VACA LOCA!!

Last Friday marked the end of Corpus Christi, a seven day celebration and one of the most important roman catholic holidays in Ecuador. For those of you (like myself) who don't have a clue what this holiday is or where it came from I'll give a brief history.

According to the source of all knowledge (wikipedia) the first appearance of the holiday on the Christian calendar came after petitions of the thirteenth-century Augustinian nun Juliana of Liége. Juliana always had great respect and veneration for the holy sacrament and longed for a special feast or holiday in it's honor. She later had a vision in which she saw the Church under the light of a full moon with one dark spot. She felt that this dark spot signified the absence of such a holiday to commemorate the holy sacrament.

In 1208 she received another vision in which Christ himself commanded that she plead with the church authorities for the institution of the feast of Corpus Christi. Juliana eventually convinced the authorities and in 1246 Bishop Robert de Thorete, Bishop of Liége, ordered a celebration of Corpus Christi to be held each year thereafter.

Keeping this brief historical summary in mind, it is extremely fun to try to fill in the gap between the Augustinian nun's humble supplication for a feast to commemorate the holy sacrament and giant paper replicas of an indian woman, her male counterpart, and a giant bull, all equipped with explosives, dancing through crowds of terrified, screaming, unarmed, Ecuadorian citizens, which is exactly what I we saw last Friday night. I know what you are thinking... AMAZING!! Right? I was initially impressed but I didn't fall in love with the holiday until I saw la vaca loca lower it's horns, take aim, and deliberately shoot people at head level with roman candles. I couldn't help but think about how many people would have been arrested for this type of behavior in the states.

I'm sure that for someone not familiar with western culture easter bunnies, pine trees, elves, reign deer, and chimneys would be equally hard to link to Jesus as the fire breathing vaca loca. No matter how obscure the relationship seemed to me I thoroughly enjoyed this peace of national individualism.

QUE VIVA LA VACA LOCA!