Catholic Decorations: San Miguel

La Antigua Guatemala has to be most catholic town in Guatemala, heck make that Central America. Nowhere is Catholicism more solidly embedded in the culture, traditions and identity that in La Antigua Guatemala. This is why the Semana Santa is such a grandiloquent event. Almost all the celebrations in Antigua Guatemala are around a catholic feast, including the Fiestas de Santiago (Saint James Feast) since Santiago is the former name of this colonial town and Santiago is thus the patron saint for Antigua Guatemala. Yesterday and today for instance there are all kinds of light yellow and white decorations in churches, buildings and private homes to observe the Corpus Christi.

So, it comes as no surprise that catholic imagery is often found in private homes and in public places like restaurants, hotels, museums, et cetera. Today we begin a mini-series about catholic decorations found in public places. Already I have shown you how the Catholicism has influenced the colonial architecture style of La Antigua Guatemala, which includes niches with saint figures as published in Casa Antigüeña: The Niches.

Below, I leave you the song “Saint Behind The Glass” by Los Lobos from the album Kiko which goes quite well the beginning of the Catholic decorations series. Enjoy!

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