Girls Procession
Transference: the action of transferring something or the process of being transferred. With these processions not only the heavy floats are being …
The Broom-head Romans Are Back
I have honestly tried not put as many Cuaresma/Lent and Semana Santa/Holy Week photos here. I could, in theory, have a Lent/Holy …
Holy Week: The Crowds
Oh yes, I had also forgotten to mention the superabundant crowds that you will find in La Antigua Guatemala during the Holy …
Holy Week: Processions
It doesn’t matter if the processions in the villages and communities around La Antigua Guatemala are more authentic, more kitsch and with …
Holy Week: The Photographers
click, click, click, click click click, clicks, click. See, if it does NOT matter how much effort I put into documenting the …
Holy Week: The Float’s Pilot
Interestingly enough, Erick was commenting yesterday how impressive was to see the massive float make a U-turn as he was watching the …
Holy Week Precessional Music
The Holy Week in Guatemala is a full five senses overwhelming experience. As you follow the processions all five senses are bombarded …
The Return of Kitschy Broom-head Romans
Last year, on March 15th, I first introduced you the Broom-head Romans soldiers; I believe it was Domingo de Ramos or Palm …
Holy Week: Women’s Float
You normally see men carrying the big heavy processional floats or andas as they are known in Guatemalan Spanish. You can browse …
Holy Week Processional Carpets
Some people have traveled the world over just to be present for the world-famous Holy Week in La Antigua Guatemala. Some people …
The Old Man and the Band
This old man and the band are the tail of the procession. There goes Semana Santa 2008… we are at end of the Holy Week in La Antigua Guatemala. Just one more day!
Corozo Palms and its Smell are a Staple of the Holy Week
Just like the Christmas Season comes with its own set of smells, flavors and color palette, so does the Holy Week celebrations. I can bring to you still photos, slide shows, video clips and sounds. But I can not bring you the smells. Like I said back in the Virgin of Guadalupe Day, … the incredible power of the sense of smell can detonate nostalgic memories… if only the smells could be seized like Patrick Süskind suggested in his masterpiece Das Parfum (Perfume). How could one go about imprisoning the mixture of the smells of copal incense, corozo palms, fireworks, pine needles, moisten saw dust, fresh tropical fruits, palm flower arrangements and sweat into a digital format readily available to download onto your own computer?
Underneath a Holy Week Float in La Antigua Guatemala
So much mumble jumble to present the underneath view of a Holy Week float in one of the villages of La Antigua Guatemala. Andas (floats) are not only the affair of cucuruchos, women also participate; and sometimes even chuchos (street dogs) get involved in the penitent act of carrying the heavy float! 😉
Cucurucho Paying for His Turns at the Float
Each turn of the Holy Week Float costs around Q60 (around US$8), there are around 60 turns and each float has somewhere between 80 and 100 spaces for the Cucuruchos. That’s close to Q290,000 (US$38,000) per procession.
Holy Week Elements: The Churches
Churches serve as terminals from which processions depart or arrive. Churches also serve as home-base for all the brotherhoods of cucuruchos and sisterhoods. Churches also put their best face for the Holy Week and many get a paint job and/or restoration works in the weeks prior to Semana Santa.
With this photo we wave goodbye to Semana Santa and to Holy Week’s processions. I was told the last procession, the Resurrection (Resurección) procession comes out on Easter Sunday (today) a 6 a.m. and its back in the church by 10 in the morning.
