Folklore

As with many countries, Ecuador is a country rich in culture, legends and folklore. Folklore in Ecuador takes on many forms and there is different folklore connected to individual areas, cities and even buildings. Some folklore in Ecuador has inspired festivals while others are dedicated to legends and cultural beliefs.

When traveling through Cuenca, you will be able to hear the stories of the Enchanted Stone, the Gargoyles, the Lamp of the Widow, the Chained Dog and the Witches. Some Ecuadorian Folklore was created to keep children from wrong doing, as is the case with the story of the Enchanted Stone. The Enchanted Stone, it is said, had great powers and closed the city off from a dark and mysterious part of the metropolis. Located in the Working District, it could grant wishes and was a wealth of information. Out of fear for the stone, no-one dared to talk to it. It also had the power to punish children who did not listen to their parents and of course this is the power that is emphasized the most in the story. The story was created to keep children away from this specific part of the city, as it was a place where young lovers were known to meet. It is said that Gargoyles cry like children when they come into contact with love affairs, while the story of the Lamp of the Widow originates in the El Vado District. It is said that the widow took the form of a haggard old woman as a disguise to travel to her lover unnoticed.

Quito overflows with Ecuadorian Folklore and you can hear a different legend or story on almost each street corner. According to legend, the indigenous foundation of Quito revolves around the story of the King and a falling star that he and his people followed on the insistence of the gods. The star took them to the Pichincha Volcano, where they relocated and established the city of Quito. You will also hear the tale of the Cathedral Rooster and the insulting wealthy man that passed the cathedral every day on route to his favorite watering hole. And there are many other stories and legends just like these.

Cantuna also has its own folklores. One of the most popular is the story of the building of the San Francisco Atrium. It is said that a man by the name of Cantuna was falling behind schedule on the building that he was being paid for. After many prayers and hours of work, Cantuna thought he would never finish. One day, Satan stopped by to offer Cantuna help in exchange for his soul. A deal was made on the condition that not one stone was to be out of place. The devil’s workers built the church, but in their haste forgot a stone and Cantuna was able to keep his soul.

Each story and legend is part of the intricately woven fabric of folklore of Ecuador. These stories serve to enrich each city and town with culture and history. When traveling through Ecuador, be sure to ask the locals about their folklore and legends, as they are guaranteed to be fascinating and give you a little insight into the history and culture of the country.

The Spook

It was the summer holidays and I was seven. Me my sister and Mum and Dad were going to Ecuador to my granddad and grandma's holiday home. We went their lot back then until one day when we saw what me and my brother now call The Spook. Earlier on that year my granddad died and that's why my grandma moved away, she said there were too many bad memories there.

Anyway back to the story, one summer we all went their. The first night we had fun and everything was normal and in order, but then the second night I heard footsteps outside my sister's room. I took no notice and thought it was just her going to the bathroom, But then suddenly I heard her scream in her room and she was shouting "get off of me get off of me leave me alone!" I ran to her room and so did Mum and Dad. We saw a white figure on her. Mum screamed I just stood their scared but Dad ran to her, by the time he got there (in half a second) the figure was gone! Then my sister went to sleep with my Mum and Dad and I went back to my own bed. I couldn't sleep the rest of the night though.

The next day my sister was sick. She looked very pale so my Mum and Dad took her to the doctor. The doctor just said "it's just her nerves" So we went back to the holiday home to pack our things since we were leaving in two days. We wanted to do it that day because the next we were going sight-seeing before we left. Later on we finally finished packing and my sister was looking better. We all went to watch T.V together. My Dad turned it on but it wouldn't come on instead we heard a voice from nowhere chanting "get out" it got louder and louder. "Come on where leaving" My dad shouted picking our bags up. My sister was paler than ever now. As we went towards the door the voice got quieter. We opened our front door and the voice was now just a whisper we went out and the voice just stopped.

We had to spend the rest of the night in a hotel. Now we know why our grandma left it wasn't just the bad memories it was The Spook. We never went back there since.

The Green House

This happened to me, when I was seven years old. Here in my country, we have a rich folklore. Mainly, all stories and myths happen to be with encounters with the dead and demons. I didn't believe in these things, until I moved to the green house.

In the beginning, everything was normal, although, I had a bad sense about the house. When I was alone, I felt that someone or something was looking me, but I saw no one. Other common things in this house, was to feel sudden changes in temperature.

I really never minded, until one night. I woke up from a nightmare. I was sweating and I had a lot of thirst so I went to the kitchen to get some water. This house connected all the rooms with one single hallway or corridor. As soon as I got my self out of the room I felt this strange feeling of being seen plus the sudden drop of temperature.

I got really scared and then I fixed my view to the end of the hallway where I saw a dark figure which slowly moves towards me. I was creeped out! I knew this wasn't my sister, because, she was still a baby. I ran as fast as possible to my parent's room.

Days and weeks passed since that night. I started to loose fear of the specter. At this time I began to sleep with my door closed. One night, I woke up from a nightmare. In my dreams I felt as if a rotting body pulled my feet to drag me under the bed. When I woke up I thought I heard the sound of nails scratching my door, in fact the noise was so hard it completely made me wake up. I hid under the covers. After a few minutes the sound stopped, but I was so scared I couldn't sleep for the whole night.

Two months after this last experience, we moved from that house, thanks to those experiences I started to believe and comprehend that the world we see is just very small, out there strange things happen, and there are worlds we can't see.

The Beast On The Road

Six years had passed since the events from "the green house". I knew that since that experience, my life was going to change for ever.

Now, getting into the story, I was on summer vacations-my father has a house on Puerto Cayo-so I went with my sister and my dad for a week. Puerto Cayo is located on the province of Manabi in Ecuador.

It was Friday afternoon, when I decided to go a play a soccer match with some people of the town. The soccer matches, take place, in a soccer field, which is located on a small mount that is about five minutes from the center of the town.

After the soccer match, I stayed with a group of friends talking until around seven o clock. Then, my friends told me they were going to the local canteen. I refused to go and drink, I was tired and wanted to get a bath and sleep.

So, I left the field, and started to walk back home. There was a crescent moon high up on the night. I had made like a hundred meters from the field. I was in the middle of the road, in the middle of the mount when a cool breeze, made me shiver with cold, this breeze chilled my bones.

Then something made me turn around, as if the wind called my name. Then I saw a big figure it had the shape of a boar, this thing had red eyes and then it cried. What I heard pierced my soul; this cry had the mixture of the crying of a woman and the crying of a pig. It is the most horrible thing I have heard in my life.

I started to run as fast as my feet allowed me. I rolled, and fractured a finger from the fall. As soon as I reached the town, this beast disappeared in a kind of fog like smoke, and those red eyes, disappeared in the dark.

The strangest of all things is that none of the people in that town have ever seen that beast. I wasn't drunk, I was completely sane.

The night I was leaving Puerto Cayo, I saw that on the road which connected the highway with the town, there was a black-cloaked figure with red eyes staring at me. I saw the figure vanish with the wind when I was about a mile away.

My Niece's Possession

My story takes place in Guayaquil, Ecuador (I'm from there)... I was spending part of my summer there, about the second week I was there visiting my family, when things started to happened. One night my niece just started feeling sick and we took her to the doctor but the doc said that she just had a cold. But we didn't think so, we knew something else was going on, but we didn't know what it was...

At that night around 11:00 pm we heard my sister screaming and saying to let her go, when we got to the room, we saw someone holding her from behind and I saw my niece turning into some purple green color and she had a really low pulse. My sister started praying but then something else happened, our bathroom door opened and a man walked out from there and said it'll be over soon... My grandmother went to the bathroom and she saw bones, like dead person bones and she took it outside the house and then everything went calm again. Everyone felt comfortable in the house, but I didn't because I still did felt scared. Even after the second time I went there, I still felt scared... And this shiat really happened and I was only 14 years old.

If you want to find out, just let me know probably if you can afford to travel all the way over there, you can come by my place over there and find out for your self, beside my house is not the only haunted one in my neighborhood.

La Ciniega

La Cienega" is a Spaniard hacienda built on the province of Cotopaxi-Ecuador. Two hundred years ago this hacienda served as home of Spaniard conquerors, they had thousands of indigenous people working on huge fields.

These haciendas were the heart of the economics in that time. Now, this hacienda is a touristic site, because is a building which has history. This hacienda has not been remodeled or modified it has been kept the same way as it was two hundred years ago. The hacienda works as an inn, and has the name of "la cienega".

It was late October; I went to the cienega to spend a weekend outside the city. My younger sister and brother were scared because they knew this place was supposed to be haunted.

There is a legend which says, that the Africans and indigenous people who worked on this hacienda suffered everyday, they were slaves, and working schedules were so harsh, most of the slaves died in the middle of the task. And their bodies were buried in the fields.

It was Saturday in the night, after we at dinner in the hacienda restaurant, my parents went ahead to their room with my sister. Five minutes later, I went with my brother. As we were walking through a hallway, my brother just fell to the ground, he said he felt something grasping his foot.

There was no one, and there were no doors on that hallway, from which, a prankster could play a joke. I felt cold, and seen. I continued to walk very fast to our room. That midnight my brother woke up screaming because he said that he felt that someone was pulling his feet. I calmed him for a couple of minutes, and took him to my parent's room. I returned to my room.

I went to the bathroom to pick up a bottle of water because I was thirsty, when I stared at the mirror. At my side I saw a face, the face was ugly and seemed to be rotting, and I simply fainted. I woke up at nine o clock. I checked my arms and they had scratches, as like those of a cat, but instead, these were only two lines in each arm. I was freaked out.

That next day I talked to a staff member and told him of what happened the other night. For my surprise, he simply told me that these kinds of experiences are weird. Although, that hacienda has a certain reputation of haunted.

A week later, I learned that this place gets its name "la cienega" from the translation from the Spanish, what means is "the swamp" because the Spaniards not only buried corpses on the ground, but mainly on a nearby swamp, which is about a five miles from the main house (where the inn works). And local people say that the spirits which inhabit the hacienda are enraged spirits who seek vengeance from their cruel masters.

During the Great Depression, Ecuador experienced tremendous political instability, culminating in a war with Peru at the brink of World War II. Ecuador’s Post-War Period saw a marked increase in inequality, instability. 

Correspondingly, contemporary Ecuadorian history has also been marked by radical instability stemming from fluctuation in world oil and financial markets, debt and modernization.

Examining the course of Ecuador’s history, four themes emerge:

• First, the vast majority of the nation’s wealth sits in the hands of a very few; a small middle class struggles to survive; and more than half of the country’s population hovers at or below the poverty level. Ecuador’s highly inequitable economic and social structure can be traced to colonial era racial discrimination and land tenure patterns, and to its dominant European cultural expressions.

• Second, the large-scale, export-oriented agricultural enterprises of Ecuador’s coastal region, represented by Guayaquil, continue to compete with the smaller farms and businesses of the Andean highlands, represented by Quito (by Ryder at dress head.com). This persistent regional rivalry often determines the outcome of key national issues and frequently paralyzes the government.

• Third, the economy continues to enjoy periods of “boom” and suffer periods of “bust” due to its dependence on a few export commodities, such as oil. The constant rise and fall of the economy makes it very difficult for Ecuador to realize any meaningful economic, social or political changes.
•  

Ecuador’s colonial roots are not confined to the history books, they are visible in everyday life even after almost two hundred years of independence from Spain.

• Fourth, the political system lacks strong, stable institutions. Since independence from Spain in 1822, there have been more than ninety changes of power. On average, every two years a new civilian or military government takes control. Governmental institutions, without opportunity to mature, have been unable to address Ecuador’s constantly re-emerging problems. Ecuador’s lack of a stable political system is both the result and cause of the nation’s disparate class structure, regionalism, and roller coaster economy.

History

Ecuador’s tumultuous history is, in many ways, cyclical. The country continually struggles against deep-rooted social, political-economic, and geographical challenges. The same factors that determined Ecuador’s history during the last two centuries continue to dominate its landscape at the beginning of the 21st century.

During Ecuador’s Pre-Colombian Period, a variety of indigenous groups coexisted for thousands of years before being subjugated, first by the Inca and then by Spanish conquistadors. Although both conquests were brutal invasions, inhabitants suffered far more under Spain than under the Inca.

During its colonial history, as part of the Viceroys of Peru and Nueva Granada, the people of what is now Ecuador saw a rise in exotic disease, forced labor and inequality. The economic decline of Spain, the rise of Enlightenment ideals, and a spreading South American independence movement coincided to help revolutionaries win independence from Spain on May 24, 1822. During its early years of independence, Ecuador belonged to Simón Bolívar’s Republic of Gran Colombia, which also included present-day Venezuela and Colombia. This association did not last long however, and the Ecuador’s establishment as a republic precipitated a period of strong influence by the Catholic church. Eloy Alfaro and followers fought for many secular reforms during the Liberal Revolution.

The Bullfighter

Ana Bermeo, a well-known woman of Quito in the XIX century, called the "bullfighter", due to her imposing character. According to her, she dressed elegantly, in a no eccentric form: a hat full of flowers, a fox coat, an embroidered blouse, a long skirt, gloves, black socks, high heels and a large purse where she stored her most appraised treasures.

It was said that she was a very wealthy woman but had lost everything. She would walk daily down the streets of the Center with a stick keeping people in order and conserving justice. The boys would bother her, shouting bullfighter! Bullfighter and she would persecute them with the stick.

Her presence made her another character of the city. It is said that once she traveled abroad, but returned quickly. She never married. She was enrolled in a mental institute several times, but always returned to the windy streets and ready to control the streets of the city.

At the end, she ended up in an asylum, blind and without being able to walk. They say that she had to bandage her eyes because she could not support how people destroyed the city with great buildings and preferred anarchy, greed and wealth brought by a new black viscous liquid in the country. This was her revenge and she never went outside. Our grandparents miss the steps of the bullfighter through the Center. If you want to see her, you can visit the Model Cafeteria on Chile street where you can see the only thing she left behind, a photograph.

The legend of the Atrio (Vestibule) of San Francisco

The original city of San Francisco of Quito, was the Shyri capital that was replaced with plazas and temples, one of them of a particular beauty is surrounded by a special legend. The Vestibule of San Francisco sits three meters over the plaza with an unnatural detail and perfection, was supposedly made with a pact with the devil.

During the colonial times, an Indian called Cantuña, inspired by the avarice and the desire of wealth, committed himself to the construction of this huge vestibule. With his time for finishing reaching its end and worried of being humiliated by the society and put into prison for not finishing. With his undying Indian pride he was nor going to give up. Begging for help without any answer, he decided to turn to the devil.

Hoping some miracle would occur he waited and then in the middle of the dark, a mysterious form in a red cape appeared before its eyes. Overwhelmed and without words, Cantuña did not say a word, the creature initiated the dialogue. I know your grief and your pain and know that tomorrow you will be mocked, if you do not allow me to help you. Before the rooster sings in the dawn the vestibule will be ready, all you have to do is signs this contract, in return I want your soul.

Do you accept?

Without hesitating, Cantuña accepted, but first clarifying that if in the morning before the last ringing of the church bells, if there is a single stone missing the contract will be null. In a short time hundreds of infernal beings began to raise stones and to work hard. Cantuña extremely worried with what he had done, returned sadly to his house, asking for pardon for his soul.

At dawn, when the bells began to ring, Cantuña quickly went to San Francisco. The work was almost ready, the little devils had done an incredible job and the face of Lucifer laughed to its victory and Cantuña's soul cried knowing he has lost.

The last bell rang and Lucifer exclaimed victory, your soul is mine. Cantuña also shouted victory, because there was a stone missing. There was a block missing and Cantuña's soul of was safe. Furious, Lucifer returned to hell with his disciples and the beauty of the vestibule remains today, however, until now locals and tourists look for the missing stone, but nobody can find its missing location.

Virgin of Volcano

The first Spaniards who lived in Quito, scared by the continuous eruptions of Pichincha volcano in 1575, built near the crater a stone virgin that represented the Virgin of the Mercedes, in order to protect the inhabitants of Quito of this destructive power. It was called the Virgin of the Volcano.

In 1960, due to a new eruption without any major consequences to the population, the inhabitants and neighbors reelect to the Virgin in gratitude for the granted safety from the volcano, in addition to storms, thunderstorms, tremors and other calamities. The experts speak of four eruptions since the arrival of the Spaniards. Eruptions in 1534, 1582, 1660 and 1868. If somebody wants to go to the summit of the Guagua Pichincha, you will find under the cross the image of this virgin, whom the settlers of Lloa make an annual peregrination.

This goes to show the adoration and respect to other mountains by similar cultures.

La Dama Tapada

La Dama Tapada appears as a popular belief about the year 1700 in the city of Guayaquil.

This legend tells the story of a lady who appeared around midnight but only appeared to be outdated drunks up to the old cemetery, Boca del Pozo, the lower church of Santo Domingo in the city of Guayaquil.

This young woman wearing only chasing philandering between these beautiful costumes an elegant black dress and a very nice time veil covering her face, which is not allowed to be recognized by their victims.

Legend has it that the lady exuded his environment a peculiar fragrance of lilies and violets, and this enticing way and making them into a trance or hypnotized leaving and forcing them to follow her, but this character is not allowed to get close one meter. Womanizers shocked by her beauty pursued without realizing what place they were going, reaching the General Cemetery , place where the lady was about to discover her face, saying these words: You know me as I am, now wants to follow me. In moments her beautiful face was breaking up to be a skull, from which flowed foul odors. Seeing this the victims died and some were impacted by the shock, others by the stench. Very few survived those who were ranked by the popular culture as rascals. She then appeared in this way was the way to go.

Cantuña

Cantuña has a very famous legend in Quito, capital of Ecuador, he was a very famous Indian in colonial times because he was a direct descendant of the great warrior Rumiñahui. This Indian, called Cantuña, had much power over other Indians in the region. Taking advantage of this, he promised to build a beautiful and large atrium to the Church of San Francisco, but his commitment to the church was doing in six months, otherwise he will not charge anything. The work was not easy. When the delivery time of the work was nearing completion, Cantuña was desperate, and offered to provide whatever who help him to end the atrium, which was just started. This offering reached the ears of the devil, taking advantage of the situation and introduced himself and offered to end the court that night, as long as Cantuña give his soul as payment. Cantuña accepted, and thousands of little devils began working as darkness fell on the city. Cantuña suddenly realized how fast they worked and that his soul would be bound to suffer punishment for all eternity, so he decided to challenge the devil. Cantuña went to a corner and took a stone, it wrote in Latin: “Who takes the stone and put in place, will recognize that there is only one God and He is above all creatures in the universe.” When the court was about to be finished the devil wanted to put the last stone, but to read what it contained could not do it and that broke his covenant. Cantuña kept the rock forever and no one was able to complete the work. If you ever visit the Plaza de San Francisco, look what the site where the famous stone missing.