Lent processions are for everyone, men, women, boys and girls. Some processions have floats for everybody, but other times the processional floats are only for the children as in this case. I guess this is how keep the tradition alive, right?
Copal incense and corozo palms provide the main aromas of Lent and Holy Week in Antigua Guatemala. Corozo palms are sold in the Antigua Guatemala municipal mercado during and around Lent season. As I have said before, Lent and Holy Week in La Antigua Guatemala carry their own set of scents, flavors and colors. I … Read more
Lent and Holy Week are traditions for everyone, including children, where boys and girls have processional floats that they can carry. I guess you’re never to young to participate in the longest penitence period of the year in Guatemala.
As I mentioned last weekend, the village of Santa Catalina Bobadilla had an early start with its vigil on Saturday, instead of the traditional Ash Wednesday. Well, as it is the tradition in Antigua Guatemala on each week of Lent, a vigil on Wednesday and a procession on Sunday. Here’s the quick look at the … Read more
Here’s you Spanish word of the day: Cuaresma or Lent. Once again, from the early morning reports started to pour in, around 6 a.m., there were sightings of hundreds, no, make it thousands of people with dark markings in their foreheads. The first sightings were reported near the church of San Francisco El Grande, right … Read more
Well, what do you know, the village of Santa Catalina Bobadilla, Antigua Guatemala, decided to have an early start of Lent by holding their velación, vigil, on Saturday, February 6, five days before the commencement of Lent on Wednesday, Feb. 10. Here are a couple images to show you the ambience. Stay tuned for coverage … Read more
Blip, blip, blip! Alert, alert, we break from our regular programming to bring you this important news update. From early in the morning, around 8 a.m., there were sightings of hundreds, no, make it thousands of people with dark markings in their foreheads. The first sightings were reported near the church of San Francisco El … Read more
As explained last year, 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. The velación shown here was … Read more
Plataninas are green plantains chips. Plantains are like bananas, but much bigger and with a unique flavor. Guatemalans eat plantains or platanos as we call them here in many forms, such as plataninas, rellenitos (deep-fried stuffed platains balls), fritos (fried), atol de platano, chairbroiled and baked; just to name a few.
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
As explained before during the Lent Food series, Lent has some food that is associated with it and sold at the food stalls out side where velación, vigil, is held. As Lent progresses towards the Holy Week which begins tomorrow on Domingo de Ramos, Palm Sunday, there are more and more vigils per week. Just … Read more
The procession of the fifth Sunday of Lent is quite possibly one of the largest processions in Antigua Guatemala. People just refer to it as the procession of San Bartolo, short for San Bartolomé Becerra. This procession leaves the church around 7 am and comes back 18 hours later, sometime between midnight and 1 am. … Read more
By the end of the 4th Sunday procession which comes out of the village of Santa Ana, Nelo Mijangos had already walked 93,2 kms or 57.91 miles on four consecutive Sundays of Lent. For this procession, Nelo decided to show us a detail of the lit float taken at night. Yes, in case you didn’t … Read more
The third of Sunday of Lent is the turn for the church of Jocotenango to put the best procession possible and believe, they do. For this Sunday’s procession, Nelo Mijangos took 925 photos and walked for 21.6 kms or 13.4 miles for those live in the cocoon known as the United States. How do you … Read more
The second Sunday of Lent is the turn for the village of Santa Inés del Monte Pulciano. It is at this processional float when many cucuruchos from Guatemala City make their first appearance. For this procession, Nelo Mijangos took 752 photos and “only” walked 19.4 kilometers or 12 miles. You can see his route on … Read more