A Fiesta, Famous across Ecuador, yet Unknown to Tourists

The Celebration of Octava de Corpus Christi in Pujilí

We went to Pujilí on the recommendation of a fellow overlander. He said there was a ‘dance festival’ on June 17th. In Pujilí we discovered a fiesta celebrating Corpus Christi, involving three colourful parades, and other activities. It is the city’s most important celebration, and people come from all over Ecuador to be involved. The festival incorporates indigenous traditions with the important Catholic Feast Day.

For this reason, the Octava de Corpus Christi in Pujilí is a Patrimonio Cultural Intangible de la Naciòn. (The Corpus Christi Fiesta is a National Intangible Cultural Heritage.) What is Intangible Cultural Heritage?

The importance of intangible cultural heritage is not the cultural manifestation itself but rather the wealth of knowledge and skills that is transmitted through it from one generation to the next. [From the UNESCO WHS site ]

The Corpus Christi fiesta of Pujilí in Cotopaxi Province, is famous right across Ecuador. But it is relatively unknown to tourists outside of the country.

When we planned to go, we had no idea where Pujilí was, or what sort of dance festival to expect. But nowhere is far in Ecuador, and diesel is cheap. We discovered that we must have driven right past it when we drove the Quilotoa circuit in 2008 – it’s the first town on the circuit after leaving Latacunga. Pujilí is the oldest canton in the province of Cotopaxi. According to the tourist information brochure, Pujilí Guía Turística, it is recognised as the Tierra del Danzante y Emporio Musical del Ecuador (land of the dancer and musical emporium of Ecuador).

Pujilí plays a very important role in tourism and cultural development of Ecuador, because of its transcendental attractions such as El Danzante (The Dancer) who is a true historical icon of this area, rooted in popular culture, who identifies their folks with the past.

The parades or processions are so much more – the participants dance along the street to the music of brass bands, or loud speakers carried on vehicles, or just a base drum and a flute. The main character of the festival is El Danzante – The Dancer.

The Dancers of Pujilí

El Danzante is always a man. They are dressed in white lacy trousers and shirts. Over this they wear something like a tunic, which is embellished with a variety of decorations including embroidery, fringes, stones, old coins, mirrors and ribbons. The crown is the most important part of the costume. This head-dress can weigh 10 kilograms. It is a timber construction and heavily adorned. Aspiring Danzantes must train for years to be able to carry this crown, and dance in a parade that can be several hours long.

The Dancers of Pujilí – the costumes are amazing; the headdresses are impressive; the dancers who carry them are astounding.

These young ones, taking their roles very seriously – they are seriously cute.

Friday’s Parade: Pregòn de Fiestas – the fiesta is opened

The opening of the weekend fiesta was on Friday afternoon, and it kicked off with a parade involving local schools from the Pujilí region. It began at 3.00pm and continued until about 5.30. Some of the children were so small that they were carried by adults or rode on the back of a truck. It seemed that everyone was involved, they all took their roles seriously, and they were enjoying their time in the limelight. If this was the beginning, it promised to be a very colourful and interesting weekend.

We sat on the edge of the main plaza in front of the Palacio Municipal. Next to me was a young woman, who pointed out the Danzantes very proudly. She explained to me that they are traditional to this area. In this case there were cut down versions of the crown carried by dancing teenagers, and even the smallest boys. El Danzante in training!

Friday parade in Pujilí: the brass bands were impressive, especially the one from this school, which has ‘produced some of Ecuador’s best musicians’.

The school bands, dressed in neat uniforms for the occasion, were interspersed with the dancers. Their music varied in quality between the groups, but they were all equally very enthusiastic. The parade passed in front of the municipal building. The participants stopped and put on a special performance for the official party, which was seated there. A commentator spoke about each of the groups. When referring to one of the bands, Juergen heard him say that this particular school was renowned for producing some of Ecuador’s best musicians. The band was very impressive.

Please click thumbnails below for a larger photo with description.

Pujilí Corpus Christi Fiesta: the local dignitaries lead off the parade on Friday afternoon.

These girls take their dancing very seriously as they participate in the celebration of Corpus Christi in Pujilí.

El Danzante – in training. Some very small boys carrying the heavy crown in the Corpus Christi parade featuring students of the local schools.

Elaborate masks for these performers in the Friday parade of the Corpus Christi Fiesta in Pujilí.

Pujilí Fiesta: full of colour and people having fun.

Corpus Christi Fiesta: creative costumes on these students. The mask is as scary from the back as the front.

The celebration of Corpus Christi in Pujilí was full of colourful costumes on both the boys and girls in Friday’s parade.

Pujilí Corpus Christi Fiesta: elaborate costumes and creative dance performances in the Friday afternoon schools parade.

These students appear to be celebrating the Amazon indigenous spirit with their costumes and performance. Another special part of the school parades on Friday afternoon.

The Dancers of Pujilí – these students were every bit as serious about taking on the character of El Danzante as the adults who performed in Saturday’s parade.

This impressive mask, using horns from animals, brought the devil to life in the streets of Pujilí during the celebration of Corpus Christi.

Saturday: Folkloric Parade

This appeared to be the biggest procession of the fiesta. It began at around 10 and, when we left our spot at 2, there were still a few groups coming down the street. Can you imagine dancing in the streets non-stop for more than 4 hours – especially the Danzantes, carrying those heavy ‘crowns’?

The participants were groups from the local region, but also from other places all across Ecuador. We think we heard there were also some groups from the neighbouring countries. Many of them showed their local traditions in both costume and dance. It provided an ever-changing, and seemingly never-ending, vista of movement and colour. Although there were various brass bands dotted through the procession, most dancers were accompanied by music blasting from the speakers carried in boots of cars, or on the backs of utes.

Saturday is actually a competition for El Danzante; we never did find out how the judging was done, or who the winners were.

Please click thumbnails below for a larger photo with description.

The parades for Pujilí’s celebration of Corpus Christi – full of colourful costumes and resilient dancers

Not sure if this is the Parade Queen – but colour and fun is the order of the day at Pujilí for Corpus Christi.

Pujilí Fiesta: smiling faces, swishing shawls, and feathers in the air. Just beautiful.

These costumes show that the back view is just as important as the front view. The ‘crowns’ of the Danzantes can weight 10 kilos, and they carry them for several hours to celebrate Corpus Christi.

Multi-coloured and multi-layered, the women’s skirts are made for dancing. An intrinsic part of the parades celebrating Corpus Christi in Pujilí.

The full skirts are also made for twirling. They certainly put on a show in Pujilí.

What a sight these women’s skirts make in the streets of Pujilí.

Not sure who these characters are – but they were certainly impressive. There were such a variety of performers in the parade on Saturday in Pujilí.

Representatives of Ecuador’s Amazon display their heritage in Saturday’s parade for the Pujilí Fiesta.

More Amazon Indians, with a jaguar in their midst. Great costumes and performances.

Sunday: Parade of Indigenous Dancers

The festival of Corpus Christi actually runs for 8 days, with the culmination on Sunday. There is, of course, a mass in the early morning. But Sunday’s parade is perhaps the most important event of the fiesta. It is for the local indigenous people: the Danzantes, accompanied by old men playing the Bombo (bass drum) and the Pingullo (a kind of flute). They are followed the mayor, other dignitaries, and family. There are gifts of sweets and fruit showered upon the onlookers by the participants in the parade, and bottles of celebratory drinks are in plentiful supply. This parade is primarily for giving thanks to Inti (the sun god) and Pacha Mama (mother earth) for good harvests.

The parade ends in Plaza Luis Felipe Chavez, where the ‘Castillos’ have been constructed. These are tall wooden towers, which contain all sorts of treasure on top (fruits, sweets, liquors, soft toys, kitchen appliances, and other gifts). The people try to climb them to claim the booty. Unfortunately, this is such a popular event that we could only see it from a distance, and had no desire to make our way through the huge crowd to see it from a closer viewpoint.

The festivities continued into the afternoon and evening with a bull fight – not our ‘cup of tea’ – and a concert. We did attempt to check out the concert, but there was also a huge crowd and very loud music, so we watched a bit then wandered ‘home’.

Please click thumbnails below for a larger photo with description.

Sunday’s parade in Pujilí focuses on the local indigenous community, and their Danzantes are also amazing.

Giving thanks for good harvests, these women carry the fruits of their labour and share them with the spectators at Sunday’s parade in Pujilí.

More than in previous days, Sunday is a parade for all generations together. These women carry gifts of sweets in their baskets, which they throw to the spectators.

There were some rather unusual and interesting crowns to be seen on the Danzantes during Sunday’s parade celebrating Corpus Christi in Pujilí.

The Dancers accompanied by musicians, and followed by local dignitaries and family members.

El Danzante shows a different ‘face’ in Sunday’s parade in Pujilí.

The locals are really enjoying their parade on Sunday in Pujilí.

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