The Deliciousness of the Festival of Corpus Christi

There are a lot of festivals here and, mostly, I don't understand the why of most of them. That doesn't stop me from enjoying the celebration, of course! I actually had to look up Corpus Christi (Cristi, here). Of course, I knew it's a Catholic celebration and by the name, it should be obvious that it celebrates the body of Christ. So I went online. (Whatever did we do without the internet?) It's actually a celebration of the Eucharist - the transformation of the blood and body of Christ to the holy wine and communion wafer. This is also know as transubstantiation.

2nd best macaroons so far

What I didn't get is why Corpus Christi is celebrated here with a wealth of sweets, so I did a bit more digging. It wasn't just a matter of taking the communion wafer to a whole new level, no. Corpus Christi happens to coincide with the return of the Pleiades constellation to the sky over the Andes and many indigenous groups use this time of year to celebrate the harvest and consider it the "new year". Sweets and harvest time go hand in hand. So, I feel I've solved the mystery. I've always loved how traditional festivals and Christian ones seem to line up so nicely. Of course, we all know that it helped ease the disparity between the old and new religions.Catholicism had a pretty amazing marketing team, back in the day.

Vendors as far as the eye can see

So, despite my status as a non-believer, I still get to browse the sweets, enjoy the odd treat and enjoy the fireworks displays that are set up in the main square of parque Calderon for the five day event. What fireworks have to do with transubstantiation, I have no idea. Nor, do I know why they're built into bamboo towers, so close to the crowd that you can get singed hair. What I do know is that if there aren't fireworks in Ecuador, it isn't a real party.

At least this year, they've cordoned off an area around the towers, before you could get as close as you liked! Safety first! (So not an Ecuadorian motto!)