So my intention was to post lots like every day this week, then i had all sorts of trouble getting pics to upload and now it's Saturday... utz! But anyway, still have lots to post from the past 3 weeks or so, so hopefully i'll have better luck these next few days.
We're wrapping up Semana Santa (or Holy Week) here now in Antigua - oh, ps. HAPPY EASTER! :) - the processions are coming to a close, the last one leaving at some point today, and everything is slowly going to return back to normal around here but... I want to share some of Semana Santa with you.
First background (and I'm no scholar but I'll do my best) - the majority of people here in Antigua are Catholic. A long time ago when the spanish came over to Guatemala they brought their catholic background and traditions and have kind of implemented them on the people of Guatemala, and now today it is a huge part of the culture. As lent begins, the processions and velacions begin. Every Friday in a church around/outside of Antigua they have a representation scene of a scripture from the Bible - every week they're different, and I actually don't really know how the scripture is chosen - but these representations are in the church all day Friday with street vendors outside the church and it kind of looks like a big carnival (minus the rides) but everyone in town goes to see this scene, they're beautiful and I will post pictures of some soon too. Then on Sunday a procession leaves from this church carrying a massive float-like thing with Jesus and Mary... and makes way through the streets of Antigua with music and incense - and as it gets closer and closer to Holy Week (the week leading up to Easter) the bigger and bigger and longer and longer these processions get.
What I want to post today is photos of what the people who are not involved in the procession create outside their home, essentially viewed as an offering to God, these are called alfombras (or carpets). I helped with one of these this past week, and whoa, it's a lot more work than I had thought!!!
First you buy the products:
-saw dust
-dyes (color)
-molds
-wood to line the edges
-flowers, etc.
In total my friend spent about 2000Q ($263) to purchase the supplies, but then it costs time...
We began on Tuesday night to sift the saw dust
Once the useful sawdust was separated,
we spent hours dying it to create all sorts of
different colors, and to do this, you separate a
bit of sawdust and mix in salt and a color powder,
then you grind it together and stir it around a ton
(and add water) until every bit of it is bright with color...
I helped with fuscia, green, and yellow, Leonel was up
almost an entire night finishing the rest.
The procession was scheduled to pass Thursday afternoon,
so Leonel started with the alfombra at about 2am that day.
And some friends showed up around 6...I passed by at
about 8 on my way to class, and this is where they were at:
I got there around 11 to help finish things up, they had already
completed the sawdust design, it was time to add flowers!
We finished I think around 12(?) or 1... then we waited...
for about 3 hours for the procession to
come and trample over this investment (haha)
This was the procession of a church near my house called
La Iglesia San Francisco. I think there was in total
80 men carrying, it was huge!
We watched from the rooftop as they passed over our alfombra..
Then along came the clean up men who scooped it all up,
and shoveled all our hard work into a garbage collector.
Ha! It's a fascinating concept really, and I was very
blessed to take part in this activity and learn how it's done.
My favorite part of Semana Santa was viewing the alfombras
that people made; such creativity and dedication.
Here's some pics of other alfombras that I really liked:
Alfombra making is a pretty big deal, and I
really like it because I see that it kind of brings
the community together. At times neighbors
combine their efforts to create something special, and
families are working together - it's really quite lovely to see!
