Colada morada is an ancestral drink of the indigenous communities of Ecuador, which is prepared as part of a ritual for the Day of the Dead, every November 2. It dates back more than 5,000 years and its preparation has varied over time. It went from having animal blood – in pre-Columbian civilizations – to being a mixture of red fruits and other Andean flavors, which is accompanied by the famous ‘guaguas’ of bread. A drink that breaks boundaries, builds identity and relieves nostalgia for the warmth of home.
Ximena Guaña brings a bite of colada morada to her mouth. The aroma of cinnamon, cloves, mortiño, home, awakens memories. She does not take it thinking only of her death, but also of her loved ones who live in Ecuador.
He has been out of the country for more than a decade. Today, he lives in Bogotá, Colombia, and says that the first bite of this drink, each year, is a portal to the past.
“Another year that comes to celebrate those who went ahead of us in this journey. (…) All those smells transport me and I look at my grandfather in front of the fire with the big pot making the delicious laundry, where we all participated, happy, waiting for my grandfather to say: ‘baby ready to eat’…” .
That concoction represents more than a traditional flavor of Ecuadorian cuisine, it is the essence of an ancestral ritual that takes place in the country every November 2, commemorating the Day of the Dead. Ecuadorians visit their dead in their graves. They open a tablecloth on the grass and begin to drink the colada morada and eat the ‘guaguas’ – girls in Quichua – bread.
María Cruz, from Quito, clearly remembers her childhood in the Historic Center of the Ecuadorian capital. A hard childhood due to the circumstances of her life, but she had an unbreakable memory from when she was four years old: drinking colada morada in a clay pot, which her aunt prepared.
At 85 years old, he maintains that recipe and every year he brings his family together to mix mortiño – similar to blueberry -, blackberry, cinnamon, cloves, strawberry, pineapple and ishpingo – also known as Amazon cinnamon , which gives the characteristic flavor of colada morada.
María Cruz prepares the colada morada and the bread the day before. She does not consume this drink next to the grave of her husband or her two children, she prefers to do so in the warmth of her home, surrounded by her loved ones. Lorena Montenegro, Diana Armijos and Liz Sarabia, Ecuadorians abroad, also prepare this drink to share with her family and with the whole world.
In Ecuador, grandmothers, mothers, aunts, daughters and granddaughters – women – are the ones who mainly sustain traditions, through gastronomy. A legacy that is passed on from generation to generation.
From rituality to tradition: the consumption of colada morada in Ecuador
Its origin is interwoven in the territories of ancient Ecuador, where traditions were forged with ancestral knowledge and an Andean worldview.
This drink has been consumed since pre-Columbian indigenous civilizations in the region, transcending eras ranging from the Inca Empire and the Spanish colony, to the birth of Ecuador as a Republic in 1830.
A bitter drink related to the rituality of death, which was practiced in November and which coincides, explains Héctor López Molina, an Ecuadorian historical researcher, with the transition to winter; that is, the death of nature.
In the Inca empire it was called ‘Aya Marcay Quilla’, which in Spanish means ‘season of marking or carrying the dead on litters’. The indigenous people took the remains of their ancestors, dressed them and carried them through the squares.
At the end of each tour, they placed the dead back in their graves and drank a drink made of purple corn and llama or bird blood. “This represented the blood bond that united them with their ancestors,” says López.
These funeral rituals upset the Spanish when they came to conquer the region. In the Viceroyalty of Peru, what is now Peru and Bolivia, historical records show that these practices were eradicated by the 17th century. While in the Royal Court of Quito, in the 18th century, Jesuit diaries surprisingly narrate that this ritual was still practiced regularly. Hence, its preparation is only in Ecuador.
The Church did not stop pressuring the indigenous people to abandon this ritual, but in a “process of cunning,” says López, the communities began to use other ingredients that could be a substitute for blood, but maintain the color and its thickness. The example of syncretism in Ecuador.
Until then, the colada was still bitter and it was the mestizos who included panela, blackberry and other ingredients to make the drink more pleasant to the palate. While the rite of carrying out the dead was transformed into what today are the ‘guaguas’ of bread.
They stopped carrying their dead and created small ceramic dolls, but it was still frowned upon by the Church. In a “play to circumvent the system,” says López, the indigenous people prepared a bread similar in shape to a shrouded corpse, like a doll or a ‘guagua’ of bread. Before it was made of corn flour. Today, it is found in all shapes, decorated with colorful icing and with fillings such as blackberry jam, chocolate or guava.
Coming home in a bite
Ximena Guaña returned to that childhood with the smell of Lorena Montenegro’s purple laundry, an Ecuadorian resident in Bogotá. Since 2021, she has prepared more than 200 liters of this drink and hundreds of guaguas of bread. Initially she only did it for her family, but she decided to give “a little piece of Ecuador, to those who are looking for it.” Customers, she says, do not receive a simple order, “they receive a small part of our country.”
Together with her husband, they prepare every year to be able to obtain all the ingredients. Her little son is the ‘taster’ of the family business: ‘Latitud Cero, Ecuadorian cuisine’. “He is the one who motivates me the most to do the laundry every year,” he says, laughing.
“It makes me very nostalgic because you remember, first, the family members who are no longer here, but it is also a tradition full of life. “Here everyone participates by cutting the fruits, decorating the bread ‘guaguas’.”
“The idea is that the world knows our traditions,” says Lorena. A purpose shared by Diana Armijos and Liz Sarabia, Ecuadorians living in Buenos Aires, Argentina. This year, in their restaurant, ‘De ley que si hay’, they have sold almost 40 liters a day on average, from the end of September to the first week of November.
“When an Ecuadorian tries it, you can see it on their face, they light up, and their gestures are pure happiness,” says Liz, pointing out that citizens of other nationalities are pleasantly surprised by the mix of flavors.
“In Argentina it was difficult to get all the ingredients, but I adapted my recipe well and people like it,” says Diana. “When they take in their laundry they tell us that it makes them feel at home. That is the idea, to be that little piece of Ecuador.”
For those who live outside the Andean country, the colada morada awakens deep emotions of nostalgia and roots in their identity. Each sip evokes moments with your loved ones, living and dead.
And the best colada morada, great Ecuadorian chefs like Andrés Jurado and Edgar León agree, is the one that takes you back home.
This ancient drink has reached all establishments in Ecuador, from the most modest to the most luxurious. Each family or restaurant adapts the recipe to their taste, but most keep mortiño, blackberry and purple corn flour – or cornstarch, although chefs prefer flour – as the base of an authentic colada morada.
“In the end, the best colada is the one that will always take you to the heart. That moment when you were at your grandmother’s house, with your family,” says Andrés Jurado.
Edgar León has taken the purple colada to more than ten countries. His recipe is an adaptation of several ways of preparing that he has known during his time in the kitchens of the towns of Ecuador. He recognizes that cuisine “does not know social status, it knows nostalgia for flavor.” Of that flavor, he says, “to which we always want to return, even though its preparation has been globalized.”
During his stay outside Ecuador, Edgar points out that what marked him most was the absence of those flavors. “When I came back and found that, it was like receiving a hug from family again. That is the nostalgic flavor and it is the most important expression of affection.”
For Andrés, in the kitchen of his home, or in that of any restaurant, a social fabric is built and the identity of an entire country is claimed. His recipe is also an adaptation of what he learned from women, in his home and other kitchens. Laughing, he says that whenever he brings his purple laundry to family gatherings he debates with his grandmothers about the preparation. “They are little battles of affection over a recipe.”
There are few communities that still maintain the ritual of eating colada morada and guagua de pan at the graves of their dead. However, this ancestral drink breaks boundaries and becomes a tribute to the essence and collective memory of a people.
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