BIENVENIDOS A ECUADOR
Mestizo
Mestizo's have very similar courtships to the United States. Unlike ancient times, the couple chooses their own partner and they go on dates together. Before a couple can get engaged, the finance must go with his parents to the fiancée’s house and ask her parents to give them their blessing. Then their daughter can marry him. To get engaged, the fiancé goes around the town with all his family and friends playing all kinds of instruments, and singing. The man also brings all kinds of food, chickens, guinea pig, pork, sheep, etc. to the finacee's house to give as a gift for her and her parents.
Ecuador is a country with Napoleonic Civil Code as the basis of its legal system does not have the concept of Common Law… in marriage… in trusts or any of the other common law entities. Yet Ecuador does have a legally enforced declaration that lets a couple live together even though they are not married and enjoy the benefits of sharing just as a married couple does.
Generally the marriage is between Mestizos (a mixture between Indigenous and Spaniards). There are not inter-cultural marriages between a Mestizo and an Indigenous person, or between a Mestizo and black person. Indigenous people and black people have their own wedding and courtship practices.
During the typical wedding ceremony, the bride and groom sit for approximately 30 minutes while the priest begins the ceremony. Due to American influence, Mestizo's traditionally wear a white gown and often times the wedding party contains bridesmaids and groomsmen. The reception is a huge feast, normally with lots of dancing and a band and normally lasts 6 - 8 hours.
Quechua
The novios (couple) live together first, and if they get along, they marry, if not, the pair separates and goes back to live with the parents. The ceremony is much different and much more rural based. The men and women face each other silently while everyone watches them. The master of ceremony takes the microphone, and, accompanied by a violin and a drum, starts singing the song of pedida in a high pitched voice, ceremonially asking for the bride’s hand. The bridal ensemble starts trotting languidly back and forth with small rhythmic steps and expressionless faces. The song, repetitive and slow, becomes hypnotic after thirty minutes and it appears like a mystical pre-Incan ritual.
One by one, each person deposits gifts in front of the couple and congratulates them. Soon the two disappear behind a pile of pots, cauldrons, mattresses, blankets, and machetes, everything one needs to start a life in Orient. Food is then served and the attendees dance and drink for hours. Some people take naps under nearby trees, awaken, and start dancing and partying again. The Quechua wedding is normally 24 hours in length.
