The Mama Negra festivity, one of the intangible cultural heritages from the Latacunga-Ecuador City

Abstract

Our ancestors developed celebrations that responded to the cult of the stars in the need to acomplish with the ritual of their creed. With the arrival of the Spanish, the Church influenced the cultural repertoire of the towns, the Christian people, adapting them to these same festivities. Hence, the festivals, -some cases- are a product of the mixture between local beliefs and Spanish traditions based on faith. In this work, a theme related to social folklore, festivals and typical characters is exposed, starting from the study of the Mama Negra party, in Latacunga, Cotopaxi province; organized in honor of the Virgin of Mercy or the Most Holy Tragedy. The party takes place in the months of September and November, so it was essential to use descriptive and field research, firstly to characterize each character - define functions - and secondly, to confirm differences and similarities in both periods of celebration - direct observation. Bibliographic sources that included books, articles and other documents related to the subject were used, with the aim of analyzing and determining the folkloric fact of the festival, understanding it as a tourist attraction in Ecuador.