Ecuador Christmas Gifts
Christmas is celebrated in the Andes with colorful processions as the Indigenous dress in their finest and bring gifts of fruit and produce, which they lay before the image of the Christ Child in the pesebre, or manger scene.
Here is the manger scene in Cotacachi’s main square across from…
Cotacachi city hall and…
Cotacachi’s main cathedral.
Children bring gifts also and honor the Holy Infant, asking blessings for their family. Then there is a fiesta with much singing and dancing outdoors.
Ecuador has so many things of beauty… the scenery…
A photo I took near Cotacachi.
The happy children.
Cotacachi children in and enjoying a…
street procession.
The flowers.
Ecuador flowers at the Cotacachi organic test farm.
On the subject of Ecuador flowers…
Merri and I are enjoying our Ecuador Christmas roses that arrived yesterday. We ordered 100… so they are all over the house… in…
four colors.
No matter how…
you view them… they are…
beautiful with… great rose smells. We sent many Ecuador roses as Christmas gifts as well.
Merri and I wish you the merriest Christmas and look forward to sharing all 12 days of Christmas with you. This is a season rich with meaning and spirit and perhaps through this sharing we will all learn ways to make our health better, our wealth richer and our lives more fulfilled in the year ahead.
The twelve days of Christmas begins tomorrow, (some traditions start the 12 days on the evening of December 25th with the following day considered the First Day of Christmas (December 26th). These Twelve Days of Christmas are the twelve days from Christmas until the beginning of Epiphany (January 6th; the 12 days count from December 25th until January 5th).
In Ecuador they are more strongly celebrated than in North America… each day rich with meaning.
Today though is the day of giving gifts. We can learn from giving and the three Chaldean Magi, Caspar, Melchior and Balthasar, who took the Baby Jesus three precious gifts.
The gifts themselves do not tell the tale, but the symbols behind the offerings are what we can wisely use.
Caspar brought Gold for the King as a symbol of abundance. Melchior offered Frankincense to the Priest within the Child which signifies wisdom. Finally Balthasar carried precious Myrrh for the Physician that this Wonder Child would be… the symbol for prophesy.
They saw that Christ would be a King, a Physician and a Priest and the gifts send the message to have balance in our lives. To take care of our wealth, look after our health and maintain a positive moral spirit.
What a gift! Today we hope that you enjoy these blessed riches!
Gary & Merri
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