Yamor Festival

The Yamor Festival celebrates corn, and specifically, the chicha made from 7 varieties of corn (called Yamor). (I know I'm super behind in blog posts, but bear with me.) For a little more history:

"The Yamor festivities started 52 years ago when the intercultural peoples of Otavalo blended the celebration of Koya Raymi (the ritual of the moon and the sun as elements of fertility) with Catholic traditions. The Municipality of Otavalo then officially instituted the Yamor festivities. The word “Yamor” refers to a traditional beverage, which is brewed using seven varieties of corn and is unique to this area. This beverage flows freely during the festivities. The indigenous groups of Kichwa Cayambi and Kichwa Otavalo that live in the Otavalo area honour the Andean agricultural cycle and especially corn, which is considered to be a symbol of fertility. Corn is the staple crop grown in the area and has become a central symbol in the cultural and religious festival calendar of Ecuador." (http://www.ecuador.com/blog/yamor-festivities-an-exciting-blend-of-traditions)


The Yamor festival is a historical and cultural celebration of chicha of pre-Incan origin and the religious faith of the village.  The festival is an act of the village to unite in their diversity, like all the grains of corn that are merged into an ear of corn. (http://www.otavalo.travel/eng/our-parties-programmed-events-in-otavalo/yamor-festival-in-otavalo.html)


All I can say is thank God I've managed to stay far away from the chicha thus far. A lot of Ecuadorians view it as a delicacy and a special drink for holidays and celebrations, but for me, the smell is a lot like what you would imagine for corn that is chewed up, spat out, and left to ferment. So yeah...I try to stay as far away from it as I can.

When I was told we were going to a parade on Friday 9/1, I envisioned the type of parade you’d expect in Bradford: people crowd into a small section of the main drag to watch a handful of floats, people tossing candy, a bunch of police cars and fire trucks, and it all wraps up in about 30 mins. Boy, was I wrong. Think more Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. It went from 6pm til midnight and was chock full of floats, queens from around Ecuador, dancers, musicians, and just about anything else you can imagine. The floats were interesting because they were usually pulled by a regular pickup truck, though a few of them were unusual in their vehicle choice: a double decker bus, a bright yellow Jeep; one was covered in ATVs, promoting the 4x4 event the next day! People threw candy, calendars, flowers; people walked along the sides handing out fliers and coupons, giving people samples of food and drinks. I personally loved the ladies advertising auto shops and motor oil and I don’t know what else because the scantily clad spandex dresses and body suits didn’t provide much space for advertisements who walked by in their sky high heels and full on makeup that would put a KY sorority girl to shame, handing out fliers and samples. There were also people (not part of the parade) who walked along the edge of the street selling stools to sit on, food, drinks, light up things that kids love and parents hate. It was tough to resist those scrumptious-looking candy apples that passed me by. But don’t worry, I was rewarded after the parade with a kabob and the most amazing grilled corn on the cob, slathered in butter and grated cheese (which I promptly inhaled). Goodness!

The seats were 2 rows deep lining the entirety of a very long street, ending at the town plaza, where other events were to take place. The strangest part to me was that the seats were all strung together with a cord to prevent any from walking away. People began setting up hours before, and unofficial cars and people began their own parade around 4 or 4:30.

The floats for each of the queens were amazing: decked out to the nines to represent different cities/regions of Ecuador. Many of them were COVERED in gorgeous flowers that would’ve cost an absolute fortune at home. Luckily (or not so luckily, depending on your position regarding capitalism and exploitation), Ecuador is packed with greenhouses that grow flowers (most of which are exported to the US), so most flowers/plants are incredibly cheap here. For example, the day we went to Cochasquí, there was a holiday, so there was a special sale on roses: $3/dozen, or 2 dozen for $5 (I mean they’re normally cheap, but the 2 dozen for $5 was cheaper than usual). That’s right: 24 roses for $5!! And because they’re grown here, they’re fresh, so they last much longer. Imagine having beautiful, fragrant roses in your house for 2 weeks, looking great the whole time! Yeah. There are definitely some perks to living here. ;) I wish I had photos, but it was safer and easier to go without anything on me. Unfortunately, with the huge crowds and people coming from all over for the event, there are also thieves and pickpockets. There are also some downsides to living here (but really, any populated areas have the same issue). Let’s hope I can steal some of Pepe’s pictures!

My absolute favorite part is probably some poor young woman’s worst part of the night. A float went by, clearly decked out for a queen, only it was completely empty. Not a sole filled any of the spots meant for people to hold onto (they have these bars that look like what you use to display dolls where queens/people stand, giving them support/something to grab when the float lurches over speedbumps). Everyone was a little confused, but we quickly moved on when the next dancing group came by. Cue 5-10 mins later, when the crowd below us starts cheering, clapping, and just generally going wild. At first we couldn’t see what the big deal was. Then, we saw a queen and a few other people running down the street. Picture a beauty queen in a full length, tight gown, makeup, hair done, crown on, super high heels, running down the street after the float that had somehow left her behind. I can only imagine the circumstances, and while my heart went out to the poor beauty, it was absolutely hilarious!

Saturday 9/2/17 was day 2 of the Yamor Festival, and the day to choose the queen for Otavalo. After going back and forth, Pepe, Cristina, and I ultimately went to the event “to chaperone Emily,” but she sat in another section with her friend and dad, so I’m fairly certain that was simply our justification for going. Whatevs. This event was certainly a cultural experience in itself. Each queen candidate had a roped off section in the stadium, each decorated with huge photos and their colors. Many had matching tshirts and balloons or noisemakers for the whole section. They also each had a band. Before the event started, I thought that was cute; what a creative idea to bring a legit band to cheer you on. About 15 mins into the event, I had a lot of thoughts about the band, but none of them involved “cute” anymore. It was basically a wall of non-stop noise from 7:30pm-12:30am. And I mean noise. Because while some of the bands were actually playing songs, they happened to be playing them simultaneously while other sections used their noisemakers, stomped, clapped, and chanted their candidate’s name. My poor ears; I thought they’d never recover. On a side note, I now really want to go to a concert when I get home…

The event also had musical entertainment (3 different groups, the last of which was rock and obviously my favorite) with a light/laser show that was determined to blind me, but I suppose was enjoyable for others. I swear I saw the Ecuadorian dopplegangers of Jeremy Renner and John Mayer. Sorry, no photos, but it was easier/safer to not take anything with me. I’ll admit I took The Voice approach a few times and just shut my eyes (because I value my corneas, thank you very much). But it was still great. They also had 2 announcers who would make great reality show competition announcers because, dang, they knew how to draw it out. I’m sure that locals knew who they were, but all I can tell you is the man sounded like he does movie trailer voiceovers and introductions for a living; he has the voice radio personalities dream of!

The parts with the candidates were cool, too. They first came out and did a choreographed dance number with one of the bands. Later, they had a costume section, where each of the ladies did a little walk down the rectangular runway, while the announcers described the significance of their costume and who made it (each of the costumes were meant to represent the history and importance of Otavalo). Finally, came the evening gown segment, where the candidates were asked questions. From what I could tell, there was no absurd 30 second time limit in which one has to solve complex socio-political crises, thank goodness. Then, the rock band came back and did a couple of numbers with the poor candidates awkwardly standing on stage, dying to know who won. Finally, the evening came to a close with the announcement that Paola won, and we scurried out of there. After getting stopped by security on the way in who tried to separate me from Cristina (her mama bear came out and made sure I passed), we were ready to scoot before things got too crazy. It was a long night, but incredibly interesting. Maybe I’ll have to do a study of Ecuadorian pageants (although I think Mariauxi beat me to it…).