Children ‘plant’ dreams in Ecuador

A group of children in Ecuador ended 2023 with a ‘sowing of dreams’ ritual, represented in various types of plants, next to which they placed a compass rose, to which they whispered their most precious wishes to start a full 2024 of hopes.

The children, neighbors of the Montaña de Luz community, an Ecospirituality Home in the Ecuadorian province of Imbabura, chose their plants to plant, with the hope that their dreams and respect for nature will grow with them.

“They, still very young, may not very consciously understand these magical-symbolic themes, but what is clear is that being purer beings, they feel in the depths of their being that they are experiencing something beautiful. The years and, surely, they will remember this as one of the most magical moments, which can mark their life,” one of the organizers of the ritual told EFE.

Love therapists

“The innocence that you bring helps us move through each day, it helps us heal, your medicine, the little ones, is medicine for our lives, you are the therapists of love with your presence,” said Paty Santacruz, one of the therapists at the Ecospirituality Home before inviting the minors to choose their plant to plant.

Previously, the collaborators of Montaña de Luz had acquired the plants, of different types, sizes, aromas, and made the respective holes where the new plants would go, adding to the more than 30,000 pine trees, palm trees, orchids, fruit trees and various types of flowers that now decorate what was once a wild hill in the Pablo Arenas parish.

“Once the little plant is in the ground, they are going to tell it what their dreams are, what they want for you, for your little brothers, for your dad, mom, grandma, uncle, neighbor, for your friends. (friends) from school, for the world, for our people, for everyone you love,” Santacruz said.

He explained that each child would also receive a wind rose, to which they should also whisper their dream and leave it next to the plant they planted in the so-called Garden of Ancestral Wisdoms, where there is a temazcal in which prior to the planting, the adults participated in a purification ceremony.

Big wishes from the little ones

Lesly, 9 years old, told EFE that the greatest wish she ‘sowed’ was that “there would be no problems in the house”, and that they would give her “a bunny”, which – regardless of its color – she would call Manchitas.

“I asked (the plant) that my little brother turns out well,” Lesly said, commenting that his mother is pregnant.

She was happy to have the plants as confidants and to plant on the Mountain of Light, where she has agreed to visit and water it, also remembering the wishes that she whispered to him about her.

Near her, Cristofer whispered to his new team his desire to “pass” the school year, to be a soccer goalkeeper. “And that I go with a little friend of mine, Neiser, to Venezuela,” he added.
“My family is there, my grandmother. I want to go and live there, I do like it here, but I miss my grandmother,” the 8-year-old Venezuelan told EFE, noting that he likes to plant “because it helps the land” .

Along with him, his father commented that she was the first in his family to arrive in Ecuador and now they all live in the province of Imbabura.

The enthusiasm and example of the children during the “planting of dreams” spread to the adults, who also planted cucardas, oleanders, durantas, double jasmines, guayabitas, Christmas stars, medicinal herbs, climbing plants and other hanging plants of various colors and aromas so that they attract hummingbirds, bees and different birds all year round.

The ceremony closed with music and dance by Afro-descendant dancing women from the community of La Victoria, near the Montaña de Luz, which began 2024 with dozens of new plants in its brand new Garden of Ancestral Wisdoms, which joins the other ten gardens, spread over the 42 hectares of the Montaña de Luz.