Ecuador 8/23/2025 |
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Saturday, August 23, 2025 - Nena and Kuri's Baptism, Yupanki and Shina's Confirmation, PartyWe woke up and ate breakfast (egg in the hole, cooked by Yupanki). Aida explained that her friend Estela would be helping at both the church service and the party today. She said that we were the godparents of the ceremonies, but that Estela would be almost like an additional godmother to help with logistics. Aida seemed a bit worried that we might take offense to this, but we were happy. As our Spanish is minimal and our Kichwa is nonexistent, having someone else to help keep things on track was a blessing to us.Everyone spent the morning getting ready. Estela arrived and helped me to get dressed, as the traditional Kichwa women's outfit is hard for me to get into by myself. There are no fasteners on the anakos (skirts). You wear two layers of anako and they are wrapped and tied very tightly with two layers of woven belts. The hems need to line up precisely, so it is a two or even three person job to get me dressed, especially because I am so much bigger than the Kichwa women. The woman from the community who was going to get me new shoes and Craig a new pair of pants arrived. She had new shoes for me that fit very well, but she couldn't find pants in Craig's size, so he needed to wear his old pair even though they weren't the brightest white. He got dressed in his white shirt and pants, navy blue poncho, and hat. Estela also helped Aida to dress Nena and Kuri. Nena was wearing the traditional Kichwa female outfit, but entirely in white (normally the outer anako is black or navy blue, and the inner anako is cream or taupe). She had a pretty white headband with a veil flowing down her back. Kuri was wearing a white collared shirt and white pants. Instead of the usual fedoras that Kichwa men wear, he was wearing a little sailor hat. He looked absolutely adorable, but he was getting a little bit overwhelmed and cranky, so we wondered how he would fare at church. Shina and Yupanki got dressed in their traditional clothing as well. Everyone looked great! The Mass was at 2 p.m. at Iglesia San Francisco la Dolorosa church in Cotacachi. We took two camionetas (shared pick up truck taxis) to Plaza de San Francisco. Kuri took a quick nap on the ride and was in a much better mood by the time he got to church. It was a beautiful sunny day and we actually arrived about 10 minutes early. This has not always been the case in the past. The family bought the necessary candles (red ones for Confirmation and white ones for baptism). Shina and Yupanki got red Confirmation sashes pinned to their sleeves. It was a private Mass, and friends and family attended. The women entered the church first with Nena and Shina, and then the men entered with Kuri and Yupanki. The females sat in pews on opposite sides of the church from the males. It was kind of funny because the priest is not familiar with Kichwa names, and he misheard Shina and Yupanki's names, calling them Gina and Franklin. Nobody said anything at the time, in order to be respectful in church, but afterwards we would all have a good chuckle about it, and would call them Gina and Franklin to tease them. Shina and Yupanki were confirmed, with our hands on their shoulders as we all recited prayers. I held Nena over the font while she was baptized, and Craig did the same for Kuri. Both of the little kids were surprisingly well behaved and did not cry. There was a church photographer who took photos of the ceremonies, printed them out on the spot, and sold them for $2 apiece. We bought some, as it was difficult to take photos while being involved in the Mass. We took group photos after Mass and then congregated outside. We chatted with Aida's godmother Mayra, who had come from Ibarra with her daughter and son-in-law. We had met Mayra at Aida's birthday back in 2016. They gave us a ride back to the house, and everyone else took a bus. When we arrived back at the house, we noticed that an archway of roses had been erected over the entrance to the driveway, and there was a path of red and white rose petals leading to the tent. There were flowers on the head table, and chairs had been set up in rows. Cakes had been delivered: four round pink cakes that said "Welcome to my Confirmation", 4 round blue cakes that said "Welcome to my Baptism", and a large half pink / half blue rectangular cake which said "Godparents" and had our names on it. Before the party commenced, we participated in the ceremony of Ñawi Mayllay, where we took a basin of water with rose petals in it and washed each other's faces, hands, and feet with the petal-infused water. The purpose of this ceremony is to stave off bad energy. Antonio's brother Miguel presided over the ceremony. Then we all entered the tent. We sat at the head table next to Mayra and her daughter and son-in-law. Food was served almost immediately. The first course was a corn soup, followed by a potato and chicken soup. Next was pulled pork from the two pigs that the family had bought, mote (hominy), chicken, and fries. We had Fanta to drink. As it got dark, the cold wind started to descend from the surrounding mountains. I lent Mayra one of my jackets, as she was feeling very chilly. For once, Craig was comfortable in his heavy wool poncho. Normally he get overheated when wearing it, but tonight it came in handy. The band, La Bukana Orquesta, arrived and started to play at 6:45 p.m. They are the same band that played at Sisa's baptism way back in 2011, only then they had been called "Junior's Band". We danced to a few songs, and then Mayra and her daughter and son-in-law left to go home to Ibarra. Soon afterwards, Craig and I were presented with two buckets, piled high with potatoes and cuy (guinea pig, eaten on special occasions). Craig and I remembered the first time this had happened to us at Sisa's baptism, when we had wondered if we were somehow supposed to consume this enormous mountain of food. We laughed; now we knew that we were supposed to take what we wanted and the remainder would be distributed amongst the guests. Since we had already had three courses of food, we were no longer very hungry. But it was important that we eat some cuy. We each broke off a cuy thigh and enjoyed it, and then let the guests have the rest of the food. Everyone had to-go containers, and the idea is that everyone eats as much as they can and then takes even more home. When it became time to cut the cakes, there was almost a disaster. Antonio removed one of the bottom cakes from the cake stand first, which almost caused three other cakes on the stand to crash to the ground. Luckily, quick reflexes averted a catastrophe. They served Craig and me each an enormous slice of cake. Kuri sat with us and we ate cake together. It was delicious. People came up to us and thanked us for being here, wearing the traditional clothes, and helping the family. We danced and danced (the songs were each around 30 minutes long). People came along with cups of alcohol, which we would drink and then splash on the ground as an offering for PachaMama (mother earth). Craig had beer, and we both had moonshine mixed with fruit juice. One batch tasted absolutely awful. We wondered if we had a different palate than the locals, but as we watched others drink the same batch of alcohol, we could see in their faces (as some even spit it out) that they found it as unpleasant as we did. We realized that someone must have made a mistake and put salt in with the alcohol and fruit juice instead of sugar. I was cautious with every other drink I had afterwards, taking a tentative taste before committing to a full-blown sip. The women in the band were wearing mini skirts, and despite their constant motion onstage, we thought that they must have been freezing. In fact, before the night was up, they had put on winter jackets. Sisa and Shina don't like to dance much, but we convinced them to at least participate in one dance with us. We also danced with Nena and Kuri a bit. Kuri was very well-behaved and happy. There were several neighborhood dogs who came to where the food was and hung around all night. One repeatedly found himself in the center of a circle of dancers and looked panicky. It was quite funny. Another was an adorable black and white puppy. My feet were killing me after dancing all night (the traditional shoes have zero by way of arch support). So I sat out a couple of dances. People were starting to get really drunk and many had gone home. We had hoped to stay up until the end of the party, but by 3 o'clock in the morning, as another infinite song was just starting up, we were just too exhausted. We finally retired to the casita. We put in our earplugs, not knowing how late the music would go, but by 3:30, it was all done. The band had played for nearly 9 hours, and the women in the band were wearing high heels and dancing the whole time. With my feet aching as much as they were, I don't know how they did it! Nena and Kuri's Baptism & Yupanki and Shina's Confirmation Iglesia San Francisco la Dolorosa |
 Estela with Nena and Kuri  Shina, Achi Taita, and Sisa  Yupanki and Shina getting Confirmed  Sisa, Antonio, Shina, Yupanki, Achi Taita, Kuri, Nena, Achi Mama, Aida, Estela, Jaime  Shina cleanses Achi Taita's face with rose petals as part of the Ñawi Mayllay ritual  Achi Taita and Achi Mama  Achi Taita and Achi Mama dancing to the band Photo Gallery August 23 |
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