Oriente & Amazon Events

The Oriente’s calendar is set by indigenous nations and by the agricultural year rather than by the national one.

Fiesta de la Chonta — March to May, Shuar and Achuar territory

The harvest of the chonta peach palm, whose orange fruit ripens once a year, is marked with several days of ceremony. The fruit is cooked and chewed to make chicha, and the making of it is accompanied by anent — sung invocations addressed to the plant and the spirits associated with it, understood as necessary for the fermentation to succeed. There is dancing through the night, and the celebration is about renewal and the continuity of the community. It is held within communities rather than staged, and attendance is by invitation through a lodge or a local contact.

Guayusa Upina — every morning

The pre-dawn communal drinking of guayusa tea and the telling of dreams, which is the most consistent ceremonial practice in Amazonian Kichwa life and the one visitors are most likely to be included in.

Amazon Day — 12 February

Marking the date in 1542 on which Orellana’s party reached the main stem of the Amazon, and observed across the Oriente with parades, school events and civic ceremonies in Coca, Tena, Puyo and Lago Agrio. It doubles as a regional identity day, and indigenous federations use it to make territorial and environmental arguments in public.

Kichwa new year and community fiestas — varies

Communities mark their own founding anniversaries and harvest occasions with chicha, dance and competitions, often including blowgun and spear-throwing contests that are taken more seriously than they look.

Local patron saint fiestas — through the year

The frontier towns hold their own celebrations, a mix of Catholic calendar and Amazonian practice.