Religious fiestas in rural Ecuador are sponsored and organized by priostes. I use the term priostazgo/prioste instead of the better known cargo system/mayordomo from North and Central America (Cancián, 1965), because the former is exclusively used in the Andes (Montes del Castillo, 1989). With the intense emigration of young male villagers, many of the priostes of the Lord of the Miracles fiesta are currently living in the US. The Xarbán migrants’ association in Queens stems from and reproduces the traditional institution of the priostazgo. Nowadays
56 A saint’s physical representation comes to be worshipped as the actual saint in many parts of the Andes, originating from the way the colonization took place (Celestino, 1998).
57 These processes are by no means an exception in the Andes. Popular religious festivals in the Andes have undergone processes of syncretism and appropriation of disparate ritual elements (see for instance Cahill, 1996). Rituals from very different backgrounds have merged into the current Andean festive panorama. This is the case, for instance, of the processes of redefinition of the Catholic
iconography imposed by colonizers with pre-Hispanic rituals; for example, Our Lady of Quinche, one of the most popular religious symbols of the country, which according to Richard Salazar could be located in the same place as an ancient Inca Sun Temple (Salazar, 2000: 50). It is also the case of Inti Raymi (the Sun Festival in quechua) who came to identify with the Catholic feast of San Juan (Hill, 2004: 213).
there is a mirror priostazgo structure, where US-located priostes fund and decide about the Lord of the Miracles annual fiesta, while Xarbán-located priostes (the few who have stayed put in Xarbán and some returnees) are in charge of the actual organization. The latter have little or no decision power.
-Do you know how the money is gathered in the US?
[...] the villagers tell the main prioste how much money they are going to collaborate with. Their names and the quantities are written down. [...] The main priostes usually put in more money, 200, 300 dollars each. The others give 20, 50 dollars. In total they gather 3,000, 2,000, 1,000 dollars. They sent it altogether. I receive the money and follow their instructions. I cannot do as I like because it is not my money. It is their money. So they tell me, we send you the money and you are going to do this and that.
(Xarbán, male in his forties, non-migrant and Xarbán-located prioste)
Xarbán migrants raise money in two different ways: in a personal way through many, usually small, contributions; or collectively through the organization of events in the US. The most important event is the fiesta of the Lord of the Miracles in Queens that US-located priostes organize each year in September. It is a dance with traditional Ecuadorian music, food and drinks. There is an entrance fee and the remaining money after covering the cost of the organization (renting a hall, hiring a band, buying the inputs, etc.) is the main part of the collective remittances sent to Xarbán. Money is also raised in periodical religious gatherings where a copy of the image of the Lord of the Miracles is worshipped. Ever since the image was created in Ecuador and sent to the US, Xarbán villagers are worried about migrants stopping sending as much money for the ‘real’ Lord of the Miracles, now that they already have their own Lord of the Miracles. The US-located image is hosted in the houses of their devotees, where fortnightly prayers are organized. On these occasions, attendants are fed Ecuadorian food and a bingo takes place with prizes donated by the image-keepers. The money is maintained in a US account and sent once a year, several months ahead of the Lord of the Miracles fiesta in Xarbán, with detailed instructions of how the money should be used.
In the case of collective remittances, the issues of decision-making, management, control and enjoyment are, as with the other five transfers, interesting to examine. The issue of control is very relevant because there are more money and people involved. US-located priostes, who
hold all the decision power over their collective remittances for the fiesta, must rely on Xarbán-located priostes to carry out the actual management. In order to assure that their decisions are followed, migrants have developed intense monitoring structures. As with the other transfers, gossiping is very important, more so when the whole village population usually attend the fiesta events and they can report back to their migrant relatives. US-located priostes every year send extra money for the Xarbán-located priostes to film every aspect of the fiesta. DVDs and photos are then sent to the US-located priostes. Outside this collective structure, multiple photos are also sent within families. Migrants can check this way if their indications were followed. They can easily threaten with not sending money for the next fiesta if what they watch in the video is not quite what they had decided58.
Once the fiesta is over, we send them [to the priostes in the US] the videos they asked for. They fund the fiesta under that agreement. For example, they say, we send you 3,000 dollars, but you have to send us souvenirs, videos to check how the fiesta was.
(Xarbán, male in his forties, non-migrant and prioste)
The fiesta has undergone massive changes. Before the 1970s there was only one night of dancing to a local small band playing traditional songs. With the seasonal male migration to the Coast in the seventies and eighties, available money in Xarbán increased, which impacted on the fiesta. In fact Skeldon argues that in the context of Peruvian rural-to-urban migration
‘demands to support [the fiesta obligations] were one of the major reasons why villagers initially extended circuits of short-term mobility’ (1990: 182). Currently, with the money coming from the US in amounts never before available, there are four days of fiesta. Many non-villagers come to the fiesta, attracted by how spectacular it is, and making up for the absent villagers. Currently in the fiesta there are famous bands and singers, fireworks, parades, masses with the church fully decorated with flowers and other ornaments, horse-riding games, food and drink for the musicians, the priest, the horse riders, etc. My own estimations, from figures given by several informants, provide a cost of about $3,000 per day of fiesta.
The issue of enjoyment is also interesting. Both migrants and non-migrants enjoy the fiesta, although in different ways. For non-migrants, the Lord of the Miracles fiesta implies four days of fully funded fiesta, with music, dancing and much other entertaining. For migrants, it is an
58 Videos and photos are also used in other contexts as a monitor tool, as Carrillo-Espinosa reported for the case of Ecuadorian migrants’ houses (2009: 72).
occasion to make themselves visible, restating their membership from abroad. In order to do so migrants have developed several strategies to maximise their visibility. The presence of US flags, along with Ecuadorian flags, is a constant visual element throughout the whole fiesta, such as in the church, the parades, the masses, or during the dancing. Right before each funded event, the list of the names of those migrants who have given money for that specific event is read aloud. Each name is followed by the given amount of money. The reading of these lists can take some time, as long and as detailed as they are. The lyrics of the songs the hired bands play, as well as the speeches by the hired professional presenters of the events, often mention New York and the migrants.
Figure 6.2: Ecuadorian and US flags in the Lord of the Miracles 2009 fiesta in Xarbán
Source: photo by the author
Due to this constantly scrutinized visibility, migrants become the target of much criticism. Their funding activities are closely scrutinized by non-migrants. In order to avoid criticism, migrants place their donations within a framework of ‘exacerbated devotion’.
6.2.4. Devout money: transnational membership and migrant-non-migrant