Calderón, Ecuador: Guaguas de pan and Colada Morada, deep cultural roots

npr.org reported In Ecuador today, All Saints Day (Día de Todos los Santos) is celebrated on Nov. 1, and is a smaller holiday focusing on children who have passed away. All Hallows Eve, on Oct. 31, is not observed religiously, although American-style Halloween celebrations have started to gain in popularity in recent years. Día de los Difuntos is the most celebrated, as it honors all who have died.

Seven percent of Ecuador’s 14 million inhabitants identify as indigenous, the vast majority of whom are Kichwa (Quechua). For them, death does not mark an end, but a transition to another life in which the dead and the living share in eating, drinking, talking and praying on this day.

Some say guaguas represent the deceased, and eating them is a way of remembering. Some believe they were created to replace the Indian tradition of mummification. Others think that the form of the baby is based on the indigenous belief that when a person dies, he or she regains the innocence of an infant.
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Colada morada, a thick dark purple beverage served piping hot, is the traditional accompaniment to guaguas de pan. Colada means strained, referring to the fruit that has been strained out, and morada means purple, the color the drink has taken from the fruit. It is made with blue or black corn flour, Andean blackberries, pineapple rinds, and exotic fruits: tiny sour blueberries called mortiños, a citrusy native fruit called naranjilla, and babaco, a cousin of the papaya. The fruits are brewed in a pot with herbs and spices.

Guaguas de pan and colada morada are as much a part of this holiday for Ecuadorians as turkey at Thanksgiving is for Americans.

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