Respuestas
On November 2 of each year, the Day of the Dead is celebrated, a date of singular importance in the calendar of our popular festivities that are characterized by a mixture of ancestral traditions and customs.
In certain indigenous communities their inhabitants go to the cemetery to visit their dead, relatives and loved ones, with whom they symbolically share the food they carry, eating in the same place as the tombs, a ritual that is carried out with the belief that death it is a mere step to another life similar to this one.
The cemetery of Calderón, which is 30 minutes from Quito, as well as Otavalo and Cotacachi, in the province of Imbabura, are recognized by these traditions. In Ambato there is also a handicraft fair, in which it is customary to give handmade toys to children, which is why it has been called "Christmas Chiquita".
colamorada3In these dates as part of an ancestral rite is elaborated and consumed the purple wash is one of the gastronomic traditions that last in Ecuador as a custom that is not limited to consume it in commemoration of the day of the deceased, because in its preparation it denotes a ritual that allows the recipe to remain in force.
For the chef Carlos Gallardo, purple laundry is a food that expresses the miscegenation of our city and is a symbiosis of the way of being of Quito and Ecuadorians, because "we are people who remember aromas and flavors of the family, in a special way those that elaborate the mothers and the grandmothers ", remarks the chef from Quito.
Likewise, Pablo Cuvi, writer and connoisseur of Ecuadorian gastronomy, affirms that the purple dish represents the most traditional dish of the Quito cuisine, because it has its origin in the aboriginal ancestor, maintains the custom of consuming it on the day of the deceased and for centuries it is a homemade preparation that generates a reason for the whole family to meet, visit the cemeteries and return to the homes to sit at the table and drink the laundry.
The consumption of purple laundry during the celebration of the Day of the Dead becomes an important expression of cultural syncretism in Ecuador, expressed by a delicious drink accompanied by beautiful and delicious "guaguas de pan", products that reflect a fusion of customs , flavors and stories.