Salasaca is a community and an indigenous people located in the

Tungurahua Province Tungurahua ( es, Provincia del Tungurahua, literally ''Province of the Tungurahua''; ) is one of the twenty-four provinces of Ecuador. Its capital is Ambato. The province takes its name from the Tungurahua volcano, which is located within the b ...

in the center of

Ecuador Ecuador ( ; ; Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, which literally translates as "Republic of the Equator"; Quechua: ''Ikwadur Ripuwlika''; Shuar: ''Eku ...

, halfway along the road from Ambato to Baños. The Salasaca speak Spanish and their traditional language of

Quichua Kichwa (, , also Spanish ) is a Quechuan language that includes all Quechua varieties of Ecuador and Colombia (''Inga''), as well as extensions into Peru. It has an estimated half million speakers. The most widely spoken dialects are Chimborazo ...

. Their main economic activities are agriculture, livestock-raising, and handcrafts. A market in the central plaza of Salasaca is called "Plaza of the Arts." Local craftsmanship includes items such as

tapestries Tapestry is a form of textile art, traditionally woven by hand on a loom. Tapestry is weft-faced weaving, in which all the warp threads are hidden in the completed work, unlike most woven textiles, where both the warp and the weft threads may ...

, which are woven by hand on looms of very ancient technology. Many of the designs depict different aspects of their lives. Pigments are often derived from the female

cochineal The cochineal ( , ; ''Dactylopius coccus'') is a scale insect in the suborder Sternorrhyncha, from which the natural dye carmine is derived. A primarily sessility (motility), sessile parasitism, parasite native to tropical and subtropical Sout ...

of the Dactylopius family which are crushed to make red colors. Salasca women wear a woolen garment around the shoulders, personalized by choosing a different shade of red. After pressing the insects into cakes, they use the dried cakes to dye the garments three at a time. One is left crimson, one is soaked in

lemon The lemon (''Citrus limon'') is a species of small evergreen trees in the flowering plant family Rutaceae, native to Asia, primarily Northeast India (Assam), Northern Myanmar or China. The tree's ellipsoidal yellow fruit is used for culin ...

juice to turn it scarlet, and the third is rubbed with

wood ash Wood ash is the powdery residue remaining after the combustion of wood, such as burning wood in a fireplace, bonfire, or an industrial power plant. It is largely composed of calcium compounds along with other non-combustible trace elements presen ...

es to turn it purple.Roquero, A
Identification of red dyes in textiles from the Andean Region.
Paper 129 In: Proceedings, Textile Society of America 11th Biennial Symposium, Lincoln, Nebraska, October 6–9, 2010. The Quichua Salasaca perform traditional music using a flute and drum. In the 21st century, the Quechua Salasaca have been incorporating other sounds that complement their traditional melodies. In June, Salasaca people celebrate the Inca new year festival called

Inti Raymi The Inti Raymi (Quechua for "Inti festival") is a traditional religious ceremony of the Inca Empire in honor of the god Inti (Quechua for "sun"), the most venerated deity in Inca religion. It was the celebration of the winter solstice – the s ...

, an ancient festival of the sun, which is celebrated in all

Quechua Quechua may refer to: *Quechua people, several indigenous ethnic groups in South America, especially in Peru *Quechuan languages, a Native South American language family spoken primarily in the Andes, derived from a common ancestral language **So ...

communities of the Highlands (Sierra). In the Salasaca festival circuit, the ''Varayuk'' or Mayor, who carries a wand that represents power and authority within the community, is the main personality.

References

External links

Inti Raymi in Salasaca 2003 (in German, with photographs)

website of hostel and cultural center in Salasaca run by local weaver Alonso Pilla
Hostal Inkahuasi
located in Salasaca Populated places in Tungurahua Province {{Ecuador-geo-stub