Sunday 30 December 2012

Parade pictures

This was an amazing thing to witness!We were able to walk amongst the floats while they were waiting to take their place in the parade.To see the entire parade pass by can take up to 8 or more hours. We walked to the front of the parade and then walked to the end.....we were able to see the whole parade in about 3 hours................ we took almost 200 pictures.
Here are some of the pics we took along the way..................
The star of the parade.
 
 
 




























 
 

Monday 24 December 2012

..and so this is Christmas................

Christmas in Cuenca has definitely reminded us what Christmas is truly about.
For the past two weeks, we have been witness to many neighbourhood pageants and parades.
It seems that each church has a celebration of Jesus, and small parades of people dressed as Angels, Shepperd's, Mary's, Joeseph's, and the Baby Jesus make a small pilgrimage Thu the neighbourhoods.
We attended the Cuenca Symphony's Christmas concert and I just have to say, Silent Night is as beautiful in Spanish as it is in English........
Here are a few pictures we have taken around town.........
 Lights along the Tomebamba River

 A neighbourhood parade passing in front of our home.

 Cuenca Christmas lights in El Centro.


 Yep......I am an Angel!

 This Nativity scene located in one of the downtown plazas is amazing. The Joseph figure is 40 feet tall.

 My friend Jorie and I got to tell Santa what we wanted for Christmas.

This little cutie was singing at one of the Mercados.


Doug and I have decorated our apartment a bit and will be having a few people over for Christmas Dinner tomorrow. We will have a traditional turkey dinner....with a few twists....no cranberry sauce here.....and my pumpkin pie is made with fresh pumpkin...............
 Strawberry Santa's we made for a Christmas party.

 Christmas Table.
 My Santa's in the window.

 Our balcony.

Yesterday we went to the Flower Market and splurged on flowers for Christmas.............
I heard that Ecuador provides 1/3 of the roses to the world.







What a lucky gal I am to have these beautiful flowers available to me. These 4 beautiful arrangemants were less than 18.00 for all!


Today we were awed to view a truly amazing parade. This parade is 7 to 8 hours long!
 We took  at least a 100 pictures, But I haven't gotten a chance to look at them yet. I will post those pictures in a few days
Here is an article I copied from the local News paper that explains the parade...

The tradition of the Pase del Niño (or Procession of the Christ Child) is very old, dating from ancient Rome before the fall of the empire. As with the majority of the religious festivals and traditions in Ecuador, the Pase was introduced by Franciscan missionaries. The Franciscans were the first Christian missionaries to what is now Ecuador. The image now known as the Niño Viajero (Traveling Christ Child) was originally carved by an unknown sculptor in 1823 for the Cordero family of Cuenca. Eventually, the statue was inherited by Monsignor Miguel Cordero Crespo. It was Monsignor Cordero’s custom to invite everyone in his neighborhood to his home on Chirstmas Eve and celebrate a novena with them. Then in 1961, Monsignor Cordero went on a pilgrimage to holy places in Israel, Spain, and Rome, taking the statue of the Niño with him. In Rome, the statue was blessed by Pope John XXIII. When Monsignor Cordero returned to Cuenca with the blessed sculpture, the faithful of Cuenca were excited to see it, and it was named the Niño Viajero because of its travels.


 
Monsignor Miguel Cordero Crespo then initiated a Pase with the Niño Viajero on Christmas Eves. At first, the statue was only accompanied by members of the Monsignor’s neighborhood, but the Pase kept growing and growing. Last year an estimated 60,000 people participated in the Pase del Niño Viajero and a similar number is expected to participate this year



Well...my pies are ready to come out of the oven.
Merry Christmas family and friends. We love and miss you all. Especially you, Mom.