Mama Negra festival celebrates the survival of the city of Latacunga after the massive eruption of the Cotopaxi volcano in 1742. The locals were grateful to the Virgin Mary and organised a festival to show their gratitude.
However, the main character is not the Virgin Mary as we know her, but Mama Negra, the Black Mother, who represents a freed black slave, one of the people the Spanish colonists brought there to work in the Ecuadorian gold mines. The first sighting of black people made such an impression on the locals that they were shrouded in mysticism and inexplicably became the centerpiece of the parade.
Latacunga, Ecuador, 2018