Mama Negra

The festival

The Mama Negra de Latacunga is the great feast of Ecuadorian Andes, where indigenous, African and Spanish heritage are mixed, declared the country's intangible cultural heritage in 2005. Her central figure — still a man, blackened face, bright red lips, curled wig loaded with ribbons, a black doll in her arms, her "daughter" — walks on horseback, gently spraying the crowd.

Around it: the Ángel de la Estrella, the Rey Moro, the Capitán and the Abanderado, characters designated each year for their merits in the community, followed by the compass, yumbos and the pueblo bandas. The festival honours the Virgen de las Mercedes, credited with saving the city during the eruptions of the Cotopaxi. It is played twice a year: in September, organized by the market traders, and in November, in municipal edition for the festivals of independence of Latacunga.