Palm Sunday in Antigua: the making of the Palms

Palm Sunday celebrates the day when Jesus entered into Jerusalem and in Guatemala it's a colorful celebration to begin the Semana Santa. 

The palm leaves (palma real or manaca) are collected in Escuintla, Suchitepequez, and Quetzaltenango and delivered to the vendors, generally women from San Juan Sacatepequez.
These industrious women make the arrangements bunches-like adding some purple estaticias (Limonium sp.), red carnations, corozo (Corozo oleifera)flowers, and some other elements.

During the night of the previous Saturday or very early that Sunday, these women arrive to the churches with their precious cargo and before they start selling the bunches, these are blessed by a priest.

 making Palms

The Lent in Guatemala, the secrets of the carpets making

During the lent and Semana Santa, people make beautiful colorful sawdust carpets on the road where will pass the processions. Where does this tradition come from, this is subject to discussion but what is sure is that these carpets are unique in the world.

The carpets are real masterpieces of Art and it takes months for the families to plan out their carpets. Each one is unique and has its own signature. Carpets are built on the street just in front of their house and families and friends work together in a group effort. It became too a kind of competition to do the most beautiful carpet.

Sawdust is pigmented days before and the night before the procession, neighbors start making the carpets and usually work on it all night long to be ready on time. Size and complexity of the carpets differ, as well as materials used. Most of them use sawdust but others add fruits & vegetables, plants, decorations, or anything that comes to their mind. All is about details.

As the procession approaches, the final touches are placed on the carpets. In a few seconds, all the hard work is destroyed with the float bearers walking on it.

Following the procession is a team of street cleaners and within a few seconds the sawdust has been shoveled and swept, cleaned away.

 A carpet of vegetables

 Like the butterflies who fly to a destination to survive, humans should work together to end finally this war

 the road to the Volcano

The Lent in Guatemala, a long series of processions, carpets (alfombras), and vigils (vigilias)

With the beginning of the Lent, starts the long series of processions. In Antigua, you can assist to vigils every Friday with its respective procession on Sunday in some villages and municipalities.

The processions consist of floats, or 'andas', bearing statues of Christ with a cross, that are carried by purple-robed men commonly called Cucuruchos. A float with the Virgin Mary follows by women dressed in black clothing.
Being in a procession is taken very seriously by Guatemalan and this is a very serious matter. For the biggest processions during Semana Santa people have to book their space one year in advance and pay for it.

Along the way of the procession, people make sawdust carpets. During the Lent they are really simple but during Semana Santa carpets are really elaborated.

These are the pictures of one the first processions in Antigua:

 The Romans walking into the Colonial City

 the little Helper or "ayudante"

 Jesus carrying his cross

 then came the women all in black to represents the sadness of Mary

 Mary

 and at the end... the cleaning train! To clean the street after the processions, especially when there are carpets

Street sellers

Guatemalan culture: the tradition of the convites

From the first weekend of December till the last weekend of January, Convites are taking place in the villages around Antigua. Disguised people are inviding the streets of the towns and dance all afternoon to the sound of merengue and Mexican music coming from a big truck. After a few songs, they all move to the next stop, while people follow them on foot. The tradition started during the Spanish Conquest to make fun of the locals, and slowly changed to a big fiesta for everybody to have fun. The weirdest tradition is men who dress up like women. The participants stop along the way in the cantinas to have a beer and finish the afternoon quite drunk. 

In the next photos, men dressed up like women...

 On the left, Miguel a friend of mine in woman clothes

 Pretty!

 Sexy :)

 Men (sorry women..) drinking the national beer Gallo.












Others nice outfits

 families are participating

 kids...

 even a foreigner!

the famous Guatemalan tortillas! 

Some won't remember the end of the day...