El Sombrerón appears at dusk, dragging along a group of mules carrying coal, with whom he travels around the city and its neighborhoods. When a woman corresponds to his love, he ties the mules to the house’s pole where she lives, unhooks his guitar and starts singing and dancing. Some residents from the neighborhoods of … Read more
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
Lent is also the time for shrines, carpets, vigils and processions. Out of nowhere any of these things can appear anywhere and at anytime as was the case for this altar and carpet that in less than 15 minutes showed up right across from the office because in 20 minutes there was going to be … Read more
This is the first vigil of the Lent season with its traditional stalls of chicken sandwiches, the batido drink and other meals which are the beginning of the most special and awaited seasons in Antigua Guatemala. —Nelo Mijangos Ésta es la primera velación en el tiempo de Cuaresma que con las ventas tradicionales de panes … Read more
With the Ash Wednesday religious ceremony begins the 40-day period known in Spanish as Cuaresma, Lent, which ends with Semana Santa, Holy Week, by far the most affluent event in Antigua Guatemala. I read in Prensa Libre, Guatemala’s main newspaper, that one million and a half are expected to visit Antigua Guatemala during the Lent/Holy … Read more
The making of carpets from sawdust, pine-needles, flowers, vegetables, et cetera is a community-forming tradition. People get together by block or near-by neighbors to create the carpets on which the processions will walk through. Sometimes the making of the carpets is done at night, all night so they are ready for next day’s procession. The … Read more
Beginning on December 15, there are sightings of Joseph and Mary’s quest for shelter around the streets of La Antigua Guatemala. María and José figures are carried around Antigua Guatemala, knocking on people’s doors to ask for posada (shelter). Our eye witness reporter has been able to gather the following information regarding the quest for … Read more
The other day while I waited for the fresh and hot tortillas to come out of the comal I noticed an orange peeler, the typical kind found in Guatemala and I could not help myself and snatch a photo with the iPhone, my new notebook dairy. As I took the shot with the iPhone a … Read more