New Years Dummies

One of Latin America’s (including Ecuador's) most colourful -- and bizarre -- traditions is the year-end burning of the dummies. When the clock ticks over to 2013 on Monday night, an observer with a good vantage point in Cuenca will behold the sight of thousands of burning dummies and a sky filled with smoke and fireworks.

Most dummies, called año viejos, are made of cloth and filled either with sawdust, ground cardboard, straw, or leaves. Others are made of paper maché. Dummy faces are masks representing everyone from presidents and city councilmen to wayward family members. Most of the masks are paper maché and hand-made, although some are manufactured plastic. The dummy’s stuffing usually contains firecrackers and, occasionally, Chinese rockets, which are set off during the immolations.

While riding the buses during the past week, we have noticed an increasing number of dummies on the roadside for sale. We have no intention to be outside on New Year's Eve nor anywhere near this custom, but snapped some photos of what they're selling at the market in Cuenca a few days before New Years eve.

We were told that the large dummies can cost up to $300 each and the smaller ones $20 - $50 a piece.

Taking his dummy home