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The Remains of Semana Santa

The Remains of Semana Santa

Now that the Holy Week is over, we found the purple banners and bags of colored sawdust used in the processional carpets …

Semana Santa Comfort Food: Garnachas BY RUDY GIRON

Semana Santa Comfort Food: Garnachas

Semana Santa in Antigua Guatemala offers so many comfort foods, such as garnachas, a street food originally from Xelajú [Quetzaltenango]. Today’s portrait …

Semana Santa Decoration Remains

These decorative banners hanged on Good Friday are still hanging this week at Panadería San Martín. Yeah, it is hard for panzas …

Semana Santa Vistas: A Cucurucho Family

Entire families enjoy the processions of Semana Santa in Antigua Guatemala. Often the entire family participate in different activities from making carpets, …

Antigua Guatemala Tourists

This has to be the high season for tourism during the dry season; everywhere you walk, there are tourist groups. Of course, …

Antigua Holy Week Cucuruchos

Cucuruchos with their purple or violet cone-head rebes are another prominent element of Semana Santa in Antigua Guatemala. Purple is worn as …

Antigua Holy Week Floats

There’s nothing more impressive during the Holy Week in Antigua Guatemala than seen these massive floats, andas in Spanish, being carried by …

Prensa Libre Sponsors Semana Santa

I noticed that Prensa Libre, one of Guatemala’s largest and oldest newspapers, was also sponsoring a processional band this past weekend. I …

Fuel Home Delivery in La Antigua Guatemala

Other colonial measurements still in use in present-day Guatemala are: Una mano (one hand or five of anything), un manojo (a bunch), una libra (a pound; this one may hurt many of you, but for sure, the civilized world now uses the kilo), una picopada (a truckload), una fila de frances (a row of french rolls), una arroba (@ or 25 pounds) un quintal (100 pounds), una cuerda (a cord equals 1/6 of city block), una medida (a measurement of whatever fits inside a small can or basket), una penca de banano (that’s a banana cluster), et-cetera or basically that’s what I can remember right now. I am sure the Guatemalans visitors will share other colonial measurements being used in Guatemala. There was a recent article about colonial measurement in Prensa Libre’s Revista Domingo under the title of Costumbres que pesan {ñ}.

Underneath a Holy Week Float in La Antigua Guatemala

So much mumble jumble to present the underneath view of a Holy Week float in one of the villages of La Antigua Guatemala. Andas (floats) are not only the affair of cucuruchos, women also participate; and sometimes even chuchos (street dogs) get involved in the penitent act of carrying the heavy float! 😉

Holy Week Elements: Cucuruchos

Cucuruchos with their purple or violet cone-head dress are another prominent element of Semana Santa in Antigua Guatemala. Last week, Santiago Durham asked what its the significance of the color purple or violet in the dress and banners during Semana Santa, well it took a lot of digging to find out (I turned around and asked my office coworker), but I can now tell you the purple is worn as a sign of penitence. As a matter of fact, processions are a sign of penitence as well, heck the whole Semana Santa is a penitent act.

Lenten Vistas — Purple Banners

Another typical vista during Lent is the purple banners and bands that adorn many houses and business doorways and windows. Palacio de …

Holy Week: The Photographers

click, click, click, click click click, clicks, click. See, if it does NOT matter how much effort I put into documenting the …

Holy Week Precessional Music

The Holy Week in Guatemala is a full five senses overwhelming experience. As you follow the processions all five senses are bombarded …

Holy Week Processional Carpets

Some people have traveled the world over just to be present for the world-famous Holy Week in La Antigua Guatemala. Some people …

Holy Week Elements: The Sorrowful Mother

La Dolorosa or The Sorrowful Mother is the biblical figure of sorrowful mother Mary which follows Jesus in his way to his crucifixion. This act is represented by a smaller anda (long carved wooden flatbed image-carrying float [*]) —carrying the effigy of sorrowful Mother Mary and other female biblical representations— which is hauled exclusively by women who mostly dress in black or white as this is the appropriate dress code for a funeral. Jesus’ funeral.

Holy Week Elements: The Cross

Nevertheless, Good Friday is the culmination of the Holy Week Celebrations and the processions end at the Calvario Church (Calvario is the Spanish word for Calvary or Golgotha). The entrance of the Calvario Church in La Antigua Guatemala is a yellow façade with three arches, topped by three bells and three crosses —one larger than the other two— with a very large concrete cross in front. Can you see the obvious architectonic reference to Jesus’ crucifixion?

Holy Week Elements: The Making of the Carpets

The making of carpets from sawdust, pine-needles, flowers, vegetables is a community-forming tradition. People get together by block or near-by neighbors to create the carpets on which the processions will pass by. Sometimes the making of the carpets is done at night, all night so they are ready for next day’s procession.

Holy Week Elements: Sawdust Carpets

The making of sawdust carpets (alfombras de aserrí­n) with its vivid colors and eye-catching patterns are among the most prominent elements of the Holy Week celebrations. You can come back all this week to see other samples of carpets made with flowers and fruits and vegetables.

Processional Carpets in 2021

As I explained earlier, because of the pandemic, processions and all massive events had been canceled. However, some of the activities were …

PHOTO STOCK: Palm Sunday Bouquets from Antigua Guatemala

Palm Sunday Bouquets

Once again Domingo de Ramos, or Palm Sunday, was observed in Antigua Guatemala. Palm Sunday marks the beginning of the Semana Santa [Holy …

The Creation of Alfombras BY RUDY GIRON

The Creation of Alfombras

Today’s photographs were made while I was teaching a street photography workshop during Easter & Holy Week in Antigua Guatemala. Take home …

Pizza for the masses during Lent BY RUDY GIRON

Pizza for the masses during Lent

For better or worse, pizza has carved a niche among the street food offerings found during Cuaresma [Lent] and Semana Santa [Holy …

Lenten Vistas — Carpets

Here’s your illustrated Guatemalan Spanish word of the day: Alfombras procesionales for processional carpets. To look at the Lenten processional carpets you …

Let The Processional Season Begin

This past Sunday the first Lenten procession hit the streets of Antigua Guatemala. Here’s procession from Santa Catalina Bobadilla as it passes …

Mirada de Cucurucho © Rudy Giron

Cucurucho’s Look

Here’s one last picture from the Semana Santa. In this case, I got really close to a cucurucho, a teenager really, to …

Holy Week Vistas: Processions

It is such impressive vista these massive floats, andas in Spanish, being carried by 80 to 100 cucuruchos through the different streets …