With this selection of the hermanas cargadoras, the women who carry the smaller floats of the Virgin Mary or other virgins for the matter we conclude our coverage of Lent and Holy Week in Antigua Guatemala. Our gratitude and huge round of applause goes to Nelo Mijangos who goes the extra mile, literally, to bring … Read more
In many places of Guatemala on Holy Saturday an effigy of Judas Iscariote is burned. For those who don’t know who Juda Escariot was, according to the New Testament, he was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus Christ. He is infamously known for his kiss and betrayal of Jesus to the hands of the … Read more
With this gallery of Semana Santa photos from Antigua Guatemala, Nelo Mijangos shares with us an overview of the many vistas one can expect while following a procession in Antigua Guatemala. For instance, the picture above gives us an idea of the length of the float and how many cucuruchos carry it. Below, we can … Read more
These photographs belong to the procession of Santuario de San Francisco El Grande. Nelo explains that the two wood rods that stick out at the front of the float, andarilla he calls it, are called timonen (steering) and are the responsible for the rhythm and direction of the procession. If you have any questions about … Read more
Velaciones, vigils, are a very important tradition during Lent and Holy Week in Antigua Guatemala. Velaciones are altars or shrines made for the catholic figures that later on will be on top of the floats, andas in Guatemalan Spanish, which are the nucleus of the processions. Even though I recently shared with you an entire … Read more
As I have mentioned before, Lent and Semana Santa is an equal-opportunity tradition. As you can see here, even little girls get a chance to carry a float, small, but still their float. By the way, the male carriers are called cucuruchos and the female carriers are known as hermanas cargadoras. I call the little … Read more
As I mentioned yesterday, there will be Lent and Holy Week celebrations in Antigua Guatemala for a long while. These religious traditions are being passed on to the very young. Here we see young cucuruchos, bearers, as they carried the small float from the Cathedral. I recorded a small video clip with the iPhone to … Read more
One thing I know for sure, there will be Holy Week celebrations in Antigua Guatemala for a long while. These traditions are being perpetuated with the very young and pride and identity of these customs are being held very high. The picture above of students of tourism was taken at the end of their creation … Read more
As explained before during the Lent Food series, Lent has some food that is associated with it and sold at the food stalls out side where velación, vigil, is held. As Lent progresses towards the Holy Week which begins tomorrow on Domingo de Ramos, Palm Sunday, there are more and more vigils per week. Just … Read more
The procession of the fifth Sunday of Lent is quite possibly one of the largest processions in Antigua Guatemala. People just refer to it as the procession of San Bartolo, short for San Bartolomé Becerra. This procession leaves the church around 7 am and comes back 18 hours later, sometime between midnight and 1 am. … Read more
By the end of the 4th Sunday procession which comes out of the village of Santa Ana, Nelo Mijangos had already walked 93,2 kms or 57.91 miles on four consecutive Sundays of Lent. For this procession, Nelo decided to show us a detail of the lit float taken at night. Yes, in case you didn’t … Read more
The third of Sunday of Lent is the turn for the church of Jocotenango to put the best procession possible and believe, they do. For this Sunday’s procession, Nelo Mijangos took 925 photos and walked for 21.6 kms or 13.4 miles for those live in the cocoon known as the United States. How do you … Read more
The second Sunday of Lent is the turn for the village of Santa Inés del Monte Pulciano. It is at this processional float when many cucuruchos from Guatemala City make their first appearance. For this procession, Nelo Mijangos took 752 photos and “only” walked 19.4 kilometers or 12 miles. You can see his route on … Read more
Beginning with the first Sunday after Ash Wednesday, there are processions each Sunday of Lent and the first procession comes out the village of Santa Catarina Bobadilla. Make sure you click on the images to look at a larger version to really appreciate all the details. Each day this week, Nelo will share his most … Read more
As explained before, corbatas are fried flour-based crunchy dessert soaked in syrup or honey. Corbatas take their name from the shape they are cooked into. I believe corbatas are known as buñuelos in Mexico, which are not at all like the Guatemalan buñuelos. What’s the name of corbatas in English? When was the last time … Read more