The processional carpets are among the most creative and colorful elements of the Holy Week in La Antigua Guatemala.

As I’ve mentioned before, the making of carpets from sawdust, pine-needles, flowers, vegetables is a community-forming tradition. People get together by block or near-by neighbors to create the carpets on which the processions will pass by. Sometimes the making of the carpets is done at night, all night so they are ready for next day’s procession. The colorful processional carpet elaboration process involves the whole family, close friends, the neighborhood and the entire community. It does not matter if it’s just grandma throwing some corozo (corozo palms) and dried purple flowers to elaborate a humble alfombra in front of her home or it is a team of members of the cuadra (the block), or if a son lends a hand to a dad to put the final touches on the brightly-colored sawdust carpet, the devotion and the do-good spirit are present everywhere you look. This is the week of the year when Guatemalans stand as one people!

All photos by Leonel [Nelo] Mijangos

The making of sawdust carpets, alfombras de aserrín, with its vivid colors and eye-catching patterns are among the most prominent elements of the Holy Week celebrations.

The making of carpets from sawdust, pine-needles, flowers, vegetables is a community-forming tradition. People get together by block or near-by neighbors to create the carpets on which the processions will pass by. Sometimes the making of the carpets is done at night, all night so they are ready for next day’s procession. The colorful processional carpet elaboration process involves the whole family, close friends, the neighborhood and the entire community. It does not matter if it’s just grandma throwing some corozo (corozo palms) and dried purple flowers to elaborate a humble alfombra in front of her home or it is a team of members of the cuadra (the block), or if a son lends a hand to a dad to put the final touches on the brightly-colored sawdust carpet, the devotion and the do-good spirit are present everywhere you look. This is the week of the year when Guatemalans stand as one people!

Also, since Gringos are now an integral part of La Antigua Guatemala and therefore many of them participate of the preparations of the world famous alfombras de Semana Santa (Holy Week carpets) made from colorful sawdust, flowers, fruits, and anything the imagination allows.

Like many firsts of the month, AntiguaDailyPhoto is participating in the theme day of the City Daily Photo community around the world. To see how others in the City Daily Photo community have interpreted today’s theme please click here to view thumbnails for all participants around the planet.

P.S. in 30 days AntiguaDailyPhoto will be four years old. What should we do? My first thought is that’s enough… I should go on and do something else.

I can remember everything about this Antigua moment except exactly where it is. All the recent discussion about water reminded me of this place.

We had been following Holy Week Processions, walking for hours or pressed into dense crowds standing under the mid-day sun inhaling dust from parched roads and the time worn pavements. Our heads were throbbing from the heady mixture of heat, sound and an intense alchemy of perfumes rising from the street—pine needles, flowery corozo palms, fruit, sawdust, and of course incense—now forever linked in my mind, with the colour purple. Tired and our senses over-stimulated by the days intensity we stepped through a doorway and into this —an Oasis of coolness and calm. It was like plunging into a deep pool of liquid shadow, and we immediately inhaled its green watery atmosphere with a deep intake of breath. A little bird had also found its way here, drinking and splashing in the fountain with evident delight, creating a perfect image of that moment.

text and photo by Michele Woodey.

Some people have traveled the world over just to be present for the world-famous Holy Week in La Antigua Guatemala. Some people just have to open their front doorway and go outside to be part of Semana Santa in Guatemala.

One very important aspect or distinction of what makes the celebrations of the Holy Week or Semana Santa in Antigua Guatemala so special and unique is the colorful processional carpet elaboration process, which, quite often, involves the whole family, close friends, the neighborhood and the entire community. It does not matter if it’s just grandma throwing some corozo (corozo palms) and dried purple flowers to elaborate a humble alfombra in front of her home or it is a team of members of the cuadra (the block), or if a son lends a hand to a dad to put the final touches on the brightly-colored sawdust carpet, the devotion and the do-good spirit are present everywhere you look. This is the week of the year when Guatemalans stand as one people!

Holy Week processional carpets can be made from colorful sawdust, richly-scented pine needles and corozo palms, sweet-smelling flowers and tropical fruits and vegetables. Alfombras procesionales de Samana Santa (Holy Week processional carpets) can be delightful to see with their intricate design and patterns before every procession throughout the Lent and the Holy Week. However, it is a richer experience to be present through the elaboration process and to be part of it by lending a hand and talking to the creators who are more than happy to include you as part of the family, friends and community. To some people from other parts of the world it might be a weird and pleasant experience to realize that people here “know” their neighbors and the entire community.

If you are right now in La Antigua Guatemala, don’t miss this unique opportunity to be part of the elaboration of the world-famous Holy Week processional carpets!

Aserrí­n (sawdust) is used often in Guatemala for decorations, especially the world famous Holy Week carpets. Sawdust is dyed with bright colors to provide the color and contrast of the different designs. This photo and the next are the last in the Guatemalan Christmas Decorations series.

Gringos are now an integral part of La Antigua Guatemala and therefore many of them participate of the preparations of the world famous alfombras de Semana Santa (Holy Week carpets) made from colorful sawdust, flowers, fruits, and anything the imagination allows.

From this shot, I particularly like the framing of the tourist with his backpack before he pulled his camera to shoot the making of the carpet. The background is the San Francisco El Grande Church, home to the remains of Santo Hermano Pedro de Betancourt (Guatemala’s only ‘Oficial’ Saint).

I hope you are enjoying the behind the scenes series of the Semana Santa in La Antigua Guatemala. Remember that you can visit my friends Nelo’s web site EnAntigua.com for an overview of huge processions.

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?

Only in Star Trek that is possible… we must wait for the future to arrive. In the mean time, we wave good bye to Arthur C. Clarke as we thank him for allowing us to dream of the future. Until the future arrives, you must pack your bags and head down south where you can be free!

Well, like always, not everything is bad about the Holy Week in La Antigua Guatemala. If you can obviate the crowds, the traffic, the massive processions, the gorgeous sawdust carpets, the thousands of paparazzi photographers, et-cetera, then you see the city benefits from a makeover through thousands of new paint jobs for façades, window crates, doorways, street repairs, and so on.

La Antigua Guatemala wants to look its best for the most important celebrations of the year: The Holy Week. Sometimes, it seems like all other celebrations throughout the year are simple after shakes of the Holy Week, which begins with Cuaresma (Lent). As you may already know, the Holy Week is celebrated in many places in the world, but very few celebrate with as much grandiloquence as La Antigua Guatemala. The Holy Week celebrations in La Antigua Guatemala is something you must experience for yourself at least once. As a matter of fact, The Holy Week celebrations in La Antigua Guatemala should be very high in the list of to-dos before one dies. All of us should have a list of things to do before dying, like the character Ann in the film My Life Without Me.

So what are you waiting for? Pack your bags and head down south where you can be free!

The People of La Antigua Guatemala and surrounding villages simply love to make processional carpets and the town fair provides the perfect excuse to make sawdust and flower carpets throughout the year; really why wait for Semana Santa (Holy Week).

Along with the processional carpets, white and yellow plastic decorations mark the route of the town’s procession. Nobody is allowed to step on the carpets before the procession.

The Royal Street Side Note: By the way, the name of this street is Calle Real (Royal street) which is the name given to the main street or avenue in small towns in rural Guatemala. This was done to mark the streets where the king and queen could walk by. It’s been 186 years since Guatemala obtained its independence from Spain in September 15, 1821; yet the streets are still called Calle Real, just in case The Kings ever show up—and they did in San Pedro Las Huertas. Check out the full coverage of the Kings of Spain visit to San Pedro Las Huertas earlier this year.

Even though we began a tour through San Pedro Las Huertas town’s fair on Friday, June 29th, 2007; it didn’t cross my mind, until yesterday, that we could actually try to document some aspects of a typical Guatemalan town’s fair with all of its stands, games, fire crackers, sawdust, pine-needle and flowers processional carpets. We had to break the coverage of San Pedro Las Huertas fair to participate in the theme day of the Daily Photo community, which La Antigua Guatemala is part of.

The tour of the fair began with an overview of some of the food stands and the church in the background, then we saw the altar inside the San Pedro Las Huertas church. So far we have an overview of the elements necessary to recreate a typical Guatemalan fair.

Almost all town fairs and festivities are around the town’s patron, in this case is San Pedro Las Huertas, which by the way, means Saint Peter of the vegetable gardens. Since Guatemala was a catholic country for the last 500 years or so and the Mesoamerican indigenous people absorbed and mixed the catholic rituals and traditions with their own religious beliefs and traditions, most Guatemalan towns have a Spanish catholic first name and often an indigenous last name (otherwise known as the original name). For example, Santo Domingo Xenacoj, which means the original name of the town was Xenacoj, and the town was re-christen with Santo Domingo. Now with the above information, we now know that a town’s fair happens once-a-year on the town’s catholic patron. For San Pedro Las Huertas the date is June 29th and for La Antigua Guatemala is July 25th because the city used to be called The Very Noble and Very Loyal City of Saint James of the Lords of Guatemala, as mentioned by Manolo a few days ago. And some of you thought La Antigua Guatemala was already a very long name; try explaining to your friends and relatives that you are planning a vacation to The Very Noble and Very Loyal City of Saint James of the Lords of Guatemala.

So after all this rambling, I present to you the main element which spawns the San Pedro Las Huertas town fair: The Church. You already saw the altar inside last Saturday. Below, there should be a small 360° view video clip of the church from the main plaza. Come back tomorrow and all this week for more elements of a typical Guatemalan fair.

I want to thank Byron Ortiz for allowing me to use his photos of Semana Santa (Holy Week), so we can better understand the Holy Week Celebrations in La Antigua Guatemala.

This week we are running a mini-series: Elements of the Holy Week Celebrations in La Antigua Guatemala and its world-famous Semana Santa.

The making of carpets from sawdust, pine-needles, flowers, vegetables is a community-forming tradition. People get together by block or near-by neighbors to create the carpets on which the processions will pass by. Sometimes the making of the carpets is done at night, all night so they are ready for next day’s procession.

You can check LD’s Holy Week Survival Guide for other details and relevant information regarding Semana Santa in Guatemala, including the trips to the beach. Didn’t I tell you the beach is very close to Antigua? About 1 hour’s driving time. Heck I even showed you a satellite map view of Southern Guatemala (check below the caption for the volcanoes).

Tags: Antigua Guatemala Daily Photo / Antigua / Guatemala / Holy Week Elements / sawdust carpets / Semana Santa in Antigua

First of all, this is the first time I am using somebody else’s photo in Antigua Guatemala Daily Photo. I want to thank Byron Ortiz for allowing me to use his photos of Semana Santa, so I can better show you what is the big deal about the Holy Week Celebrations in La Antigua Guatemala. I am sure I will use other peoples photographs more often if they can better describe the subject at hand.

This week will run a mini-series with Elements of the Holy Week Celebrations in La Antigua Guatemala and its world-famous Semana Santa.

The making of sawdust carpets (alfombras de aserrí­n) with its vivid colors and eye-catching patterns are among the most prominent elements of the Holy Week celebrations. You can come back all this week to see other samples of carpets made with flowers and fruits and vegetables.

Tags: Antigua Guatemala Daily Photo / Antigua / Guatemala / Holy Week Elements / sawdust carpets / Semana Santa in Antigua