Ecuador

Thursday 6/23/2011 - Inti Raymi Children's Dance

The winding down of Sisa's baptism party led right into the ramp-up for Inti Raymi. In the Otavalo area, Inti Raymi (the solstice festival and celebration of the corn harvest which harkens back to Inca times) has become intertwined with Catholic saints' feast days introduced by Spanish missionaries. The Feast of St. John the Baptist (San Juan) takes place on June 24, and the Feast of Saints Peter (San Pedro) and Paul (San Pablo) takes place on June 29. Today the terms Inti Raymi and San Juan are used interchangably. Lately, indegenous groups think that a festival called Inti Raymi has more appeal to tourists than a saint's feast day does, and so that term has come into vogue since the 1990's.

We were not quite sure what to expect from the celebration, though we had done some preliminary reading in Michelle Wibbelsman's Ritual Encounters: Otavalan Modern and Mythic Community and Lynn A. Meisch's Andean Entrepreneurs: Otavalo Merchants & Musicians in the Global Arena. Both books describe the San Juan dances of June 24 and 25 as attempts to "take the square" in Cotacachi. Groups of costumed young men from neighboring villages storm the Cotacachi town square (La Plaza de la Matriz) and dance/march to hypnotic music. The symbolic taking of the square represents an upheaval of the social order, so that traditionally and historically marginalized Kichwa natives temporarily dominate the mestizo / white majority population.

Today we would go to our first Inti Raymi / San Juan activity. Antonio announced that this was the day when the children perform the San Juan dances. He said that we were about to see a small-scale representation of what we could expect to see during the following two days, when the grown men would dance.

We woke up at 6 a.m. to be ready for breakfast at 7:30. We were supposed to catch the 8 o'clock bus to Cotacachi to see the Inti Raymi children's dance. When we entered the house at 7:30, the family looked as though they had just rolled out of bed. We had a continental breakfast of homemade plantain chips, cheese, bread with mora jelly, coffee, and uvilla juice. Then they all got dressed and ready. The bus came at 7:50 and they weren't even close to ready, which was no real surprise to us. So we missed the bus.

As part of her preparations, Aida washed her feet and then exfoliated by rubbing with a stone. This seems to be part of preparation to make oneself presentable. If you don't have time to take a full shower, you at least wash your feet and ankles.

Once the kids were dressed (inplay clothes today, not their full on traditional clothing), Aida braided Yupanqui's hair and Rosa braided Sisa's.

At 8:45 (45 minutes after our scheduled departure time), we walked two houses down to where there was a payphone, and Antonio called for a camioneta (community pick-up truck). Even Abuelita joined us today. We walked down and met the truck and hopped in the back. We took it to Quiroga and then transferred to a bus to Cotacachi. The bus was packed and there were no seats. Luckily, it is not a long ride.

When we arrived in Cotacachi, we walked to the Plaza de la Matriz. This picturesque square is presided over by the Iglesia de la Matriz, a Catholic church with a large statue of Jesus atop its clock tower steeple. The clock wasn't keeping the proper time, but that seems to be a common problem with public clocks in this area.

We sat on the church steps overlooking the plaza. It was a carnival-esque atmosphere. Vendors sold inflatable toys, ice cream, cotton candy, lollipops, and granizadas (shaved ice snow cones).

Schoolchildren were walking counterclockwise around the plaza with teachers and chaperones. Many little boys were wearing white shirts, zamarros (sheepskin chaps), and exaggerated black cardboard 10-gallon hats. Girls were dressed in traditional Kichwa female attire: embroidered blouses with dark wool anakos (skirts). Some of the participating children were as young as Sisa.

When the groups of children arrived at a corner of the square, they would start to dance in a spiral motion. Some people played harmonicas, others had mouth organs. The songs (known as san juanitos) had a marching cadence to them, and the children marched in one direction until someone called for them to reverse direction. Some of the kids were carrying small branches. In general, the boys wielded them like whips whereas the girls carefully held them aloft.

Adults punctuated the music with shrill whistles and motivated the children to keep going. They announced all of the participating communities over the loudspeaker and we felt pride when Morochos was announced.

After watching several groups go by, we walked down the church steps and walked across the plaza to the municipal building. Here, we stood on the sidelines of the dance and kids marched past us. While the younger kids tended to dance in a fairly detached manner, the older boys were more intense. It was a little too intimidating for Sisa (she's afraid of people wearing the sheepskin chaps) so we veered off down a side street and took a little break.

When we came back, the dance parade around the plaza was winding down. A couple of local guys drinking liquor from a Coke bottle offered some to Craig. It started to rain a bit and there was a mass exodus as people ran for shelter.

When the rain stopped, dancers and spectators alike ate picnic lunches and drank chicha on the green in the square. Antonio suggested that we try chochos (lupins) with roasted corn kernels and banana chips. The vendor put salt, lemon juice, and tomato juice on the mixture. It was pleasant-tasting and had an interesting texture. The family bought some for themselves as well, but with ceviche.

I bought an ice cream cone dipped in cherry sauce for 25 cents. It seemed to be lime sherbet. Such good snacks at such inexpensive prices. We wandered some more and came across some family friends. They had buckets of food as well as food wrapped in a rebozo. They put some in a dish for Rosa and she shared it with the family and us.

We bought a small paper bag full of huevitos chilenos (fresh sugar-coated donut holes) for 50 cents. They were delicious - like fried dough!

Someone walking past me touched my arm lightly. It was our English-speaking friend from the bus the other day saying hello. That was very sweet!

Inti Raymi Children's Dance

It started to rain heavily. We walked to the bus station and stopped along the way to look at fabric and jewelry for Sisa. We took the bus to Quiroga and actually got a seat. In Quiroga we hired a pickup truck to drive us home. As we approached the house, Max the dog was waiting and whining. Once Abuelita got out of the truck, he immediately jumped up on her. It was very cute. He probably isn't used to the house being completely empty for the better part of the day like this.

Yupanqui went down for a nap. We played blocks with Sisa and had lunch of spinach soup, mote, and pulled pork with Coke to drink. I sang "Horse with No Name" to Sisa and she sang along, clapped, and said bravo.

Rosa and Sisa went to a meeting about a mini-project at the community center. We believe they said it is about raising cuy. Hmmm...maybe the next time we come there will be guinea pigs running around.

Craig and I read a book about traditional Kichwa agriculture that had been published by Runa Tupari, the native tourism agency with which the family worked. When it stopped raining, we went outside. The sun felt warm and good on our skin. Yupanqui woke up and Antonio played with him.

Sisa and Rosa returned. Sisa was upset. After a little while I distracted her with the arriba game. I held on to her hands and she climbed on top of a stool. I said "arriba, arriba" (up, up). She would parrot "alliba" in her small sweet voice and I would swing her in the air.

We gave Sisa a jumprope that we had brought for her. We demonstrated it for her. We each took an end and swung it slowly. She tried to jump over it. With timing and practice, she improved, but it was still a little too old for her.

She was innovative, though! She liked to swing it around and make swooshing noises. She ingeniously tied the rope around the steering wheel of her car. She towed it a little way and then got on and I pulled her to the end of the driveway and back. This was much easier on my back than pushing. Then she towed the car herself. Then it got dark and we told her it's time to go inside. She took this news in stride this time and towed the car into the house.

Then we played with the blocks. Antonio and Aida both joined in. Aida also made dinner. We had soup with pasta and potatoes, a hot dog, fried plantains, and fried potatoes. We had very tart cherry juice. Craig also had a fried egg. Antonio told us we'll see the adult Inti Raymi dancers tomorrow.

We headed to our room at 9 o'clock.

We were woken up at 11:35 p.m. by whooping, whistling, and stomping. We looked out the window and saw a large number of men in oversized black San Juan hats dancing in a circle on the patio. If we had been dressed, we would have gone outside to check it out. After a while the noise subsided and they moved on to the next house. Antonio told us in the morning that they were collecting community membets, who then all went down the ravine behind the house to perform ritual bathing in the river as part of the Inti Raymi customs. Wow, that would have amazing to see!