Fiestas de Quito
On the weeks leading up to December 6th, a party atmosphere descends on the capital and infects the Quiteños with a seemingly irresistible desire to join the farra or party. Businesses go on a half-day schedule and tardiness in the morning is winked at.
The 6th of December, besides being a great excuse for partying, is a celebration of Ecuadorian colonial identity. This identity is combination of Andean inspired local culture and the classic Spanish tradition.
This mixture is evident in the music one hears in the streets, cafes and bars of Quito during the celebration. Andean melancholic rhythms of pasillos, albazo, san juanito, cachullapi are mixed with the fiercely emotive explorations typical of flamenco and the timelessness of the “pasodobles.” To this mix, Latin pop music and salsa, popular among the younger Ecuadorians adds fresh energy to the Quiteño psyche. The music is the rich framework for this annual event.
The colonial duality is also expressed in the cuisine. The exquisite plates of the Creole kitchen, such as fritada (roast pork), llapingachos (potato pancakes) and ceviche alternate with the delights of the Iberian peninsula providing partygoers the needed substance for the celebrations. Energy for the Feria de Quito is important as the parties typically last until sunrise and go on every night.
The main focus of the weeklong event is the Feria de Toros Jesus del Gran Poder, which is held at the Plaza Monumental de Toros. The bullfights go on every afternoon, rain or shine, for eight days, culminating on December 6th. The festival in Quito is arguably the most important and traditional bullfighting affair of the Americas.
The Quito bullfights always seem to draw the most outstanding personalities of the bullfighting cult from home and abroad. These include: bullfighters, both current stars and revered veterans, knowledgeable journalists, proud ganaderos or bull breeders, aficionados, musicians, artists and other important social and political figures.
Bullfighting in Ecuador
The art of bullfighting is very popular in Ecuador. The Fiesta Brava, as it is also called in Spanish, was introduced to Ecuador during the Spanish conquest. Along with other manifestations of their Old World culture, various religious missions populated the Andes with cattle that possessed the fierceness, nobility and casta (genetic purity) that makes the bullfight possible.
In Ecuador the Fiesta Brava is lived intensely. Each important city in the Sierra organizes a serious bullfighting festival during the local holidays. Ibarra, in the northern Andes, holds them in September, Ambato lives its celebration during Carnival, Riobamba, in the central Andes gets dressed up in April and Cuenca, in the southern Andes, celebrates in early November. Guayaquil, the port city, though not traditionally a bullfighting mecca, has begun to stage an annual event.
In the rural environment, towns and communities celebrate their holidays with amateur bullfighting. It is in these small towns where many of Ecuador's bullfighters are born.
All year round smaller holidays are organized and linked to the bullfighting ritual. As can be appreciated, a significant part of Ecuador's folk traditions is immersed in the mystical yet profoundly primitive traditions of bullfighting.
Bullfighting as an Art form
What is the allure of bullfighting? The essence of the art of bullfighting is the tension evoked by witnessing a matador gamble with his life before a powerful and wild animal. The resolution of that tension with the death or pardoning of the bull is the reward. The passion comes from a timeless appreciation of the intimate, dangerous, graceful dance of death, which occurs, between man and beast.
The dance of death between matador and bull is replete with symbolism. Death is ubiqutous on the sands of the bullring like death is pervasive in nature and always will be. Further, the ritualistic killing of the bull harks back to strong creationist mythology of sacrificial deaths to appease God. Lastly, the paso doble between bull and man is an allegory to the desperate love between two star-crossed lovers (ala Romeo and Juliette), whose devotion and trust creates a situation where each has in his hands the potential for his partner’s life or death.
The bipolar sensations that typically fill up the bullfighting atmosphere are arousal, anxiety, forewarning which intermingle with awe, overflowing joy and solemn passion. When both bull and matador are in sync, the dance of death can move even a Latino machismo man to tears.
Guillermo Alban, Ecuadorian Matador du jour
GoEcuador.com had the great honor of meeting with Guillermo Alban, who, without a doubt, is currently the most admired Ecuadorian figure in the bullfighting world. Alban, who was the winner of the trophy Jesus del Gran Poder 2000, is here to participate in this years edition of the festival and will try to reclaim the trophy.
Guillermo was born September 15th, 1971, in Guayaquil, a city not known for its the bullfighting tradition. As a child born of the landed gentry, Guillermo had the pleasure of growing up on farms both on the coast and in the Andes. His first love was horses and not the bulls. Thanks to his parents who are great fans of the Fiesta Brava, Guillermo in his teens gravitated to the cult of the bull.
Guillermo interrupted his path to becoming a matador de toros to study in Cornell University in upstate New York. There he got a degree in Agricultural Economy. After graduation, though, he returned to Ecuador to face the bulls once again.
After a conscientious career as a novillero or apprentice bullfighter fighting mainly in Mexico, he took the alternativa or confirmation on December 2nd., 1999 in Quito. His Godfather was Finito de Cordova, a prominent figure of the current Spanish bullfighting scene. The witness of the confirmation was "El Juli ", a 17-year-old Spanish matador who is a precocious phenomenon in the bullfighting world.
Guillermo has a special charisma that is clearly transmitted to the Tendidos or, literally, the enlightened ones. In addition he owns a streamlined technique when facing the bull, which is replete with elegance yet, which expresses both boyish enthusiasm and confidence. These elements make Guillermo a crowd favorite. Of course it doesn't hurt that he is also quite good looking.
Guillermo is much admired for his courage, hard work and professionalism that he exhibits every time he risks his life facing the brave bulls. The extraordinary will that animates him, has helped him obtained sonorous triumphs in different plazas from Mexico to Spain and back in Ecuador.
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