The Yipao or Jeep

Jeep

Jeep is an automobile marque of Chrysler . The first Willys Jeeps were produced in 1941 with the first civilian models in 1945, making it the oldest off-road vehicle and sport utility vehicle brand. It inspired a number of other light utility vehicles, such as the Land Rover which is the second...

 parade

Parade

A parade is a procession of people, usually organized along a street, often in costume, and often accompanied by marching bands, floats or sometimes large balloons. Parades are held for a wide range of reasons, but are usually celebrations of some kind...

 is folkloric celebration in the Colombia

Colombia

Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...

n department of Quindío

Quindío Department

Quindío is a department of Colombia. It is in the western central region of the country, crossed by the Andes mountains. Its capital is Armenia. It is famous for the quality of the coffee plantations, colorful architecture, benign weather, variety of hotel accommodations and touristic landmarks...

, specially during the anniversary parties of the departmental capital Armenia

Armenia, Colombia

Armenia is the capital of Quindío, a department in Colombia. The city is located at coordinates 4.5170° north, 75.6830° west, 290 kilometers west of Bogotá. Armenia is a mid-size city located between Bogotá, Medellín and Cali, the 3 largest Colombian cities. The city's area code for phone calls is...

.

Jeep-Willys history in Colombia

The first Jeeps (M38 or CJ-2A models) arrived to Colombia

Colombia

Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...

 in 1946 for military purposes. They were imported by the Colombian Ministry of Defense

Ministry of National Defense (Colombia)

The Ministry of National Defence , is the national executive ministry of the Government of Colombia charged with coordinating and supervising all agencies and functions of the government relating directly to national security and the armed forces of Colombia, similar to the defense ministries in...

 and soon became very popular among Colombian coffee

Colombian coffee

Colombian Coffee is a protected designation of origin granted by the European Union that applies to the coffee produced in Colombia. The Colombian coffee has been recognized worldwide as having high quality and distinctive taste...

 farmers who saw in this vehicle the needed qualities for the difficult roads in the mountainous region of the country. Besides the transportation of coffee, Jeeps are used for transport many other agricultural products, as well as country workers to places previously accessible only to pack animal

Pack animal

A pack animal or beast of burden is a working animal used by humans as means of transporting materials by attaching them so their weight bears on the animal's back; the term may be applied to either an individual animal or a species so employed...

s. Due to this quality, the Jeeps are also known locally in Spanish

Spanish language

Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...

: "mulitas mecánicas" (or mechanical mule

Mule

A mule is the offspring of a male donkey and a female horse. Horses and donkeys are different species, with different numbers of chromosomes. Of the two F1 hybrids between these two species, a mule is easier to obtain than a hinny...

s).

Jeeps and culture

Many families in the Paisa region

Paisa Region

The Paisas are a people who inhabit a region over the northwest Colombia in the Andes.The region is formed by the departments of Antioquia, Caldas, Risaralda and Quindío. Some regions of Valle del Cauca Department and Tolima Department belong to the cultural identity of paisas...

 and Colombian Coffee-Growers Axis

Colombian Coffee-Growers Axis

Colombian Coffee-Growers Axis , also known as Coffee Triangle is a part of the Colombian Paisa region which is famous for growing and production of a majority of the Colombian coffee, considered by some as the best coffee in the world. There are three departments in the area: Caldas, Quindío and...

 own Jeep vehicles, which have become a beloved symbol of the coffee culture. Often the Jeeps have many ornaments, icon

Icon

An icon is a religious work of art, most commonly a painting, from Eastern Christianity and in certain Eastern Catholic churches...

s, and flashy accessories, in a kitsch

Kitsch

Kitsch is a form of art that is considered an inferior, tasteless copy of an extant style of art or a worthless imitation of art of recognized value. The concept is associated with the deliberate use of elements that may be thought of as cultural icons while making cheap mass-produced objects that...

 style.

The parade

The Yipao parade is celebrated during anniversary parties both in Armenia and Calarcá, Quindío

Calarcá, Quindío

Calarcá is a municipality in the eastern part of the department of Quindío, Colombia. It is located 4 km east of the departmental capital Armenia...

. The first edition of the parade was organized by Mrs Joan Jaramillo, headmistress of protocol of the Quindio Governor's office in 1988. The event has several categories separated according to the products carried in the vehicles:

• Agricultural products
• Coffee
• Furniture
• People
• Institutional advertisement

The vehicles are driven by the main streets of the city and the Jeeps with the largest amount of objects carried and the most harmonious arrangements earn prizes.

In February 2006, a Guinness World Records

Guinness World Records

Guinness World Records, known until 2000 as The Guinness Book of Records , is a reference book published annually, containing a collection of world records, both human achievements and the extremes of the natural world...

was established the for the "Longest Jeep Parade" in Calarca, with a caravan of over 370 Jeep Willys vehicles.