Año viejo

Since we were talking about Ecuador a bit, I felt like maybe I should share some traditions with you. April is here and back home this month is known by the start of the manufacturing of Año viejos. It’s exact definition is old year. Every New Years Eve, each family has a cardboard figure of everything you could imagine, ranging from superhero figures to cartoons or even politics and celebrities. This figures are the physical representation of the year that has just passed, and the tradition is to burn it away to make all the bad things of the passing year go away. This Año viejos are sold since the beginning of december so that everyone is prepared for New Years eve.

It may sound silly or exaggerated but they start manufacturing this figures with 8 months in advance because of the huge demand there is. Low income families sometimes rely on their profit of this figures for all year long and continue with this family business over generations. It is a tradition to go with your family to the streets to find merchants with their figures, its not a store or a market, just people on the streets earning money.

Here i’ll share with you some of my favorites.

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All those lights you see on the coast line are big stacks of burning Año viejos

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2 Responses to Año viejo

  1. Annaliese Zlogar says:

    That sounds so cool! I’d love to experience a cultural event like that. It’d be cool to see all those figures burning in the streets.

  2. Brittany Cannarozzi says:

    AH! Cami, this makes me want to visit you even more!!! I love that each country has distinguished customs and traditions. I think it makes us appreciate different cultures ever more! I would love to witness this one day.

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