2. The first thing to realize about the Ecuadorian culture is that it is not one single
culture, instead it is a whole range, representing every level of this very stratified
community.
The Ecuadorians have a distinctive type of dress code, made up of all the
different cultural diversities that stays in the regions of Ecuador and the
Galapagos Islands. A major aspect of Indian identity is present in Ecuador.
People that are familiar with the native dress can often tell roughly where an
Indian is from, based on what they wear. The Afro-Ecuadorians that are present
in Ecuador today are famous for their marimba music and many music and dance
festivals
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4. Ecuador has numerous cultures, including the Mestizo culture and a large
size of Afro-Ecuadorian inhabitants, that are descendants of African slaves
who worked on the coastal sugar plantations in the sixteenth century. The
Afro-Ecuadorians that are present in Ecuador today are famous for their
marimba music and many music and dance festivals. Long before the
Spanish have conquered Ecuador, and even before the Inca civilization, the
diverse native cultures of the region had rich musical traditions. Music
played an important role in the ancient Andean people’s lives as they found
some very old instruments such as, drums, flutes, trumpets, and other
musical artifacts in ancient tombs.
5. Coastal Music (Pacific)- Pasillo- played with guitar w/ six strings &
Rondin (flute). Pasacalle- dance music. Yarabi- most popular
old style
Esmeraldas & Carchi- Bambuco- dance music. Use bombos,
conunos, and guasá (Esm). Bomba- guitars, maracas and
güiros (Car). Chota (Car) are also known for the bandas
mochas.
Central Ecuador- mainly flutes. Also guitar and brass bands
Andean music (La Sierra)- called albazo. Main- panpipe.
Ensembles- other wind instruments, guitar trios, and brass
bands
6. Carnival in Ecuador is celebrated in February or March each year and ends on Ash Wednesday. Ecuador has a very unique way of celebrating
their carnival, they celebrate it by throwing water balloons, bags filled with flour, water weapons and anything that may make others look
messy. Most people don't seem to like it but the children and teenagers love it. These water weapons and water balloons are sold all over the
country before and during the carnival. Most tourists prefer to go to Ambato, where the Carnival is celebrated with colorful parades, instead
of the outrageous water throwing. Note that, water throwing is banned in Salinas.
Holy Week (Semana Santa)
This event is celebrated the week before Easter and starts on Palm Sunday (Domingo de Ramos). There are some parades in the streets on Good
Friday, especially in Quito. The Fanesca, is a very important tradition during Holy week. The Fanesca is a traditional soup made with
Bacalao (salt fish) and several different grains. The Catholics don't eat meat during these days.
Corpus Cristi
The Corpus Cristi celebration is held on the Thursday after Trinity Sunday. This celebration is more popular in the highland regions and is
celebrated in different ways according to the tradition of each town. For example, in most highland tows it involves, costumes, music and
dancing. While in Cotopaxi masked dancers dance through the streets and have some 12 high greased poles, which has to be climbed by a
brave man to obtain the prizes hanging on the top of it.
San Juan Bautista
This week-long festival is held each year on the 24th of June in the Otavalo Valley and is a very unique celebration. This celebration is in order to
honour Pachamama (Mother Earth), it involves local men, who dress up with varied costumes and start dancing from one house to another,
until they reach the San Juan Chapel, were they start throwing rocks at each other.
San Pedro and San Pablo
The San Pedro and San Pablo festivities are held on the 29th of June each year, but starts the night before with bonfires in the streets, with woman
wanting to become pregnant jumping over it.
Christmas
As with all other places in the world, Christmas is celebrated in Ecuador. If you want the best and most original Christmas celebration, you should
go to Cuenca on the 24th of December where the Pase Del Nino is held.
New Years
The Ecuadorians celebrate New Years eve with the anos viejos (old years). They have stuffed dummies, constructed with paper, sawdust, wood
and firecrackers. They show these dummies to the whole country before it is burned.
7. Geography
Ecuador has three main geographic regions, plus an insular region in the Pacific Ocean:
La Costa, or the coast, comprises the low-lying littoral in the western part of the country,
including the Pacific coastline.
La Sierra ("the highlands") is the high-altitude belt running north to south along the center
of the country, its mountainous terrain dominated by the Andes mountain range.
El Oriente ("the east") comprises the Amazon rainforest areas in the eastern part of the
country, accounting for just under half of the country's total surface area, though
populated by under 5 percent of the population.
The Región Insular is the region comprising the Galápagos Islands, some 1,000 kilometers
(620 mi) west of the mainland in the Pacific Ocean.
Ecuador's capital is Quito, which is in the province of Pichincha in the Sierra region. Its
largest city is Guayaquil, in the province of Guayas on the Coast. Cotopaxi, which is just
south of Quito, features one of the world's highest active volcanoes. The top of Mount
Chimborazo (6,310 meters) is considered to be the most distant point from the center of
the Earth, given the ovoidal shape of the planet (wider at the equator). [The top of Mt.
Everest is the highest point above sea level.]
8. Music Today
Today in Ecuador…
Urban discotecas spin salsa and merengue, though a new style called
reggaetón is starting to dominate. Reggaetón is a combination of hip-hop
and Jamaican dancehall reggae whose firmest roots are in Panama,
though the music was popularized in Puerto Rico. In recent years it has
skyrocketed in popularity in Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, most
Central and South American nations, and among Latinos in the United
States. Its biggest stars are the Puerto Ricans Daddy Yankee and Don
Omar, whose explicit lyrics and videos filled with submissive, scantilyclad women evoke hip-hop's greatest excesses.
City bars feature those rhythms as well as pop and rock en español. The
current darling of the latter genre is the Colombian-born Juanes, though
Ecuador boasts its own national bands, largely based in Quito. Fans of
harder rock should look out for concerts by Pulpo3, Resistencia, Crucks
en Karnak, and Caja Cañon.
