Posada Procession for the Elderly
Started with the night of December 15, there have been sightings of Joseph and Mary’s quest for shelter around the streets of …
Corpus Christi Procession in the town fair of San Pedro Las Huertas
The Feast of Corpus Christi marks the start of the town fairs of the villages in La Antigua Guatemala and surrounding communities. …
Palm Sunday Procession from Iglesia de La Merced
Finally, after two years of not having any processions in Antigua Guatemala, the government gave the green light to some processions as …
Processional Carpets in 2021
As I explained earlier, because of the pandemic, processions and all massive events had been canceled. However, some of the activities were …
The Women’s Procession on Good Friday
As I mentioned yesterday, under normal circumstances, we would be experiencing processions as the one shown above. The procession of the «Dolorosas» …
Close-up Detail of a Processional Carpet
Under normal circumstances, we would be experiencing one of the most photogenic cultural and religious events in the world: The Holy Week …
Lenten Processional Carpet Artwork Detail
With each passing year, the processional carpets, or alfombras procesionales as we known them here, get more elaborate and artistically intricate. Some …
The Last Semana Santa Vistas — Final Touches of a Processional Carpet
We say our goodbyes with this image of the final touches put on one of the most complex and colorful carpets made …
The Last Semana Santa Vistas — Waiting for the Procession
This intimate photograph of a mother and her cucuruchito son was captured as they waited for the La Merced procession on Good …
Women’s Virgin Mary Procession on Good Friday
Processions provide us with lots opportunities to shoot in black and white as well as in color; depending of what you include …
San Francisco El Grande Procession on Maundy Thursday
Vista of the consecrated image of “Jesús Nazareno del Perdón” procession from Iglesia San Francisco El Grande on Maundy Thursdays as it …
Making Processional Carpets in Antigua Guatemala
Here’s a close up vista of the making of a processional carpet minutes before the arrival of the procession. This is truly …
Kids posing during a procession in Antigua Guatemala
Today is your turn to caption this photograph. The most creative caption posted in the comment area of www.AntiguaDailyPhoto.com will get a …
Little boy carrying a processional float
Normally the weight of a float is divided among all those carrying it. Here I share with you a little boy carrying …
Little girls waiting for their turn to carry the processional float
Today I shared with you an image of three little girls, sisters, waiting for their turn to carry the processional float. This …
Santa Ana’s Men Processional Float at Calle del Arco
The fourth Sunday of Lent is the turn for the Santa Ana Procession to serpent through the streets of Antigua Guatemala and …
Santa Ana’s Women Processional Float at Parque Central
Cuaresma [Lent] and Semana Santa [Holy Week] are equal-opportunity religious events where everyone gets a chance to participate. Here we caught the …
Dogs roaming during a Lenten procession
During one of our special Lenten photo walks we came across this pack of dogs roaming freely in the middle of the …
Semana Santa Vistas: Processions
Can you believe that everyday this week I shared with you images of Semana Santa and except for a section of float …
Semana Santa Vistas: Processional carpet details
Before we wave goodbye to the Semana Santa coverage, how about a couple of pictures of details such as this carpets with …
Semana Santa Vistas: Cucurucho carrying his daughter in a procession
As I have been showing you each day this week, Semana Santa is a family religious event. It is also a time …
Palm Sunday Processions in Antigua Guatemala
We kick start the Semana Santa with the procession of Jesús Nazareno of La Merced around 9am this Palm Sunday morning. Below …
Let The Processional Season Begin
This past Sunday the first Lenten procession hit the streets of Antigua Guatemala. Here’s procession from Santa Catalina Bobadilla as it passes …
Holy Week Vistas — Elaboration of Processional Carpets
The passion and devotion that goes into making the processional carpets is incredible. Often we only mention how long it takes to …
Holy Week Vistas — Processional Marching Bands
The Processional Marching Bands provide the sonorous aspect of Lent and Holy Week processions with the sorrowful notes. The music touches every …
Holy Week Vistas — Children’s Procession
Semana Santa in Antigua Guatemala gives everyone a chance to participate. Even the children get their procession. One for boys and another …
Holy Week Vistas — Processional Carpets
Some of the more intricate and complex designs of alfombras, carpets, can take as long as 12 hours. Such was the case …
Holy Week Vistas — Palm Sunday Virgin Mary Procession
The Palm Sunday procession kicks off the Holy Week 2017. The Jesús Nazareno “La Reseña” and Santísima Virgen de Dolores procession leaves …
Lent Vistas — Close-up of Jesús Nazareno El Dulce Rabí Procession from Jocotenango
As I have mention before, do not underestimate the power of catholic imagery. You see, the world-famous Antigua Guatemala processions are about …
Lent Vistas — Procession from Jocotenango near Parroquia de San Pedro in Antigua Guatemala
Thanks to the Special Lent Photo Walks I am leading on Sundays during Cuaresma and Semana Santa I am able to bring …
Holy Week Processions — Jesús del Perdón from San Francisco El Grande
Today was a good day, well make it a Good Thursday since we are in the Holy Week. A day full of …
Holy Week Processions — Viacrucis de Santa Inés
On Good Monday, from the finca “La Chacra” comes out the procession of Jesús Nazareno del Santo Viacrucis. This is a small …
Holy Week Processions — La Reseña of La Merced
Here’s the exit of La Reseña procession from Iglesia de La Merced in Antigua Guatemala. On Palm Sunday one of the most …
Boys Procession in Antigua Guatemala
Lent processions are for everyone, men, women, boys and girls. Some processions have floats for everybody, but other times the processional floats …
First Sunday’s Procession of Lent Season
As I mentioned last weekend, the village of Santa Catalina Bobadilla had an early start with its vigil on Saturday, instead of …
Holy Week Vistas: Processions
It is such impressive vista these massive floats, andas in Spanish, being carried by 80 to 100 cucuruchos through the different streets …
Holy Week Vistas: Colorful Processional Carpets
As I’ve said before, the creation of precessional carpets from sawdust, fruit and vegetables, pine-needles, flowers, etc. is a community-forming tradition. The …
Lent Processional Figures Undergoing Repairs
As every Sunday during Lent, Antigua Guatemala gets dress of purple, the color of penitence and the streets become crowded with cucuruchos …
Lent Sunday Processions: 5th San Bartolomé Becerra
The procession of the fifth Sunday of Lent is quite possibly one of the largest processions in Antigua Guatemala. People just refer …
Lent Sunday Processions: 4th Santa Ana
By the end of the 4th Sunday procession which comes out of the village of Santa Ana, Nelo Mijangos had already walked …
Lent Sunday Processions: 3rd Jocotenango
The third of Sunday of Lent is the turn for the church of Jocotenango to put the best procession possible and believe, …
Lent Sunday Processions: 2nd Santa Inés
The second Sunday of Lent is the turn for the village of Santa Inés del Monte Pulciano. It is at this processional …
Lent Sunday Processions: 1st Santa Catarina Bobadilla
Beginning with the first Sunday after Ash Wednesday, there are processions each Sunday of Lent and the first procession comes out the …
Antigüeños Celebrate With Parades and Processions
Sometimes it seems that antigüeños only celebrate with parades and processions. I say this because almost every month you encounter a procession …
Processional Float Turn Markings
This markings on the streets and sidewalks signal the beginning or end of the different turns of processional floats (andas) which cucuruchos …
Antigua Lent Processions: San Bartolo part 2
Today’s Domingo de Ramos (Palm Sunday) which means we are at the commencement of the world-famous Holy Week in Antigua Guatemala. We …
Antigua Lent Processions: San Bartolo part 1
The San Bartolo procession is among the biggest from the Antigua Lent Processions series. In fact, I remember publishing in previous years …
Antigua Lent Processions: Santa Ana
We continue our series Antigua Lent Processions thanks to the wonderful imagery of our friend and collaborator Leonel [Nelo] Mijangos who has …
Antigua Lent Processions: Jesús de Santa Inés
The village of Santa Inés is located on the edge of La Antigua Guatemala, to the right of the road that takes …
Antigua Lent Processions: Nazareno de la Iglesia de Jocotenango
North by Northwest, that’s how you get to Jocotenango from Antigua Guatemala’s Plaza Mayor (main plaza). Jocotenango is not a village of …
Antigua Lent Processions: Jesús de Santa Catalina Bobadilla
First thing first, my dear friend Nelo informs me that on the first Wednesday of the Lent period, also known as Ash …
Girls Procession
Transference: the action of transferring something or the process of being transferred. With these processions not only the heavy floats are being …
Lent’s First Sunday Procession
Sunday was such a great day in La Antigua Guatemala; nice weather conditions and a wonderful atmosphere all around town with people …
The Procession Season Is Officially Open
This entry should be called “ephemerides updates” because there several events that happened this week. On Tuesday, kids everywhere celebrated carnaval, carnival, …
Antigüeños Love Processions
I don’t know about the rest of Guatemala, but in and around La Antigua Guatemala it seems there is at least one …
Holy Week: Processions
It doesn’t matter if the processions in the villages and communities around La Antigua Guatemala are more authentic, more kitsch and with …
Holy Week Processional Carpets
Some people have traveled the world over just to be present for the world-famous Holy Week in La Antigua Guatemala. Some people …
Small Procession in San Pedro Las Huertas
Processions are majestic, huge and long in La Antigua Guatemala. You can browse the Processions category to get an idea of the size of the processions in La Antigua Guatemala. There are smaller and more humble processions in the villages and small communities surrounding La Antigua Guatemala. This year, I will try to focus more in the Holy Week celebrations and processions in the villages where you can still observe the fervor, regardless of the size, for all these Catholic rituals. The photo above was taken in the village of San Pedro Las Huertas, while the procession made a pit stop or parada as they are known in Spanish. Well, I think that is the name, maybe somebody more knowledgeable in Catholic rituals can provide the actual name for the stops the processions make every so often at specific spots.
Guatemalan Fair: The Pine-needle Processional Carpets
The making of these processional carpets is such a community-forming and bonding activity since in the process participate many, if not all, of the neighbors and family members. These traditions, festive calendar dates and special celebrations mark very strongly what makes a normal human being into a hard-core Guatemalan. You break the link or access to these experiences and you only have a person that was born in Guatemala; a fact as worthless as the fact of having had a pair of boots once.
Guatemalan Fair: The Sawdust Processional Carpets
The People of La Antigua Guatemala and surrounding villages simply love to make processional carpets and the town fair provides the perfect excuse to make sawdust and flower carpets throughout the year; really why wait for Semana Santa (Holy Week).
Weekend Procession in the Lent Season
Yesterday I told you I was going to have a sample of the sorrowful tunes play by the processional musicians that are …
Processional Musicians Play Sorrowful Tunes
One characteristic which I enjoy about processions is the sorrowful tunes that are played by the mournful marching bands that follow the …
Children’s Procession in La Antigua Guatemala
Back on Ash Wednesday, February 21st, 2007, I said that in the Catholic Realm the Holy Week celebration had begun with Ash …
Horse show for the Virgen Inmaculada de La Concepción
In Antigua Guatemala, the official Christmas season begins with the celebrations and activities organized in honor of the Virgin of Immaculate Conception …
Torito Burning in the town fair of San Pedro Las Huertas
As I mentioned earlier, as part of the Feast of Corpus Christi in the town fairs of Antigua Guatemala all kinds of …
Holy Week Details: Pine Needles and Flowers Carpet
Here’s your illustrated Guatemalan Spanish word of the day: Alfombras procesionales for processional carpets. Once again I’ll be offering group and private …
The Remains of Semana Santa
Now that the Holy Week is over, we found the purple banners and bags of colored sawdust used in the processional carpets …
Altar for Easter Sunday at Iglesia El Calvario
Since no processions were allowed on the streets due to the pandemic, churches and temples opted to have altars and shrines inside …
Holy Week Carpets Inside the Museum of Colonial Art
As I mentioned yesterday, the pandemic has changed how the Semana Santa and other festivities are observed in Guatemala. One of those …
Holy Week Temple Decorations in Antigua Guatemala
The pandemic has disrupted life in Guatemala in so many ways. The religious and cultural manifestations that brought together huge crowds are …
Lenten Decorations at Palacio del Ayuntamiento
Just because we are not having processions during Cuaresma [Lent] or during the Semana Santa [Holy Week] it doesn’t mean we are …
First Posada Navideña of 2020
Let the nine days of posadas navideñas begin. Since this morning, December 15th, there have been sightings of Joseph and Mary’s quest …
Sights of Our Times: An Uneventful Día de Santiago in Antigua Guatemala
July 25th is the Day of Saint James, Día de Santiago, the patron saint of Antigua Guatemala, formerly known as Santiago de …
Good Friday in San Pedro Las Huertas, Antigua Guatemala
Even though Antigua Guatemala is the top destination in the world for the Holy Week celebrations, many destination through out Guatemala also …
The Quietest Holy Week Ever in Antigua Guatemala!
With all the borders closed, including the airport; all non-essential activities forbidden, including religious services, processions and vigils; plus all gatherings prohibited, …
A Quiet Palm Sunday in Antigua Guatemala
2020 will be remembered as the quiet year; a year without processions; a year without massive events; a year without crowds. Yet …
Almost a Ghost Town
I could have never imagined desolate streets during the most important week of the year: the Holy Week of Antigua Guatemala, how …
Antigua Guatemala’s Street and Cerro de la Cruz
Any other year, this week the streets of Antigua Guatemala would be packed with people, processions and beautiful Semana Santa carpets. Now, …
Get your camera ready: Lent is here!
Get your camera ready to capture the color and devotion of Cuaresma and Semana Santa in Antigua Guatemala! Book one of my …
2020 Special Sunday Cuaresma Photo Walks
Lent and Easter are coming, get your camera ready! Book one of my Lenten photo walks to have unprecedented access to the …
The Last Semana Santa Vistas — Cucurucho Father and Son
Here’s another intimate portrait of a cucurucho father and his son on their way to find their spot for their turn to …
The Last Semana Santa Vistas — Framed Cucurucho
We continue with the more intimate photographs of the Holy Week with this framed portrait of a cucurucho at a shrine set …
Another Year of Successful Lent & Holy Week Photo Walks in Antigua Guatemala
Once again I feel fortunate that so many photographers from all over the world put their trust in me to help them …
Woman Timonel of the Santísima Virgen de Dolores
Most photographers point their cameras towards the “anda” of Jesús Nazareno during the processions. I believe the float of Virgin Mary can …
Jesús Nazareno float from Iglesia de La Merced on Palm Sunday
Here’s a vista of the Jesús Nazareno float from Iglesia de La Merced on Palm Sunday as it made its way through …
The Creation of Alfombras
Today’s photographs were made while I was teaching a street photography workshop during Easter & Holy Week in Antigua Guatemala. Take home …
Lenten Aromas: Corozo and Pine needles
Today I share a photo of a little boy picking up pine needle and corozo palms from processional carpet; these two plants …
Semana Santa Photo Walks in Antigua Guatemala
Take home extraordinary images of the once-a-year traditional and colorful processions from the intricacies of carpet building, to the coordination required to …
Lent and Easter Photo Walks in Antigua Guatemala
Don’t miss this once-a-year chance to capture stunning aspects of the traditional processions from the intricacies of carpet building, to the coordination …
Lent Season Has Began
Here’s your illustrated Guatemalan Spanish phrase of the day: Miércoles de ceniza for Ash Wednesday. Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent …
Día de los Reyes in Antigua Guatemala
For Día de Reyes or Epiphany we break a piece of bread known as Rosca de Día de los Reyes. Whoever gets the plastic baby placed inside has to pay for the tamales and ponche on Día de la Candelaria, February 2nd, or Groundhog Day. Click through the link to see Rosca de Día de los Reyes…
Traditional “Posada Navideña” of the Brotherhood of Jesús Nazareno of La Merced Church
Posadas navideñas are small processions enacting the search for shelter of Joseph and Mary right before the birth of baby Jesus. Here …
Shooting the Guatemalan Fiambre Preparation for Day of the Dead
As I mentioned in another post, as part of the Day of the Dead photography workshop on November 1st, we shot two …
Day of the Dead Photography Workshop
As part of the Day of the Dead photography workshop on November 1st, we shot two Mayan graveyards one Spanish cemetery; giant …
Lenten decoration inside the church of Santa María de Jesús
I can’t believe it was last Sunday, Resurrection Sunday or Easter Sunday when we had the last procession of Cuaresma and Semana …
Capturing the remains of Semana Santa
Those who missed the incredible Semana Santa, Easter week, in Antigua Guatemala still got a chance to capture some of the remains, …
Semana Santa Vistas: Cucurucho Father and Son Embracing
Cucuruchos learn the process from very early age, many of them as babies dress up and are carried by fathers and mothers …
Semana Santa Vistas: Mother and Daughter Embracing
As I have been saying the last few days, Semana Santa is a week of family time. Every member of the family …
Semana Santa Vistas: A Cucurucho Family
Entire families enjoy the processions of Semana Santa in Antigua Guatemala. Often the entire family participate in different activities from making carpets, …