homework-Anita V

[anita villavicencio]

The party of the Mama Negra- that takes place in Latacunga - it is one of the most beautiful and traditional from the Ecuador and it constitutes an absolutely mestizo cultural phenomenon. It is not known a lot with relationship to their origin, but the investigators coincide in affirming that this already took place in times of the colony. 

the mama negra is indigenous, African and Hispanic and in this trilogy the beauty of its content expressed in the variety of its characters resides, attires, dances, masks, processions, rhythms, songs, foods, drinks and shows that give life and reality to this party that is not another thing that a gigantic and wonderful farce or tragicomedy played by the whole town. 

According to old columnists, this party originated in 1742 when the inhabitants of the region, scared by the terrible eruptions of the Cotopaxi, looked for protection in the Mercedes' Virgin or of the Sacred Tragedy, to which Employer and Lawyer proclaimed or "Virgin of the Volcano", with the hope that she protected to the city of new eruptions. 

The central figure of the party is  in fact the Mama Negra, always personified by a man with the completely smutty face, adorned with rich and colorful typical robes that it travels to horse the streets of the city. The Mama Negra  represents a slave it liberates that it takes with her to their three children: two to the croup of their mount and the minor in their arms. 

Next to the mama Negra it is necessary to highlight the presence of the Priostes  that are the most representative personalities in the city  and to several characters more than they accompany her in their journey, as the Ashanga or husband that is who takes the food for the party and others of religious and military character as the Angel de la Estrella, the Tiznados, the Rey Moro, the Abanderado, the Yumbos. During their journey, these characters go distributing drinks and sweet to the onlookers that find to their step.