Burning the "Old Man"

One of the most important Ecuadorian traditions for ringing in the New Year is making años viejos, effigies representing local and international politicians, famous celebrities, or even cartoon characters. These dummies are made from old clothes stuffed with firecrackers and sawdust.

The heads of the effigies are covered with paper måché masks, shaped into caricatures of politicians or other people who have been in the news, generally for scandals. As the effigy parodies the year's top news stories and scandals, it is often seen as a social and political commentary, and its likeness is usually someone notorious or who has recently been involved in a scandal. This year we saw lots of Micheal Jackson, the current president of Ecuador, Correa, and our personal favorite that we got to burn thanks to the Brooms (who served several years in Venezuela), Hugo Chavez. 

On December 31, the años viejos sit alongside the road in small huts constructed out of eucalyptus or palm branches. The dolls patiently await their midnight death. As the year slowly comes to a close, Ecuadorians, especially the men, dress up as viudas, the widows of the dying year. These viudas, however, are not very upset about their husbands' death, and tend to act promiscuously. Dressed in skimpy clothing, tights, heels, and a  shawl around their shoulders, the viudas stand outside of the makeshift huts and ask passing cars for money to help pay for their husband's funeral. As with most Ecuadorian festivities, dancing is involved, and in order to "earn" the money, the viuda will perform a short dance. The money collected is used for the New Year's Eve party.  We saw a few men dressed like this in the streets of Quito New Year's Eve.

Even the children we learned will get into the act as we discovered going to Cotopaxi.  They grab scary masks and set up road blocks.

We were hit up by 3 road blocks on the way to the refuge with children (and some much older kids I believe) looking for donations.  One particular roadblock had a menacing looking teenager in military getup and a rifle.  We found giving a little change made the process a lot quicker. The girl who collected our money said a nice "¡Tenga un feliz año nuevo!" (Have a Happy New Year) as we drove off towards home.

At midnight on January 1st the dummy is sometimes beaten with a belt as punishment for all of the hardships it has caused in the last twelve months. Although we didn't beat our "old man", we did offer a few choice words about the real live dictator.

The año viejo is then set afire and as it burns, the firecrackers go off and the bravest jump over it, taunting it as a matador does a bull. By midnight, the city is dotted with the smoldering remains of the "old year", and everyone is ready for a new beginning to the new year on January first. 

To a visitor from outside of Ecuador it may appear a bit like a war zone driving through the city.  We encountered many of these fires on the way home from the party with a particularly large group in front of our apartment complex llighting up several effigies.  So remember as you say goodbye to last year's "Father Time" there are a few people that actually burn the "old man" to bring in the New Year.