Holy Week in Antigua, Guatemala was exceptional.
So amazing that I don't think that any write-up or blog can do it justice.
You should all just go experience it for yourselves.
Fin.
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| St. Catalina Arch in Antigua Guatemala with Volcan Aguas behind |
Hmm, my exuberant recommendation wasn't enough? I'll let some pictures speak for it.
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| street fair stall |
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| people in purple walking to be in a procession |
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| La Merced church |
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| alfombras ready for a procession |
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| one of the andas |
If a picture is worth a thousand words, then you must all be exhausted after reading my 5000 word masterpiece.
Seriously though, the week was incredible. Smooth travels both directions with only minor delays made the two full days on a bus go surprisingly quickly. I had three wonderful travel buddies: Kara, Susan, and Ashley, all of whom are volunteers at the school that is associated with my hospital. They never complained, kept up with my fast walking pace, and were up for anything.
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| me, Kara, Ashley, and Susan overlooking Antigua |
We arrived in Antigua on Wednesday night, released from a mini-bus on a street corner that was busy with foot traffic, lights, and sounds of a street fair. I had studied the map on the bus and thought I knew how to get to our hostel, but that did not take into account the fact that the traffic patterns for the week were completely different due to road closures for the processions. Fortunately there were plenty of tourist police around who were happy to tell me what street corner we were standing on, and I quickly got my bearings. We dragged our wheeling suitcases clackity-clacking over cobblestone streets about 4 blocks to our hostel.
At the Yellow House Hostel, we awoke to low clouds over the surrounding mountains forming a backdrop to La Merced church which we could see from the deck in front of our rooms. Their daily (included) breakfast was delicious and got us fueled up and ready for the day. After walking around the city, seeing it in the daylight for the first time, we came back to the hostel for a demonstration on how to color the sawdust that is in the carpets. Little did we know we were actually participating in coloring gallons of sawdust for the carpet that the family who owns the hotel was going to make that night! You sprinkle powdered dye into the sawdust, which disappears until water is poured into the pile. Then as you rub the moist sawdust vigorously, the dye appears!
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| dyed sawdust |
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| the process of preparing the sawdust |
The alfombra making that night started around 9pm in front of our hostel. The first step is to make a flat surface out of the cobblestones. A layer of sand or coarse sawdust is put down inside a large frame. Once the surface is flat and smooth, a layer of fine original color dust is placed, and the coloring begins. Large areas will be covered with colored sawdust that is sifted out of a box made with wood frame and a screen on the bottom. On top of these colors, stencils are placed which are then filled in by hand with different colors. The carpets are usually 4-8 feet wide, so to reach the middle, boards are elevated on cinder blocks and someone walks out or lays on the board to fill in the stencils that can't be reached from the side. They keep spraying the carpet with a fine mist to keep everything from blowing away.
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| framing the alfombra |
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| laying down the colored background |
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| stenciling patterns |
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| laying over the alfombra to reach the middle |
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| part of a completed intricate alfombra. All sawdust! |
We got to be part of making our hotel's alfombra- it's a lot more complicated than it seems at first!
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| filling in the stencil |
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| the completed alfombra from overhead right as the procession was walking on it |
Some of the carpets are just sawdust while others use pine needles, flowers, bread, vegetables, or wood chips to make designs. We even walked by one that smelled like chocolate and found that the border had been made out of cocoa nibs!
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| pine needle alfombra with flowers for color |
One of the amazing things about this experience was its ephemerality- if you didn't seize the moment, see all that you could, make the most of the time, it was gone. The alfombras were in progress for hours, and then the processions walked over them and they were cleaned up within minutes, with no trace that they ever existed.
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| cleaning crew- they literally had things cleaned up in minutes |
The processions were quite the production, involving at times hundreds or thousands of people. It felt sort of like a parade as people gathered along the streets to watch it pass, but Thursday, Friday, and Saturday's processions were solemn affairs. Sunday, in contrast, was joyful and celebratory with confetti being thrown around, the marching band playing upbeat marches, and everyone cheering. First, though, there were 3 days of funeral marches.
Each procession had several portions- someone holding a sign with a number on it indicating whose turn it was to carry the
anda (float) usually walked out front, followed by people dressed as Roman soldiers. Then devoted worshippers in the appropriate garb for that procession followed, many carrying incense. On Thursday the color of the garb was purple, on Friday black, and on Saturday black and brown. Following the cloud of incense, an
anda with a life-size figure of Jesus on it was next. Jesus was in various positions, sometimes carrying the cross, sometimes on the cross, or being taken down and put in a grave. There were also various other figures like Peter or Pontius Pilate. The
andas weighed anywhere from
3000-8000 lbs according to one source I read and were carried by 20-100 men.
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| Roman soldiers |
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| incense |
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| loading an incense censer |
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| a cloud of incense told you where the float was |
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| guys lifting up electrical lines to let the float under |
Each group only carried the float for about a block, and each person had a badge on their clothes indicating both which turn they had as well as what position on the float (carefully programmed to allow for different shoulder heights and distributing weight evenly.
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| badges with turn and position number |
After the float with Jesus there was a marching band with trumpets, tubas, drums, and other instruments that played funeral dirges. About a block behind them, a smaller float with Mary on it was carried by women in black. They also had a band behind them playing similar somber music.
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| women carrying a float of Mary |
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| Mary's float following Jesus' float |
The sight of the cloud of incense followed by a huge swaying elevated platform accompanied by solemn music was moving. The looks on the faces of those carrying the floats was suited to the occasion. No smiles or laughter, just pensive sober reflection.
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| the cloud of incense in the central square |
The processions lasted anywhere from 3 hours to 18 hours and walked all around the city. We spent 3 days sleeping little, walking around the city looking at carpets, and seeing the processions as they criss-crossed the streets. The processions were beautiful and conveyed an attitude of reverence, and Sunday's cheerful parade was that much more exciting for the days that had proceeded it.
Other fun parts of the trip: eating out at restaurants (our favorite was a crepe place called Luna de Miel), drinking bubble tea, happening upon Hotel Casa Santo Domingo, getting to see some friends who I met in Honduras who are now working in Antigua, and climbing an active volcano (Pacaya). The active volcano hike let me discover the best way to roast marshmallows- over hot lava rocks! It gives you a perfect even roast with no flames. It will be hard to go back to campfire marshmallows after that :)
An amazing experience!
