit’ and then they asked for a dollar. I said, “I’m not paying for that!” Then, the next parade was the indigenous community, but it was very short and not very many people participated. During that parade, I was attacked by the ‘vacaloca’, pictures to come, but some drunk guys lassoed him.

After the parades, we went to the plaza and they had started the burning of the ‘chamisa’ which is a gigantic eucalyptus fire in the middle of the super crowded plaza! And they had a huge metal structure from which they shoot the fireworks. Again, I was ushered onto the stage to watch the scene up above with the mayor and it was beautiful and crazy. There were tons of people and food vendors and excitement. Then we went to the artisan fair in the stadium and I had a pincho (delish-kabob) and chocolate covered strawberries (holy yum!). 

Finally, the big party commenced! I got up early Saturday to go to my coordinator’s house so she could dress me for the parade. I had a big yellow skirt, white flowery shirt, colorful belt, bright red shawl, 2 necklaces, 2 bracelets, 10 hair ribbons, 8 hair clips, nylons, and black shoes. Corpus Christi is a festival based on the indigenous tradition of thanking God for ‘lascosechas’ (crops). The main character in the festival is the Danzante (dancer) who wears a huge, beautifully decorated hat. The parade started at about 9:00 and our school was the 5^th group to go through so we didn’t have to wait long. We danced and walked as the principal shouted “que viva Pujili!” to the crowd (long live Pujili) for about an hour. As we walked, people would run up from the crowd and pour alcohol in a glass and insist that we drink it (yes, everyone in the entire parade shares the same glasses). They must have given me 15 shots, but luckily, it’s a custom here for women to take the glass and say “a los labios no mas” (only to the lips) and not actually drink any. In addition to all the booze, 4 TV stations came up and interviewed me, each ending with me saying “que viva Pujili!”. One of them asked me to invite the world to Pujili… I think I’m small town famous. There were participants in the parade from all over South America and they were thousands of people watching! I’ve never seen so much action in my town! And so many gringos! There were actually tourists in Pujili- amazing!

After I was finished walking, I squirmed my way through the crowd to sit with my coordinator and the other volunteers to watch the rest of the parade. It ended up lasting a total of 8 hours! Longest parade I’ve ever seen. It was awesome! But man, los borrachos were out in full force. 

Todos chuman todo el dia. Everyone drinks all day. It’s a seriously crazy party. We hung out at the coordinator’s house for a little while and then I wanted to search for another pincho so we headed out to the plaza and it was pura locura pure craziness. So I headed home by about 6:30 and stayed home and stayed safe. What a day.

Sunday June 2, 2013. The party continues! We saw ANOTHER parade! And then went to check out the ‘castillos’ (translates to castles), which are big posts with different gifts at the top thanking the god of the sun for the crops. My host mom and the mayor explained that most of the indigenous people are now Catholic and believe in one God, but they continue this ritual as a tradition. My host mom also explained that after the parade, the indigenous people run to this plaza and climb up the posts and take all the things on top, but it gets really violent so we didn’t stay to watch. Then, we came home and ate chancho hornado (baked pig), they bought a whole leg for this weekend so we’ll been eating pig for every meal. 

Que viva Corpus Christi!