Glenda's travels: Feliz ano nuevo de Cuenca

From the Galapagos I came to Cuenca, an old colonial city in the Andes. I am attending language school again, but the big attraction here was the New Years Eve celebration. In the week before New Years, everyone gets an effigy or big rag doll called a monigote. All the stores have them with signs written on them. The monigotes represent everything bad that happened in 2015. People write "wills" with their wishes for the new year. At midnight, they burn the monigotes and read the wills. They might also jump over the burning manigote.

Stalls selling masks and wigs

Another stall selling masks and wigs

Manigotes for sale. Masks to be added later.

The sign on this manigote says: Be careful because I have no brakes.

This family burnt their monigote in the afternoon, perhaps so their children could watch.

In addition to the individual and family monigotes, groups in different neighborhoods built large dioramas of monigotes, with signs on them. I am told that this was a big competition with a significant prize for the best diorama, but I didn't understand who the groups were.

Building a diorama

The sign on the monigote in blue says he is Marty McFly

A soccer themed diorama

This next one is also soccer themed. The giant blue ball represents the earth but it has tentacles on it like an octopus. It looks like it says MAFIA on it, but there is a thinner F after the I, so it really says MAFIFA, and the entire diorama is about the corruption of FIFA. The men have signs on them indicating that they are from Russia, Dubai, and other places, and they are handing over fistfuls of money.

A group of clowns in uniforms paraded down the street, I have no idea why.

So the groups spend all day building this intricate dioramas. In the evening, people gather around them, music is played, and people dance in the streets. This is New Years Eve cum Fourth of July, so people shoot off firecrackers and fireworks, and wave sparklers. Then, about fifteen minutes before midnight, they take down the dioramas that they worked all day to build, and put them in a big pile. At midnight, they set it all afire, as people throw their own monigotes into the bonfire. Up and down each street, you can see small groups burning monigotes, reading their wills, and jumping the fires. And there are fireworks in the sky.