As I explained earlier, because of the pandemic, processions and all massive events had been canceled. However, some of the activities were still held, such as some carpets around Parque Central and other carpets on Calle del Arco and 4a calle oriente beside the carpets inside the museums. This is one such carpet on Calle … Read more
Here’s your illustrated Guatemalan Spanish word of the day: Alfombras procesionales for processional carpets. To look at the Lenten processional carpets you actually need to be in front of the procession as carpets are usually finished only minutes before the main float, anda in Spanish, goes by. Semana Santa is coming up quickly! Treat yourself … Read more
The passion and devotion that goes into making the processional carpets is incredible. Often we only mention how long it takes to elaborate the carpet at its spot, but we forget to mention all the time that it took to get everything ready. For instance, how about the time collecting all those flowers and then … Read more
Some of the more intricate and complex designs of alfombras, carpets, can take as long as 12 hours. Such was the case of this carpet with macadamia nuts, placed one by one to form the images. Each image took about 3.5 hours to make. The creators were so proud of their carpet design and lend … Read more
The processional carpets not only provide beautiful ephemeral art to the eye, often, they also give us the aromas of Lent and the Holy Week with pine needles, corozo palms, flowers and fruits. Of course, the original purpose of the alfombras procesionales, as we call them in Spanish, is as an offering.
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
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
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.