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Today’s Domingo de Ramos (Palm Sunday) which means we are at the commencement of the world-famous Holy Week in Antigua Guatemala. We carry on our series Antigua Lent Processions thanks to the wonderful imagery of our friend and collaborator Leonel [Nelo] Mijangos who has taken to the task to document every Lent procession in La Antigua Guatemala in the last decade.

As I mentioned a few days ago, Nelo Mijangos goes to the extremes to get new angles and perspectives. Oftentimes he climbs electric poles just to get a bird’s eye view of the processions. For the San Bartolo procession Nelo hopped onto an helicopter to give us never seen aerial shots of a procession in Antigua Guatemala.

Don’t you ever say we don’t go to the extreme to bring you the most unique and exclusive imagery from La Antigua Guatemala. The same rigor and dedication you can expect from XelaDailyPhoto and GuatemalaDailyPhoto. If you have not yet visit the other two daily photo websites from Guatemala, take your time to smell the Guatemalan coffee… and enjoy the vistas from other Guatemalan cities.

All photos by Leonel [Nelo] Mijangos

The San Bartolo procession is among the biggest from the Antigua Lent Processions series. In fact, I remember publishing in previous years that San Bartolo and San Felipe procession were the biggest of all the procession in Guatemala. So, I will split the all the photos in two days.

When we started the Antigua Lent Processions series I mentioned that processions leave the church on Sunday around mid-day and heads over to La Antigua Guatemala takes a winding route all around Antigua for about 12 hours. This means that at least half of time the processions are on the streets is night time and that’s what we want to share with you today.

By the way, tomorrow is Palm Sunday, which basically means we are already on Semana Santa.

Come back tomorrow to see the second half of the San Bartolo procession which will include some new perspectives and angles.

All photos by Leonel [Nelo] Mijangos

We continue our series Antigua Lent Processions thanks to the wonderful imagery of our friend and collaborator Leonel [Nelo] Mijangos who has taken to the task to document every Lent procession in La Antigua Guatemala in the last decade.

Santa Ana is another village of La Antigua Guatemala that is so close that you can walk out of Antigua Guatemala and into Santa Ana without realizing it. In fact, if you take the street behind San Francisco El Grande church south towards El Calvario church you go by the streets that are part of Santa Ana and take you to the main plaza there if you walk east. Santa Ana looks just like another part of La Antigua Guatemala.

Have you ever visited Santa Ana? If not, make sure you put Santa Ana in your list of places to visit while in La Antigua Guatemala.

We’re lucky to be getting a glance at first time published photographs by Nelo Mijangos who goes to the extremes to get new angles and perspective. Oftentimes he climbs the electric poles just to get a bird’s eye view of the processions. Other times he gets so low to the ground so we can get an ant’s eye view of the colorful alfombras (carpets). Talking about the world-famous Lent and Holy Week carpets from La Antigua Guatemala, take a look a the recycling of the CD and DVD discs found in the carpet below. See, in Guatemala we do our recycling share.

All photos by Leonel [Nelo] Mijangos

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

Slowly, but surely the love, devotion and passion for the world famous Holy Week in Antigua Guatemala are being passed on to the new generations. I am glad to know that there will be Semana Santa in La Antigua Guatemala for another 500 years.

I believe that Semana Santa is so much more than a yearly religious commemoration; in Antigua Guatemala Semana Santa is also a cultural and artistic manifestation. What do you think?

Transference: the action of transferring something or the process of being transferred.

With these processions not only the heavy floats are being transferred, but also the culture and the religious fervor. If we delve into the realms of the psychoanalysis, we could talk about transference neurosis; however that’s way too deep and complex for a simple image portraying a row of little girls carrying a Holy Week float. Let’s enjoy the Cuaresma vista instead.

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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I don’t know about the rest of Guatemala, but in and around La Antigua Guatemala it seems there is at least one procession every week. The picture above documents the San Pablo, Saint Paul, procession from two days ago in San Pedro Las Huertas.

It doesn’t matter if the processions in the villages and communities around La Antigua Guatemala are more authentic, more kitsch and with less finances behind them; at least once in your lifetime you must come to Antigua Guatemala to see the massive and numerous processions during the Holy Week or Semana Santa as it’s known in Spanish.

The processions in Antigua Guatemala are just breath-taking, awe and faith inspiring, and a must-see show. The processions in La Antigua Guatemala are so monumental and long that they are unique and I don’t believer there is another place in the entire world where the processions are as colossal as in Antigua Guatemala, do you? Well, perhaps, in Guatemala City (copycats).

By the way, in the picture above we are only seeing the main segment of a procession which seemed to be about 8 blocks long.

Interestingly enough, Erick was commenting yesterday how impressive was to see the massive float make a U-turn as he was watching the 5-minute video of the following of a Semana Santa procession. Well, I said interesting enough because I had planned to publish a photo of the huge float’s pilot, the cucurucho you see wearing the purple robes, is pushing either right or left to control the direction of the Holy Week Anda (float).

Oh what a difficult position to be in, to be responsible for the behavior and direction of a monumental float being carry by 60 to 90 people. Would you volunteer to be the float’s pilot?

The Holy Week in Guatemala is a full five senses overwhelming experience. As you follow the processions all five senses are bombarded with maximum stimuli and you are carried into a mystical experience.

It is so difficult to convey these feelings when I am only presenting you with static photographs. But you are going to have to imagine the loud beating of the drums, the funerary processional music; the scents of corozo palms, flowers, and Pom incense and a million other aromas; obviously you eye sight gets a full exposure to all the bright colors in the spectrum as well as images from Semana Santa in Antigua Guatemala, like carpets, floats, purple, red, black and white robes from cucuruchos, musical bands, people, incense smoke and the such; so far that’s only three of the senses, but how can you forget the tastes of traditional foods like chupetes, the helados (ice cream), the freshly cut fruits in bags, the brightly-colored algodones (translation please), candied fruits, semillas de marañón (cashew nuts) and manias (peanuts), beets salad, bacalou a la viscaina (dried fish in Viscaina tomato sauce), boy oh boy, there are so many delicious treats to be tasted; finally, we come to touch which is underrated, nevertheless is quite possibly of the most important sense because all personal and private spaces get blurred as you carry the heavy anda, you touch and get touched by people as you walk from side to the other of procession, don’t forget the hand shakes and hugs as you come across friends and family, the touching makes the whole thing “Real”.

Each special touch, each sensuous sight, sound, smell, taste, form unforgettable memories of the season, of Semana Santa in Guatemala, declares Ken Veronda in his wonderful article, Sensuous Guatemala: Semana Santa.

If you have the time, go read the article Sensuous Guatemala: Semana Santa by Ken Veronda in the Revue Magazine web site. He does a wonderful job explaining how during “Semana Santa, Holy Week, all five senses are overwhelmed in every Guatemalan city and village, but nowhere more than in La Antigua Guatemala with its colonial traditions and frequent processions.”

If for any reason, you can not experience the Semana Santa in La Antigua Guatemala with your five senses, I share with you a consolable 5-minute video of the following of a procession in a colonia (neighborhood) in San Pedro Las Huertas, La Antigua Guatemala. Enjoy and please, leave your comments and feedback!

Last year, on March 15th, I first introduced you the Broom-head Romans soldiers; I believe it was Domingo de Ramos or Palm Sunday as it is known in English. Below you can find my introductory text:

… it’s impossible not to publish photos like today’s. Talk about the idiosyncrasy of Guatemalans, have you ever seen a more convincing set of Roman Soldiers in your life?

Obviously, I tried to make a smart remark about how kitschy these Guatemalan Roman soldiers dress up with the insinuated idiosyncrasy of Guatemalans, but I believe I failed to convey the message.

So, I come out of the closet now and tell you I really find delightful the excessive garishness of the costumes of Guatemalan Roman soldiers, the clothes of the Holy Week figures, the golden-painted floats, in short, everything about the Holy Week celebrations in the villages and municipalities around La Antigua Guatemala. You may have to click on the photo above to see the fine or kitschy details of the Guatemalan-Roman soldier costumes.

Now guys, if given the opportunity, would you find an exhilarating experience to go out in public wearing a broom-head helmet, a bright-red cloak and a kitschy-looking Roman costume, wouldn’t you? Come on, live a little!