Okay, I have been in lots of other countries around New Years time but I think Ecuador takes the cake for it's tradition (and I have been in a New Years cake fight!). On December 31st at midnight, people take to burning papier mache dolls named "Old Year's Stooge". It's entirely built in effigy and is sometimes dressed in old clothes or simply has painted ones on. Burning it is considered a sort of lucky charm, a way to erase the bad energies of the past and to forget bad memories, or to take out any devils or any other negative impact of the year that's ending with what is popularly called a "clean". Many people take the opportunity to "burn" politicians as well as famous local characters or even dummies that look like their neighbors or doctors. We drove by one yesterday that appeared to be a doctor conducting a gynecologic appointment on a woman and one that looked like it was a real transport truck. So needless to say, last night at midnight, there were fires all over the city. They will also write what they call a "testament" which is also burned along with the dummy. The thing about Ecuadorians is they almost all have a small fire going on around their house everyday so we haven't heard about any casualties but I was out there to grab some photos!! They enjoy their noisemakers also and naturally tons of fireworks all over the city!! We live on a hill so we just had to look out the window to see all the craziness!!
