Typical Guatemalan Fireworks Stand

What characteristics or traits can be extrapolated from a culture by looking at a simple kiosk? I’ll start and then you share with the rest us your thoughts.

First, I see that Guatemala is country of pyromaniacs who love color and loud sounds.

Guatemalans do not like gray, easy, mellow, avoid-the-extremes-sort of lifestyles. Everything is Guatemala has to be rich, colorful, and extreme (often dangerous); life is too short and everyday has to stand on its own.

Guatemala is a mystical country with deep religious and spiritual rituals that blur and often crisscross the boundaries of culture, tradition and religion.

I also see that Guatemala is a country of creative people who come up the ingenious names for the most diverse fireworks. Here are some of the fireworks names: cohetes, fosforitos, toritos, arbolitos, volcancitos, tanque, metralladora, chiltepitos, bombas, batería de luces, ametralladoras, pistolitas, estrellitas, abejitas, canchinflines, silvadores, etc.

Guatemala is country that loves chaos and randomness. This is more apparent during celebrations like Burning of the Devil, Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve where people burn firecrackers and fireworks EVERYWHERE. There’s not a single place, organized by single entity to burn the pyrotechnics.

Okay, that’s what I can extract from the photograph above. What about you? What traits or peculiarities can you draw out from the image above?

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