This picture is like a summary of the Guatemalan Idiosyncrasy. First we have the giant kite with all the Mayan motifs, which for a long time represented the pagan rituals as the dominant catholic church used to call them. Anything that represented non-christian religious rituals was denigrated and prosecuted under the pagan label
Marimba music is so deeply rooted into the Guatemala psyche that even the few of us that do not like it, recognize it and feel it; especially if we are abroad, as far as Kinshasa, Congo or in the good old U.S.A. For sure, you can hear marimba music on Calle del Arco on the weekends in La Antigua Guatemala.
There are many complications when you take an adopted child from Guatemala to a foreign land and to a foreign culture. One complication could be that he or she will be marked as strange because of her Mayan traits and the dark color of the skin.
Hispanic and Indigenous children might be walking on uneven streets if they are taken to mostly white neighborhoods where racism and discrimination could part of their daily bread.
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.
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).
The charcoal-grilled meat stall has gotten so hip that you now find it not only in fairs, but around La Antigua Guatemala in parks, markets and sidewalks. Back in February 20th, 2007, I showed you an extremely popular stall of grilled meats in Tanque de la Unión park from a bird’s eye point of view. In the picture above, chicken and beef steak were being offered along broiled potatoes. Q10 ($1.25) for a portion of the meat of your choice, chirmol (read the side note), guacamol and potatoes; definitely, not too bad of a deal.
I don’t know if you have noticed this, but seeds are very popular in Guatemala. If you recall the entries Name the seeds! or Guatemalan sweets; so it is obvious that seeds had to present in a fair booth. Okay, what do we have here? Peanuts in their shell, Guatemalan pumpkin in melcocha syrup, sesame seeds with melcocha, salty fried or roasted habas (broad beans); that’s as far as I can distinguish. Read the entry on Guatemalan sweets if you want to know what is melcocha.
The Latin American lottery is played with cardboards of nine images, each cardboard is different, bean or maize counts, and a person calling out aloud the name of the images: La Chalupa, El Borracho, El Catrín, La Campana, El Cantaro, et-cetera. Whoever gets all nine images called out and accounted for with beans or maize seeds wins the lottery, if, and only if they scream with all their lungs LO-TE-RIIIIAAAAA.
After all the pounds we have gained this week at the San Pedro Las Huertas Fair, it is nice to come across some healthy food. For Q5 ($0.65) we can take any fresh fruit bags and we will need the savings since we already lost quite a few Quetzales at the others fair stands. Now, even though I have shown all these Guatemalan fair food and even describe it as tasteful and delicious, I don’t want to pass it as healthy. Fair food is junk food. I am so glad these fair food vendors have not come across the Super Size Me concept!
Papas fritas is the Guatemalan Spanish name for French fries. Here is the abbreviated history that gave us the Guatemalan french fries stall: first the Quechuas or Incas domesticated the potato (Solanum tuberosum) into a crop in southern Peru and northern Bolivia; the Spanish conquistadors took it to Europe where it was an instant hit and along with maize turned a famine-prone population into a healthy society; somewhere in one of the northern European states, quite possibly Germany, the potato lost its skin and got deep-fried; This Eurpean recipe crossed the Atlantic with the new immigrants that came to U.S. and since it was a foreign-looking recipe, they called it French fries (remember Coneheads); so the French fries came to Guatemala along one of the many incursions from the United Stateians (Americans they seem to call themselves 😉 ) as a side dish for the hamburger or the hot dog. Guatemalans thought that French fries were too good to be side dish and turned it into a meal by itself. That is how the papas fritas cart came to be.
A recent addition to the Guatemalan Fair zoo is the pizza kiosk. Just like many other aspect of modern Guatemala idiosyncrasy, pizza has come to stay, but it must evolve, just like chinese food. So the typical Guatemalan town fair pizza is made from a less tasteful dough, only mozzarella cheese and ham; nothing more. You get your slice and normally ad ketchup to it. The Guatemalan town fair pizza stand is, almost invariable, managed by one or tow young indigenous teenagers or young adults with a taste for extremely heavy rock metal music which they blast from a portable boom box. The pizza booth may have posters describing their pepperoni or salami pizza even though they only sell ham pizza. Go figures!
A town fair is not a fair without the churros. A churreria is the place where they make churros; [CHOOR-roh] Similiar to a cruller, this Spanish, Mexican and Guatemalan specialty consists of a sweet-dough spiral that is deep-fried and eaten like a doughnut. Churros are usually coated with a mixture of cinnamon and confectioners’ (or granulated) sugar (source Answers.com). Just about now after looking the Guatemalan churrería, I got the cravings for a cinnamon-covered bag of churros, would you like an order too? If you don’t have a sweet tooth, you can always have plataninas, poporopos, chicharrines, and anillos frescos y calientes; your choice.
We continue the photographic tour of a Guatemalan town fair with a typical booth. Since the inflated toys and balloons are very obvious, we will play the game of naming everything else that you see on the table. I will get you started with the bags of peanuts on the left. Now it is your turn, name as many things as you can recognize. Let the game begin!
Ferris wheels are another element of the Guatemalan fair. There is at least one Ferris wheel, but more often two or three of different sizes. The Ferris wheel is known here by these names rueda de Chicago(Chicago Wheel), rueda de la fortuna (wheel of fortune) and vuelta al mundo (around the world). Fairs are made up by all kinds of ambulant stands. Fairs are like accordions, they grow or shrink depending of the size of the community or town. All these photos belong to the San Pedro Las Huertas, a small village just outside and belonging to La Antigua Guatemala. At the end of July, La Antigua Guatemala will have its massive fair in honor of Saint James or Santiago.
For those who like to imagine what ruins were like and what people did around them I have todays photo of San Pedro Las Huertas Town fair with the church (not a ruin) in the background and all kind of food vendors around the town’s plaza. So this is what the ruins looked like when they were in used by the people of the past. If you would like to browse for other photos from San Pedro Las Huertas, just follow the white rabbit or if you only want to see a better shot of the church in the background just say we’re not in Kansas anymore.
Above you can see the processional figures taking some time off from work in Nuestra Señora de los Remedios Church Ruins, near El Calvario in La Antigua Guatemala.
A few days ago, on May 3rd, Pamela, from Tenerife Daily Photo, posted a somehow modest cross for the Día de la …
Cucuruchos with their purple or violet cone-head dress are another prominent element of Semana Santa in Antigua Guatemala. Last week, Santiago Durham asked what its the significance of the color purple or violet in the dress and banners during Semana Santa, well it took a lot of digging to find out (I turned around and asked my office coworker), but I can now tell you the purple is worn as a sign of penitence. As a matter of fact, processions are a sign of penitence as well, heck the whole Semana Santa is a penitent act.
The making of carpets from sawdust, pine-needles, flowers, vegetables is a community-forming tradition. People get together by block or near-by neighbors to create the carpets on which the processions will pass by. Sometimes the making of the carpets is done at night, all night so they are ready for next day’s procession.
Back on Ash Wednesday, February 21st, 2007, I said that in the Catholic Realm the Holy Week celebration had begun with Ash …
No, this is not the bust of Lenin. This is the sculpture of Francisco Marroquin, Bishop to Guatemala in 16th century, and …
We don’t love our land because of its great size and power, because of its weakness or tiny size, because of its …
No, they are not Ku Klux Klan as you might be inclined to believe at first glance. They are cucuruchos which is …
In the first decade of 1600s, one ingenious Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra set out to write a humorous tale about a tall, …
Catholics in the American Continent celebrate many of the same religious events and traditions on the same days, more or less, but …
Yesterday I mentioned that the traditional baked-clay comales are disappearing in Guatemala in favor of the metal comal; heated through gas. All …
No, we aren’t talking about Comal County around the San Antonio area in Texas (Click the link to visit San Antonio Daily …
For the celebrations of the Virgin of the Immaculate Conception on December 8th, many towns have float parades. In this photo, we …
The Burning of the Devil right before the celebration of the Virgin of the Immaculate Conception marks the beginning of the Christmas …
All year long he hides under the bed or in the junk piled up in the corner, casting misfortune or worse on …
The best time of the year to visit La Antigua Guatemala, or Central America for the matter, is now. The months of …
We are on the last leg of the rainy season which goes from May until October. Like I said before, someone has …
This is the shot of a Guatemalan house at the very early stages of construction. I know this is not what you …
That is right, the three-word slogan belongs to Guatemala’s transnational company Pollo Campero (Country Chicken) which is now in the United States, …
The clown moves according to Antigüeño’s urban legend. Actually, there had been “sightings” of the McDonald’s clown moving through Latin America. I …
You get off a bit early from work so you can run to the bank and cash your weekly paycheck. Modernity has …
… All in one place. There are many community bulletin boards around La Antigua Guatemala. Okay, I will do an experiment. I …
Not too long ago, Pamela, from Tenerife Daily Photo, talked about her bread delivery service and the “blame of the milkman” (interesting …
These are the artists that make up the Sabor Cubano Band which plays live music at the restaurant by the same name. …
Shoe-shining is not out of time as some people commented on Nuno’s Shoe shiners. Well, shoe shining is not a forgotten trade …
Well, just two days ago I told you how the signing of The Guatemalan Peace Accords of 1996 had put an end …
As promised, today I bring a snapshot of the actual marathon. As you can see people, especially the young, seem to enjoy …
School bands and parades were the norm to celebrate Independence Day before the December 29 signing of The Guatemalan Peace Accords of …
The Guatemala’s Independence Day is the 15th of September. Guatemalans have many ways to display their patriotism, flags is one of them. …
According to the entry on Guatemala on Wikipedia, 40% of the population of Guatemala is Amerindian. I believe the figure to be …
Live marimba music at Calle del Arco in La Antigua Guatemala is one those things you can enjoy on the weekends. Besides, …
On the weekends, Calle del Arco, Antigua’s most famous street, becomes a pedestrian strip. There is live music, tourists and locals walk …
La Antigua Guatemala was founded as Santiago de los Caballeros de Guatemala (Saint James of the Lords of Guatemala) on July 25th, …
The future of a society is with the children and their education and preparation. What kind of future awaits for Guatemala when …
Football Game in Antigua, originally uploaded by rudygiron. Yesterday while I was looking for a car-wash around Antigua, I found this soccer …
This shot was taken in a Teachers’ demonstration and march a while back. Demonstration and marches are very welcome by ice cream, …
In the background you can see Water Volcano (Volcán de Agua) which is to the south of the city. In the foreground …
