Semana Santa -- Holy Week -- in Antigua

Trip Start Mar 22, 2005
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Trip End Sep 09, 2005


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Flag of Guatemala  ,
Friday, March 25, 2005

I arrived in Antigua in the middle of Semana Santa, or Holy Week, the week preceeded Easter. Guatemala is a deeply Catholic country and has the largest festivals and processionals for Easter outside of Spain. Antigua´s small streets and narrow sidewalks are bombarded by people from all over Guatemala and all over the world coming to watch and participate in the week´s activities. Late into the night, families gather in the streets, enjoy seemingly tasty (but at least to me, unidentifiable) street food. At midnight, central park is packed with people, shoulder to shoulder. The crowds are not intimidating, as people are calm, respectful and somber. Easter here has a completely different feel from the states, as people reflect on Christ´s death and celebrate his resurrection -- no chocolate rabbits and colored eggs. There is a reenactment of his trial and crucifixion and on good friday, Christ´s body (in a glass casket) is the center of the largest processional. I was told that in some parts of Mexico, people actually volunteer to be crucified another masterpiece
another masterpiece
 .

The most beautiful part of the festivities are the alfombras, or carpets, that are created in the streets. They are amazing, although very temporary, works of art created out of colored sawdust, flowers, fruit, and pine needles. Groups spend hours carfully sifting sawdust through stencils to create patterns and figures. Everyone has a few hours to enjoy the finished product, then they are walked over and destroyed by the processionals. I wonder what kind of mini-industry has been created by this and if there are alfrombra designers who compete for the best churches... and, after a few days of doing nothing but walking around on cobblestone streets looking at these designs, my back is killing me, and I wonder what kind of business this generates for the local chiropractors.

On an unrelated note, sometime on Thursday another man arrived at the house I´m staying at.... Already there are four students, one mom, one son and an apparent boyfriend. This next addition perplexes me until one of the other students explains that its the mom´s ex-husband, who also lives here. I decide not to ask any more questions.

Back to Semana Santa... band following the procession
band following the procession
 . On Friday, Good Friday that is, I meet Gloria and her family in Antigua. Gloria is a friend of one of my good friends in San Francisco. She lives in Miami but was born in here (just a few weeks before a devastating earthquake which was part of the reason her parents moved to the US). She and I have never met before this, but by coincidence or good luck or something, she´s in Guatemala City visiting her family and coming to Antigua and doesn´t mind me tagging along while they check out the processionals...

We (me, Gloria, her mom, her aunt and her cousins Amanda and David) spend a few hours wandering around the city, then a few more at the markets (you barter for everything at the markets and Gloria jokes that her cousins don´t let her talk because she has an american accent and they won´t get as good of a price-- you can just imagine how good of a price I´ll get). We have lunch at a tasty Italian restaurant and a few more cousins join us. I instantly adore all of Gloria´s family -- they are warm, funny and make me feel like part of the family even though I can only really speak with a couple of them. There´s more laughter than conversation during lunch and Gloria graciously acts as my translator so I can keep up.

After lunch, we find a good spot to view the next processional. By the time the sun sets, I´m exhausted but there are people crowding the streets all night.
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