Cuenca’s Pase del Niño Christmas Eve parade returns in full-force today; 100,000 will participate or watch

El  Niño Viajero received an official escort from the cathedral in 2021. Today’s festivities began with an El  Niño helicopter fly-over of Cuenca at 7 a.m.

By Sylvan Hardy

Cuenca’s famous Christmas Eve parade, the Pase del Niño, returns in full-force today and organizers say it will be biggest ever, with more than 100,000 people expected to participate and watch.

The parade was cancelled in 2020 as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, while a small version of it was permitted in 2021.

Pase del Niño organizers predict more than 100,000 will participate in the parade or watch it along the Calle Simon Bolivar route.

Easily the biggest public event of the year in Cuenca, the Pase del Niño parade, or Passing of the Child, is a colorful mixture of the sacred and the profane. To locals, it is a time-honored Christian festival of homage to the Christ child that combines Catholic and indigenous traditions. Everyone agrees that it’s a lot of fun.

The seven-hour-plus procession steps off at 10 this morning from the San Sebastián Plaza staging area and features floats and decorated cars and trucks, many festooned with flowers, fruits and vegetables, empty beer cans and liquor bottles. Hood ornaments include roasted pigs, chickens and guinea pigs. There are bands, dancers, a variety of street performers, children on horses and donkeys, and various Biblical characters.

Two girls in the parade staging area prepare to march in the 2019 Pase del Niño.

In recent years, the Three Wise Men have made an appearance on Harley Davidsons and Mary and Joseph have cart-wheeled the length of Calle Simon Bolivar. Everywhere there are children dressed in colorful homemade costumes.

Introduced to Latin America by the Spanish almost 500 years ago, the Pase del Niño is a Christmas celebration in which likenesses of the infant Jesus are carried through towns and villages. In Ecuador, the tradition remains strongest in the Andean region. Organizers of the Cuenca parade claim that theirs is the largest Pase del Niño in all of Latin America.

The parade is actually a collection of dozens of smaller parades, according to José Washington Noroña, one of the event’s organizers. “Every neighborhood and nearby town will have its own parade with its own entries. Each will carry its own statue of the Christ child. This is something that communities plan for the entire year. Although most entries are from Cuenca and the surrounding area, some come from as far away as Loja in the south, as well as Otavalo and Ibarra in the north,” says Noroña.

The parade is mostly about the children.

Although the Christmas Eve parade may be the main event, the Pase del Niño celebration is a three-month-long activity, beginning the first Sunday after Advent and continuing until Carnival in February. The tradition also includes Novenas, nine consecutive nights of song, food and prayer, celebrated in homes and churches. On Christmas Eve, the Misa del Gallo, or Rooster Mass, is celebrated in the Cathedral and local churches.

Organizers say that the parade has a strong connection to the United States. Ecuadorians who live in the U.S. are major contributors, says Noroña. “Those who have done well there send money as thanks for their safe passage and future success.””

The U.S influence is evident in many of the parade entries. Children wear cowboy outfits and such personalities as Bart Simpson and Donald Trump, dressed up as Santa Claus, have made parade appearances. No matter the origin of the characters, Noroña says that the organizers try to keep the focus religious. “We don’t dictate what participants can do, but we try to keep the focus on the birth of Christ. One year, I saw a man dressed as Sponge Bob and thought he was a little out of place.”

The centerpiece of Cuenca’s parade, El  Niño, is an 1823 sculpture of the infant Jesus that was commissioned by Cuencano Josefa Heredia from an unknown local artist. When the sculpture came into the possession of Cuenca Monsignor Miguel Cordero Crespo more than a century later, he took it to the Holy Land and Rome in 1961, where it was blessed by Pope John XXIII. After the journey and the anointment, the statute became known as Niño Viajero, or Traveling Child, and has been the parade´s main attraction ever since.

Many of the parade participants are on horseback.

The parade proceeds from west to east down Calle Simon Bolivar, ending at the San Blas Plaza four blocks east of Parque Calderon.

Along the parade route and in nearby parks and plazas, hundreds of vendors sell traditional foods, cotton candy, drinks, ice cream and candy. There are also several distribution points for chicha, the traditional Pase del Niño beverage; it’s free, but beware: the alcohol content is high.

Where to watch the parade
Although the sidewalks and balconies around Parque Calderon are considered prime viewing areas, anywhere along Simon Bolivar, from Iglesia Corazón de Jesus, where Bolivar and Gran Colombia split, will provide a good vantage point. The best looks are from the upper-floor balconies of homes and businesses along Simon Bolivar.