How do you say AÑO NUEVO in English?
"Batmy, Batmy, where are you? Let's burn together, shall we?" |
In Ecuador and in most Spanish-speaking countries, December 31st is only AÑO VIEJO and January 1st is AÑO NUEVO. Those are perhaps somewhat inaccurate terms and saying Víspera de Año Nuevo y Día de Año Nuevo would be more appropriate. The same problem does not happen in English since you only say NEW YEAR'S EVE to refer to December 31st and NEW YEAR'S DAY is January 1st. The parties made on December 31st are usually called End of the Year parties.
The way we celebrate them is different as well. While in the States most people go out and hang out with their friends, in Ecuador we stay home with our families. We wish each other a "happy new year" and we have a special dinner that includes turkey, stuffing, rice, and salad. Chocolate accompanied by bread with raisins inside are also traditional. But the one that makes our celebration different is this idea to burn everything that was bad in the finishing year to welcome the new one. In order to do so we need, something to represent the ending year and what we use is dummies (which are all commonly called "Años Viejos") made of cardboard, paper and other stuff. These dummies usually resemble someone, a famous person or whoever is a celebrity at the moment. In the past it was only politicians (for obvious reasons) or artists, but as years passed the choices became more diverse and now it is not only politicians but also movie characters. Size may also vary: there is one section in my city where people prefer to make their Año Viejo dummies real giants as it is seen in the picture (see the Joker figure as compared to the houses behind). Then we burn them, all together exactly at 12:00 AM. The large ones are usually burnt in pieces, outside the city and under the supervision of the City Fire Department.
Is this a threat to the environment? Most definitely, but one that is not going anywhere. It is a whole industry. Lots of people work hard in producing these "Años Viejos" and the firecrackers. Lots of other people buy them just to burn them hours later as a symbol of what was and what will be.
Is this a threat to the environment? Most definitely, but one that is not going anywhere. It is a whole industry. Lots of people work hard in producing these "Años Viejos" and the firecrackers. Lots of other people buy them just to burn them hours later as a symbol of what was and what will be.
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