The Cuenca Christmas Festivities Begin

a.k.a just another Monday night in Cuenca, Ecuador…

Dunno how I missed it last year (likely I was teaching a night class), but by golly I made sure I strolled on over to Santo Domingo plaza on December 7th for the annual festival of the “Virgen del Rosario Morenica”.

Held each year on the eve of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary, the fiesta originated in Colombia and was known as “The Night of the Candles”. More recently, the parish of Santo Domingo here in Cuenca coupled the festival with the commemoration of the coronation of the Virgen del Rosario Morenica.

For weeks before the event, in the convent of Santo Domingo, volunteers fashion peek-a-boo lanterns with white cardboard and colored paper reflecting religious figures. This year, thousands of these lanterns lit by candles filled the plaza spelling out “Morenica” and lining the steps up to a statue of the virgin that was surrounded by roses.

Needless to say, it was quite the photogenic event. Below I’ve gathered the best of my images into a slide show. But first, a glimpse of a few of the portrait images (as my TravelnLass slide show plugin doesn’t handle vertical images very well):

And now the slide show…

(Click on any of the thumbnails to start the slide show…)

The lanterns spelled "MORENICA"
A requisite "selfiie" set on "timer"…
And on the walk home – a quick shot of the Old Cathedral

And so it begins – my 2nd holiday season in Cuenca!

About the Author

Dyanne Off-the-beaten-path travel is my passion,and I’ve always lived life “like-a-kid-in-a-candy-store” – eager to sample as many flavors as I can. Indeed, my life motto has long been: This ain’t a dress rehearsal, folks!