Día del Ejército Holiday

Mañana martes es día del ejército. No sé que nuevo nombre tiene ahora esta “celebración” luego de los acuerdos de Paz. Como les cambiaron a los existentes tanto e intrujeron otra docena de días festivos, seguramente es algo así como “Día del martirologio contra el sistema asesino”, o a lo mejor se puede conocer dentro de los círculos internos castrenses como “Día en que celebramos la moronguiza que les dimos a los guerrilleros”. O para los escépticos como yo “Día de feriado oficial tan importante como el día del lápiz”. Descansen, marchen o lloren. Lo que les haga feliz. (Ya, ya… se celebra el 30 de junio día en que J.R. Barrios entra triunfante a Guate luego de ganarle a Cerna la guerra.) —Juan Pablo Dardón / Continue reading… at Fe de Rata.

I am having trouble deciding whether it was serendipity, synchronicity, destiny or simply chaos that brought the chance encounter with Juan Pablo Dardón a few weeks after coming back to Guatemala years ago. Whatever the label, I am glad it happened because I gained a distant friendly voice which often times echoes exactly how I feel. The very same day, Juan Pablo Dardón also introduced me to Javier Payeras another brilliant and crystal-clear voice of our generation; the post-war generation. From there it was only a matter of time until I met all The Loud Voices of the Guatemalan Writers of the Post-War. Lucky me! 😉

So, today is observed the Día del Ejército (Army Day holiday) in Guatemala, and tomorrow’s the Día del empleado bancario (Guatemalan Banker’s holiday); which really all it amounts to is that the banks will be closed for two days (as reported through a twitpic a few days ago).

AntiguaDailyPhoto.Com News Aside: Tomorrow is Theme day again for the City Daily Photo Community. AntiguaDailyPhoto.Com will be participating once again in Theme day, which is “Empty” for July 2009.

Also, starting in from July 2nd, AntiguaDailyPhoto.Com will be presenting the first guest collaborations. I am sure all of us will benefit from the new voices and perspectives from the guest contributors. Don’t forget to contact me if you would like to send your guest contributions.

Mark says:

June 30, 2009 at 2:23 pm

I was wondering what the holiday was…call me naive for thinking it was honoring of St. Paul’s Feast Day.

emromesco says:

June 30, 2009 at 5:36 pm

Pues as JP Dardon states at the end of the quote you post, historically it is the celebration of the liberal revolution(1871). One of the many attempts of modernization of the country. Regardless of ideology, advancement in terms of technology and forward thinking (e.g. expel the clergy) should always be regarded as beneficial. If only we could change the name of the holiday.

If you think this is a forgotten historical event just take a look at the guys on the Q5 and Q10 bills. Well, maybe if you ask any Guatemalan why those people are on the bills they wouldn’t remember.

Lisa says:

July 1, 2009 at 9:28 am

I love this photo. In this one image you have captured so many aspects of Antigua…the colonial building, the gorgeous mountain, the confused tourists, the fancy SUV (Who can afford this car? I’m intrigued to know who that gentleman is…) and the gun… I’ve noticed that every time I visit, my heart races a little the first time I see a gun, but I seem to very quickly acclimate to seeing guns openly displayed everywhere. This is a really complex composition, I think it is now one of my favorites.

Día del Ejército Holiday

Related

Leave a Reply Cancel reply