One of the rich aspects of Latin American Culture are the processions that take place during Lent. I can’t speak for what occurs in other countries, but in Antigua, Guatemala there is a procession every Sunday leading up to Easter. I’m still learning a lot of the things there are to know about the processions. So the things I write about them in the coming weeks are the things I’m learning along the way.
The processions grow in size, culminating with the largest ones that occur on Palm Sunday, and Thursday and Friday of Semana Santa. (Holy Week) They originate in the Parish Communities in and around the Antigua area. Santa Catalina Bobadilla is one of the small towns south of Antigua that ring the base of Agua. If you click on this route flyer and enlarge it, you can see in the lower left corner that the procession lasts twelve hours. I know someone out there is thinking, how long is that route? Four to five miles is my guess, allowing for my deft conversion from kilometers to miles. 🙂
It’s a great honor to be a bearer of one of these floats. By the time I took this picture they had already been processing about three hours. They don’t move continually forward but rather it’s a two steps forward, one back movement.
As the procession moves through parish neighborhoods, others join in. These photos are outside La Iglesia de Belen. The panels leaning up against the church behind the statues are the Stations of the Cross.
One of the amazing aspects of a procession are these carpets that are created in the street all along the route. My sense is that they are done by different groups, or in some cases, as a family project. All kinds of different materials make up these carpets. This one is a sand painting. The one below is made up of fruit, flowers, and pine needles. People work for hours and hours on these carpets and then the procession walks right over them.
Here’s a couple of other scenes from this day. It’s a somewhat odd mix of somber and festive. As promised, more procession stuff in the coming weeks.
There was a procession on Syros last weekend too. Costumes, beads, balloons, etc. Ended up in the town square. 37 years ago your Dad and I were in Athens during holy week of the Orthodox Easter and took part in the city wide procession on Good Friday night. Very moving and unforgettable.
Caught up again & really enjoying the pictures of the amazing natural beauty, and the first hand culture lessons. Makes me want to visit some day also – Frank tells stories of how beautiful it was there.
Glad to hear you are happy & sans shingles or other illnesses 😊 Miss ya.
Brings back memories of our first trip to Guatemala. Ro, Amanda and I with the rest of our team were given the opportunity to create a “carpet” in front of the hotel we stayed at. It was made of died sawdust, flowers, pine needles and various pods and beans. I’m thinking we spent 4 hours or so creating it. The procession walked through and it was converted into street sweeping powder. Nice blog post. Brings back 20 year old memories for me and my girls. Thanks.
Tim
Thanks T, there will be more procession stuff to come.