Mama Negra festival Latacunga
no images were found
Mama Negra festival is held in Latacunga which is a town under the shadow of the volcano Cotopaxi. A local dignitary pays for this festival and the people party. I got sprayed with perfume and blessed by the drunken shamans who then demanded a fee for the honour. Mama Negra rides by on her horse and blesses the multitude. The ceremony is really giving thanks to the Virgin of Mercy for sparing the town of Latacunga when the volcano Cotopaxi erupted.
People wear their traditional clothes and dance special traditional dances to thank Mama Negra for sparing their lives. and to ask her to spare it again. The festival is a riot of colour with reds, greens, yellows fringed scarves and capes dyed from local flowers. Devil masks are also part of this traditional festival.
