It is such impressive vista these massive floats, andas in Spanish, being carried by 80 to 100 cucuruchos through the different streets of Antigua Guatemala. At least once in your lifetime you must come to Antigua Guatemala to see the massive and numerous processions during the Holy Week or Semana Santa as it’s known in … Read more
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 colourful and aromatic processional alfombras or carpets are among the most creative and colorful elements of the Holy Week in La Antigua Guatemala. Usually, people meet up by block or near-by neighbors to … Read more
As I have said before, the Holy Week in Antigua Guatemala is an equal opportunity celebration. Sure, cucuruchos take the majority of the clicks of cameras and most of the video recorded, but children, women and dogs have a place in the Holy Week celebrations as well. The children’s float or andas are a bit … Read more
Another typical vista of the Holy Week is all the street food stands around town. I mean almost everywhere you walk you find people selling food on the streets. Of course, this is necessary, I mean how else one is to feed the thousands of people that come to be part of the Semana Santa … Read more
We continue our Holy Week Vistas series with the shrine at la velación, vigil, inside La Merced church. Lots of photographers around the shines and altars, as well along the processional floats are typical vistas of the Holy Week in Antigua Guatemala. Here we can see a group of photographers taking pictures of the carpet … Read more
Once again it is Domingo de Ramos, or Palm Sunday, in Antigua Guatemala. Palm Sunday marks the beginning of the Semana Santa [Holy Week] the in Catholic realm. I’ll be covering again the Antigua Guatemala Holy Week Vistas with the goal to cast new light on the subject. Stay tuned! Best wishes for Holy Week/Easter … Read more
With this picture of the dolorosas or 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. Take a photographic tour through all the photos, posts and multimedia content found in the archives about … Read more
The processional carpets are among the most creative and colorful elements of the Holy Week in La Antigua Guatemala. In this case, it was the turn for the students of the Art Department of the University of Texas at Austin who got together to create a sawdust carpet with flowers. As I’ve mentioned before, the … Read more
Since everyone is taking colour photographs of the Semana Santa in Antigua Guatemala, I decided to do a black and white coverage of the Holy Week to give you a different and creative take on the most popular event in Antigua Guatemala. Besides, I have tons of Cuaresma and Semana Santa photos in colour in … Read more
Here’s your Holy Week Spanish word for the day: Timonel The timonel is the person at the front of the processional float that steers the float on one direction or another. In Spanish the word for timón means steering wheel. As we can see in the picture, the timonel basically pushes to the left or … Read more
Purple or violet is the color of Lent and the Holy Week. Cucuruchos, bearers, wear their cone-head purple robes as a sign of penitence. Not only Cucuruchos have to observe penitence for the Lent (Cuaresma) and the Holy Week (Semana Santa), but they also have to pay if they want to get a chance to … Read more
As I walked the streets of the Antigua Guatemala villages I noticed the neighbours sweeping aways the carpets from Palm Sunday since the Tren de Aseo, cleaning train, only works on the main processions of Antigua Guatemala. I have decided to bring you a couple of pictures of the cleaning crews, known as tren de … Read more
As I explained with the corozo palm aroma, I can bring to you the colors, the imagery, the sounds and even video clips, but I can’t transmit or transfer you the smells and aromas of the world-famous Holy Week in Antigua Guatemala. The pungent scents of copal incense and corozo palms, so you will have … Read more
Today’s Palm Sunday or Domingo de Ramos as today’s known in the Catholic world. By the way, here’s another picture of the corozo palm and flower arrangements as seen inside Casa Santo Domingo in the La Antigua Guatemala’s prior to Palm Sunday which marks the beginning of the Holy Week in the Catholic realm. Stay … Read more
As I have mentioned it before, Lent and Holy Week in Antigua Guatemala come with their own set of aromas, flavors and colors. I can share with you still photos, slide shows, video clips and sounds. However, I can not bring you the smells. As I had said before, the incredible power of the sense … Read more