This year FOTO»30, Guatemala’s Photo September, a month full of photographic exhibits has as the encompassing theme the concept Nation. I remember what Manolo said last year when I entitled a post Perpetuating a Nation. It [Guatemala] is a country, a republic… but a nation… I am not sure. —Manolo Everyday I come across more … Read more
Can anybody help me understand why a country with a +55% population of indigenous Maya hires European-looking models to dress as Maya indigenous women? Please help me comprehend what’s wrong with our indigenous women that Guatemala’s Tourism Board hires light-skin ladinas and white women to represent our women? I need help understanding what’s wrong with … Read more
Here’s the follow-up photo to yesterday’s rear view mirror vista. In this picture, you can appreciate the different cortes worn by the indigenous women of Guatemala. These cortes are not the usual indigenous dresses you find around La Antigua Guatemala. I am not sure where they are from exactly, but for sure, the different styles … Read more
Thanks to our resourceful readers now we know exactly what shade of blue should the Guatemalan Flag should be. Manolo provided us with the exact Guatemalan Congress Act 104-97, available as a PDF download, which determines the color blue as ISCC-NBS 177. Then, Manolo, who felt like procrastinating, decided that ISCC-NBS 177 was not something most people could understand as Celestial Blue, so he gave us a web site address where we could look at the specific shade of blue. He went even futher, and submitted the HTML codes #4285B4 and #4997D0 for the Guatemalan flag blue. Xensen, took this information and came back with Pantone Matching System 297 and 298 and a link to get an idea of the color. So with all this information at our disposal, we now know what the official blue should be used in the Guatemalan Flag (like the photo below). But, like I said yesterday, “… Reality dictates that the Guatemalan flag can be blue, any blue really, with or without the emblem or coat of arms.”
Almost all town fairs and festivities are around the town’s patron, in this case is San Pedro Las Huertas, which by the way, means Saint Peter of the vegetable gardens. Since Guatemala was a catholic country for the last 500 years or so and the Mesoamerican indigenous people absorbed and mixed the catholic rituals and traditions with their own religious beliefs and traditions, most Guatemalan towns have a Spanish catholic first name and often an indigenous last name (otherwise known as the original name). For example, Santo Domingo Xenacoj, which means the original name of the town was Xenacoj, and the town was re-christen with Santo Domingo. Now with the above information, we now know that a town’s fair happens once-a-year on the town’s catholic patron. For San Pedro Las Huertas the date is June 29th and for La Antigua Guatemala is July 25th because the city used to be called The Very Noble and Very Loyal City of Saint James of the Lords of Guatemala, as mentioned by Manolo a few days ago. And some of you thought La Antigua Guatemala was already a very long name; try explaining to your friends and relatives that you are planning a vacation to The Very Noble and Very Loyal City of Saint James of the Lords of Guatemala.
This is a close-up view of a Huipil, sort of a blouse worn by the indigenous Maya women and sometimes even the tourists get in the mood for wearing one. To fully appreciate the colors, the patterns and the threads, please, do click on the photo above to zoom in. This photo is dedicated to … Read more
The indigenous women’s dress is known as corte (the bottom part or skirt that is). The corte translates roughly as cut or a piece. It is one of the most attractive subjects to see and photograph. It makes many tourists go click-crazy and it is quite understandable. I wonder what the indigenous women and men … Read more
Last week, as we watch the delegations parade at the Beijing 2008 Olympics Inauguration, I was thinking how wonderful it was to see so many different and unique national dresses from the many countries around the world. Some of the delegations opted for a no-frills-western-style tie-shirt-suit formal dress code, while others chose to show off … Read more
… Equal opportunity. Related entries: Selling folk-art on the park Where are the Maya women going to? Let’s go mija, we’re are going to be late… Fruits and jelly stand Tags: Antigua Daily Photo / Antigua / Guatemala / indigenous+woman / Guatemalan indigenous dress
To be what I am is not a something to be proud of; it is a shame. I do not represent the women of my country. The majority of indigenous women, starting with my mother, are illiterate. We are millions of Maya and only two women have a Doctorate degree (Ph.D.). I do not want … Read more
Japanese-born photographer Juan José de Jesús Yas (1844-1917), was one of the most renowned photographers of the late 1800, early 1900. Below is a brief description of the life and importance of Juan J.J. Yas found at Fotofest’s Faces of History in Latin America: In colonial Latin America and for most of the nineteenth and … Read more
Today we are inaugurating the Antique Photographs thanks to a kind soul in Texas who donate a batch of photos taking between 1880 and 1888. The donated antique photographs were sent to my postal box in Miami less than two weeks ago since we started sharing the Brooks Buderus archive. When we finish scanning and … Read more
These women from Ciudad Vieja are wearing what I would consider the typical dress code for rural Guatemala women, except, of course, for the typical Guatemalan traje or corte worn by indigenous women. Here they are going to their mandados. How do you like the Real Guatemala series thus far?
Today’s theme for The Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe on December 12 in Antigua Guatemala will be photographic backdrops and photo stages. In the slide show below you can find find examples of the Guatemalan kitsch at its best. As I have shared with you in previous years, in La Antigua Guatemala, religious celebrations … Read more
This year’s Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe has been the best one I have covered in La Antigua Guatemala thus far. I took over 400 photographs and I believe I will have to split the religious event in three main days, which will coincide with the three themes for the celebrations of Feast of … Read more