When we got to Latacunga we found a market with all sorts of crafts, fruits, vegetables, pretty much anything you were looking for. Someone was even walking around selling underwear and you could buy diapers and toilet paper on the side of the street. My nose was running so it was possible I might actually buy some.
This was all fine and dandy and good to see but we weren’t sure whether we were in the La Mamá Negra festival. There were lots of people but it wasn’t what we were expecting. We felt like idiots but we had to ask, “Is this the La Mamá Negra festival?” Turns out it wasn’t and we walked another mile or so to get to the festival. When we were there we knew it!
There was a huge parade going on but we couldn’t really see it. It sounded great though! So we set off to the right trying to make our way up closer to the parade. It was impossible though so I suggested we keep walking down the road. This turned out to be a terrible idea. I got sandwiched between three men, Lauren and I were separated, and people were pushing and shoving everybody. I literally thought I could fall down and be trampled to death. I couldn’t even yell at anyone because I didn’t know the words in Spanish. It was horrible. It was human traffic jam and most of the time I was just swaying as I was pushed back and forth. It was so scary it became amusing and all I could do was laugh. Every minute or so I could take a few steps but then the pushing would get worse again. There were children mixed up in all of this too and I was worried. I had a man pushing me and a woman was pushing Lauren eventually we got close to a clearing and people got eager and Lauren and I got shoved onto some children which was terrible. Their mother was very unhappy. I just kept apologizing because I felt awful!
We made it out of this alive though, which was questionable at some points, and we decided for the rest of day we’d avoid the crowds to the side and we’d just sort of walk right in the parade! It turned out to be really, really fun! I’d say almost everyone around was very drunk! Everyone was sharing alcohol and passing us shots! I think we got extra offers because we were gringos. Lauren and I decided just to enjoy the cultural experience and watch but not partake! Besides, I was very nervous about protecting my purse and my camera! I was afraid of pickpockets in a crowd that big! We still managed to have a very good time! We danced and talked with people! We got ambushed by the huacos (witches) a few times! I was warned about this from the travel book. I was expecting women but it turned out to be men. They danced around you chanting a ritual limpieza, it’s for cleansing and good luck. They shake tree branches and painted animal skulls at you and then at the end they spit aguardiente (sugarcane alcohol) all over you! It’s weird but we couldn’t avoid it so I made the best of it and played along!
The parade was really great! They played music and people were dancing everywhere! Some guys were carrying around ashangas which are whole roasted pigs, cuy (guinea pig), chickens, bottles of liquer, and cigaretts on sticks as decorations! The point of this festival is Catholic, pre-Columbian, and civic rituals. At the head of it all is a statue of the Virgen de las Mercedes, Latacunga’s protectress from volcanic eruptions. Believing that the relic has saved the city from Volcán Cotopaxi’s wrath many times, people from Latacunga have great faith in her image. Apparently they overlook the three times that the city has been destroyed by Cotopaxi.
La Mamá Negra was added to the festivities later on. There are several legends but a particular priest tried to host a procession for Latacunga’s protectress one year but didn’t have enough grand food and drink. Because of this a black woman berated his negligence in his nightmares. She petrified him and the towns people so they added her to the parade. Today La Mamá Negra is general represented as a guy dressed as a woman.
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