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The village of Santa Inés is located on the edge of La Antigua Guatemala, to the right of the road that takes you to Guatemala City. I shared with you a photograph of the road taken from Santa Inés on April 1, 2011. I would venture to say that because Santa Inés village is located on the exit road to Guatemala City many people do take the time to visit, myself included. It’s a shame because Santa Inés has an interesting layout, mostly a strip on a downhill. Also, Santa Inés is very rich and colorful with a strong sense of community as these photos show.

I will try to convince Nelo to share his photos of all the other velaciones and processions from the other villages or churches for the upcoming weekend; with three more days of Semana Santa photos we’ll be in tune for the Holy Week which is fast approaching upon us.

All photos by Leonel [Nelo] Mijangos

North by Northwest, that’s how you get to Jocotenango from Antigua Guatemala’s Plaza Mayor (main plaza). Jocotenango is not a village of La Antigua Guatemala. Jocotenango is a municipality with its own elected mayor and all. Jocotenango is so close to La Antigua Guatemala that when you take La Calle Ancha which becomes La Calle Real you enter Jocotenango without knowing it unless you look for the welcome sign. Jocotenango is also famous for its giant Jocote Monument. Have you visited Jocotenango before? If so, what things did you do in Jocotenango?

One of the reasons our friend Nelo wanted to share these photos is to let people know that there are processions throughout Lent, so you don’t have to wait until the Semana Santa (Holy Week) to come La Antigua Guatemala to watch and participate in the world famous processions from Antigua Guatemala; the best if you ask Nelo and me.

I wonder if they have processions in Quetzaltenango or in Guatemala City, I haven’t seen anything in XelaDailyPhoto.com or in GuatemalaDailyPhoto.com; we should go ask them what’s up with that!

All photos by Leonel [Nelo] Mijangos

First thing first, my dear friend Nelo informs me that on the first Wednesday of the Lent period, also known as Ash Wednesday, the first velación (wake ceremony I believe is the translation for it; correct me if I’m wrong) is organized for the following Saturday at Santa Catalina Bobadilla, which is ALWAYS the first procession of Lent in La Antigua Guatemala. See, there’s an order not imposed by anyone for all the processions to follow during Cuaresma and Semana Santa. After the velación, on Sunday the procession leaves the village church around mid-day and heads over to La Antigua Guatemala takes a winding path all around Antigua for about 12 hours. Each week the process repeats to the T, except it is different village and church where the procession leaves.

Nelo has offered to share these fabulous photos with us for the very first velación and procession of 2011 as well as the following weeks. I will publish one week’s processional photos per day beggining today.

Do you know what’s the second Lent procession in Antigua Guatemala?

All photos by Leonel [Nelo] Mijangos

Every week, many more houses and buildings are putting up their Lent decorations. This house located on Calle de Los Pasos, which is basically the route for the Stations of the Cross, which goes from the San Francisco El Grande church to El Calvario church.

We can take the Lent decorations as a sure sign that there will be a Lent procession passing by this house this coming weekend.

Do you think we should have some Velaciones or Processional photos this weekend? After all, we’re almost half-way through Lent. It is up to you!

You think Antigua Guatemala is just processions for the Semana Santa? Wrong. There is more… there are also plays, like this one. This play was being performed parallel to the procession of La Merced this past Sunday.

Can you tell what’s the play all about?

text and photos by Arturo Godoy. Check out Arturo’s portfolio to purchase photos from his massive photographic bank.

Okay, we have a new dialogue game. Those of you who have followed AntiguaDailyPhoto for a while know the rules. This simple image will allow us to play a creative game. Taking the two men as our characters we will write up one of many conceivable dialogues as the interaction between them. To get ideas or inspiration check out these previous entries: Arch-framed Women in Jocotenango and Opposite ends of life #2. The best dialogue will receive this photo as 4″x6″ post card.

Good luck to all the participants!

I confess that you have to click on the image above to understand the title. I confess I have never in my life seen so many cucuruchos together. I confess I never been surrounded by so many violet or purple robes. I confess that I should have waited another 10 minutes to take photographs of the thousands of cucuruchos. I confess…

This was the second time I was alerted about the exotic flower arrangements placed on the fountains prior to a procession or lent activity. I took this photo the day after the procession at Escuela de Cristo. It was a welcoming surprise to learn that cleaning people did not take the flowers away.

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As Semana Santa, the Holy Week before Easter, approaches, the historic colonial town of Antigua sees almost daily processions. These processions include music, colors. . . and most importantly floats. . . that don’t really float, but are heavy wooden depictions of the life of Christ. Because of how heavy these floats are, they often need to be carried by more than 60 men, women and/or children. The processions wind themselves through the cobblestone streets. And people pay for the honor to carry them.

One quirk to the payment, is that according to my friend Nelo, each person pays Q60 per turn. Each procession includes on average 60 turns and each float needs 80-100 carriers. So this adds up fast, about Q290,000 (US$38,000) per procession. So where does all this money go?

Almost one third goes to the band. I heard that the San Felipe Church processional Band charges Q150,000 (close to US$20,000) per procession and La Merced Church processional band about Q125,000. I imagine some of the money goes to the church who lends the saint figures for the processions. Some money goes to the organization, the creation of the scenes above the floats which are never the same and lastly for maintenance.

Literary Introspection Aside: Much of what I am today and the decisions I made that took me to La Antigua Guatemala were inspired or influenced in part by Milan Kundera’s writings. Through the reading of several of Milan Kundera‘s novels, especially Life is Elsewhere, Laughable Loves, The Farewell Party, The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Immortality and Identity, I begun to question myself about life, lifestyles and what I wanted out of the day. Life is a jigsaw puzzle made up from moments (days) and where and with whom you spend those moments shapes the picture you see at the end. Honestly, I do not know if it is better to live in the ‘first world’ with a first-world salary, first-world commodities and such or to live here in the south or third world with all the complications and dangers that decision entails. I don’t know about the first/third world euphemisms either. However, I do know that a different life or lifestyle is possible outside the safety net. There are other ways to be human and to experience unusual traditions and celebrations. There is a huge difference between Spring Break, Easter, Holy Week and Semana Santa as we live it in La Antigua Guatemala for sure. To each its own. For the moment, I’m just happy to be able to take ordinary snapshots from my daily comings-and-goings and to be able to share them with YOU! I hope you enjoy them too!?

As in previous years, La Antigua Guatemala begins wearing violet or purple decorations over doors, windows and balconies. Heck, even the jacaranda trees wear violet during Cuaresma.

Also, in previous years we have discussed the significance of the color purple (or violet) which is very prominent during Lent and Holy Week. The first person who can come up with the correct answer, the title of the post and the date it was publish will win a Semana Santa post card made from one of the photos previously shown at AntiguaDailyPhoto. Remember the answer is in the archives. Good luck to all participants!

Sunday was such a great day in La Antigua Guatemala; nice weather conditions and a wonderful atmosphere all around town with people enjoying the processions. The Holy Week aromas could be smelled everywhere. Music, balloons, chupetes, clowns, cucuruchos, town fair food; what a cornucopia for the senses.

If you don’t already have your plane ticket, I suggest you buy now, life is too short to miss Semana Santa in La Antigua Guatemala.

Portfolio Aside: Some of the photos that you see here everyday were turned into high-quality large-format prints to add colorful imagery to the walls of Máximo Nivel Spanish School in La Antigua Guatemala. If you’re interested in getting large format prints from my photographs to add color to your walls or as gifts, please, get in touch with me. Of course, you can also purchase 8″x10″ and 11″x14″ high quality prints from the Buy photos page. If you want to keep up with all the places where the AntiguaDailyPhoto images show up, check the Portfolio page regularly.
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This entry should be called “ephemerides updates” because there several events that happened this week. On Tuesday, kids everywhere celebrated carnaval, carnival, by breaking cascarones on the heads of their peers. Next, on Wednesday, the beginning of Cuaresma, Lent, was marked by the celebration of Ash Wednesday; there were many people with an ash cross painted on their foreheads. On the very same Wednesday, there were velaciones (please help translate this word) ceremonies. Of course, with the Lent season also comes the procession season. There were small processions during the weekdays and the usual large processions on the weekend. Needless to say, it was a very busy week in La Antigua Guatemala.
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Well, it looks like 2009 will be the year of the new paint jobs on all the major churches around Antigua Guatemala prior to the Holy Week celebrations, which, by the way will begin one week from today.

In the photo above, you can see new colors for La Antigua Guatemala’s Cathedral. This is the first time I have seen the Cathedral wearing different colors other than white. As I have stated before, during the Lent season, you see many houses, buildings and churches undergo façade makeover.

This photo was taken early last week and I believe they should be done with the new paint job of the façade of the Catedral de La Antigua Guatemala. I will do a follow up photo to show you the finished new look. Stay tune!

Comments and Feedback Whining Aside: The only way for me know if you like or hate the new photos and captions is through your comments. Please, do not underestimate the power of your comments. Even though sometimes I don’t respond right away, I DO READ every single comment and feedback. Please, leave your comments as often as possible; they are the fuel for new ideas and encouragement to continue with just one more daily page.

One of the benefits of having a Holy Week every year is the fact that La Antigua Guatemala gets a new facelift every year and thus even though the colonial town is over 500 years old, it looks brand new; newer than most places in Guatemala at least.

The vista above is quite common during Lent season. Stay tune for the upcoming new look of La Antigua Guatemala’s Cathedral.

I really like the Lent decorations you find over doorways and windows in La Antigua Guatemala. Lent or Cuaresma in Spanish is the penitence period observed for the 40-something days before the Holy Week in Antigua Guatemala. Besides decorating doorways and windows with violet or purple bands and ribbons, there are weekend processions.

The picture above was taken at the main entrance for Casa Santo Domingo, the only 5-star hotel in La Antigua Guatemala. Next time you visit Antigua Guatemala, don’t forget to pay a visit to Casa Santo Domingo which houses besides the hotel, a restaurant, the Santo Doming ruins, museums, art galleries, antique stores, tastefully lit gardens and more. I will add Casa Santo Domingo to my to do list of photo series for 2009. Stay tune!

By the way, if you are coming to Antigua Guatemala during Lent or the Holy Week, you should make your hotel reservations with plenty of time since most of the hotels experience full capacity. Don’t forget to check out the Premium sponsor hotels on the sidebar and please let them know you were referred from AntiguaDailyPhoto.