ENTRY DESCRIPTION
The carnival of Quito is a celebration that takes place every year in the capital of Ecuador, before Ash Wednesday and generally between February and March.
This is one of the largest celebrations of the city that involves each of the neighborhoods and districts of Quito, especially in Parroquia Yaruquí, Cumbayá, El Quinche, Amaguaña, Puéllaro and the Casco Histórico.
Here celebrates carnivals in a big way and commemorates all the cultural diversity found in the region, giving way to a wide variety of dances and masks.
Carnival in Quito and in Ecuador have been celebrated before 1870, when people used the festivities to celebrate in a somewhat violent and offensive way, since the way carnivals were carried out was to throw stones, water, flour and eggshells with perfumed water.
In this way the carnival acquired a more violent tone and as the result many people were forced to stay at home even close doors and windows.
Later, the holidays evolved into less violent celebrations. People began to use serpentines, confetti and flowers. Although some pratices of playing with water and perfumed eggshells continued to exist, they were much less violent and more enjoyable. Later antifaces and masks began to emerge, with which they were part of scenes of humor and satire.

AUTHOR
Erberto Zani is an Italian freelance photojournalist based between Parma (Italy) and Basel (Switzerland). Since 2008 he focused on capturing people’s daily life, strength in their environments. His work documents social and environmental issues, systemic inequalities, cultural traditions.
His photo has been published on BBC Newsround, Cnn Travel, Der Spiegel, El Pais, Financial Times, Lonely Planet, The Economist, The Times, among others.

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