Ecuador 2/22/2022 - 3/8/2022

Monday, February 28, 2022 - Pawkar Raymi Ritual, Rooster Dinner

This morning was supposed to be the Pawkar Raymi ritual, but nothing further had been said about it than the initial briefing I was given by Antonio several days ago. I woke up early and looked outside, but nothing seemed to be happening. Nobody was around. It was raining and dreary.

I heard Antonio leave on his moto at 7 a.m. I had no idea how I was supposed to dress for this, if it was even happening. I have a full set of traditional Otavalan clothing, but I am incapable of dressing myself, since the skirts require precise pleating, layering, and wrapping. So I just put on a pair of jeans, a sweater, and a fleece.

They hadn't said anything about Craig participating (Antonio had specifically called me out as godmother and Sisa as goddaughter). He always takes a long time to wake up in the morning due to his multiple sclerosis, and this was very early for him.

Craig was still in bed when Antonio returned home on the moto with flowers. There was a man with Antonio (this turned out to be "the press", a representative of the local Radio Iluman radio station / web site.) The kids came out of the house and knocked on our door. Sisa was dressed in her traditional skirts but with the blouse we had given her. Yupanqui was wearing his traditional pants and a T-shirt. Shina was wearing leggings and a sweatshirt we had given her.

There was a path of rose petals leading from our casita door to a circle of rose petals on the patio. Rose petals formed a cross in the center of the circle. A cooking pot full of rose petals floating in water sat at the center of the cross.

They told me to go barefoot, and to walk along the rose petal path out onto the patio. The Radio Iluman guy was filming. After I took several steps forward, he adjusted his phone and asked me to start again. I did, and Negra the dog decided to walk through the frame. We all laughed, and then started for a third time.

I left the door ajar, and Craig could see most of what was going on from his bed.

I walked barefoot on the cold wet ground over to the cross as Aida bent down to take a handful of rose petals from the pot of water. She gently squeezed the water out of the petals. I leaned forward and she placed the rose petals on the top of my head. I then did the same to her.

This ritual was repeated, first with Sisa, then with Yupanqui, and finally, Shina. Then the Radio Iluman guy interviewed each of us. Antonio said that it was the family's first time participating in this ritual, in which flowers and water represent the energy of nature. I said that we were honored to participate and that I wish peace to the indigenous communities during Pawkar Raymi.

Radio Iluman edited together a short video of the proceedings, including interviews with Sisa, Antonio, and myself, and posted it to Facebook:

I had originally thought that it was a ritual that would take place between me and Sisa (maybe because I was godmother and she was the eldest daughter?) as that was what Antonio had initially told me. But it became clear that it was between godchildren and godparents. If we had known that, Craig certainly would have participated. We just hadn't had enough information to be properly prepared.

The whole thing was wrapped up before I would even normally have to start working. But there was still no internet this morning, so I coudn't work. I was happy that I had sent word to my boss that this was a possibility, so he wouldn't be surprised when I don't show up to meetings. I would take this as a vacation day.

Antonio is out of cell phone minutes, so he can't even call to report the internet outage. So he went to Quiroga to buy minutes. He was back in time for breakfast.

Rosa's brother from Quito and his wife and two kids were in town for carnival. We had never met them before. It was ironic that on our first time meeting them, Rosa wasn't even present. They came over for breakfast of scrambled eggs with hot dogs and bread. Sisa helped to cook breakfast for the group. There was a lot of intense discussion about the family situation now that Rosa has left.

Lunch was soup with hard boiled eggs, steak, potatoes, and patacones (fried, flattened plantain slices).

Antonio had been trying to call the internet service provider for hours, and he finally got to talk to someone. They believed that the cable was cut, and they would fix it tomorrow morning at 9 a.m.

The kids wanted to make the puzzle again, so we did.

Aida told us that it was time to kill the gigantic rooster. The bird in question makes so much noise overnight that we were not entirely sad to see him go. But we wondered who would dispatch it. Rosa usually did the deed, assisted by Aida. But Aida has been very sensitive about animals in the past, and we had never seen her kill one herself. And we had certainly never killed a chicken before; we had just watched. But Aida assured us that she has done it herself in the past and could do it today with our moral support.

First she caught the rooster and tied a piece of string to its leg. She tied it to a tree while she prepared everything. Then she slit its throat. All of this occurred in the pouring rain. Meanwhile, Yupanqui and his cousins from next door were engaging in a carnival water fight. They must have been freezing! The weather was so raw!

After Aida cleaned the rooster, we warmed up in the kitchen, making the puzzle and then playing concentration. Adeliz Dashel found the Chipikins photo card and brought it to show everyone, including the cats. It was so cute!

Antonio's brother Miguel and his wife, their son Miguel and his wife, Rosa's brother and his wife, and their kids all came over for dinner. It was nice to see Miguel Senior again; we hadn't really seen all that much of him since he counseled us prior to Sisa's baptism. He had had an emergency appendectomy since we saw him last, and we were glad to see him looking healthy.

That giant rooster was made into soup to feed 15 people! Aida served a gigantic drumstick each to Craig and me. We had never seen a chicken drumstick so big...it reminded us of the turkey legs at King Richard's Faire! We insisted that we could split one, and we let someone else enjoy the second one. We were simply incapable of eating that much! It was a fun extended family get-together, though Rosa's presence was missed.