Antigua Guatemala is a place filled with contrasts. This beautiful town of over 45,000 residents boasts cobblestone streets, colorful buildings, historic significance and wonderful tradition in a valley surrounded by volcanos some of them still active. This was my fist stop in Guatemala – and if you don’t count my Baja journey – my first in a series of worldwide destinations for 2018. It was a grand introduction to the country as it was Semana Santa – or Holy Week – the largest celebration in the Guatemala. (See here for a recap of 2018’s planned adventures)
Semana Santa in Antigua, Guatemala may just be one of the most beautiful, intense, outlandish, inspiring, and overwhelming events you will ever experience. Semana Santa is the Spanish translation for Holy Week, the week leading up to Easter Sunday commemorating the passion, crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ in the Catholic religion. For the people of Guatemala, there is no celebration more anticipated than this one.
The Spanish tradition of Semana Santa. arrived with the Spaniards to Guatemala in 1524. Almost 500 years later, Guatemala holds one of the most elaborate celebrations, and it can be argued that Antigua has perhaps the largest, most traditional and famous in the world.
Historically used as a way to explain the story of Jesus, Semana Santa traditions in Guatemala combine the Holy Week processions of Spanish Catholics from the 1500’s with an ancient Mayan tradition of creating intricate alfombras (carpets) for kings to walk upon.
Activities include grand processions, lavish floats and intricately designed alfombras. Hundreds of thousands of visitors descend on this Guatemalan city every year to be a part of the religious and cultural festivities–a mix of Spanish tradition and indigenous cultural beliefs. As many of you know, I am not Catholic, and for that matter not particularly religious either, spiritual yes, religious, not so much.
“Religion is belief in someone else’s experience. Spirituality is having your own experience.”– Deepak Chopra
Religion and spirituality are two related yet distinct terms associated with faith. Religion denotes “a set of beliefs concerning the cause, nature, and purpose of the universe, usually involving devotional and ritual observances and a moral code.” In contrast, spirituality can be defined as “the quality of being spiritual”. So you might ask, “what was this “spiritual” person doing at this very famous religious place and event?”
My best answer: this experience is one that really brings home the depth and importance of religion in many cultures around the world. To better understand and have empathy for others we must open our hearts to what is important to them. And in addition to that, it was a beautiful moving experience I will always remember. Now I will get off my soapbox and continue to share this amazing place and event.
“I have no objection to any person’s religion, be it what it may, so long as that person does not kill or insult any other person, because that other person don’t believe it also.” – HERMAN MELVILLE, Moby Dick
Though one of the more important Semana Santa processions begins on Good Friday, preparations actually begin up to 24 hours prior, making it imperative to include Holy Thursday in your schedule.
Arguably, one of the most impressive aspects of Semana Santa in Antigua are the alfombras that adorn the processional route. Sand is first laid to level the cobblestone, followed by sawdust that has been collected and dyed to bright shades of yellow, red, blue, green, purple and black. Pine needles, flowers, native plants and a variety of other natural ingredients are used for decoration and fragrance.
On Thursday, families and businesses start working on their original ‘alfombras’ which can sometimes take months to plan. Following their blueprint, everyone participates in creating dazzling ‘alfombra’s worthy of the destruction from a procession, signifying that neither life nor death are permanent. People typically work through the night to ensure the ‘alfombras’ are perfect for the procession early on Friday. Though some people might use stencils for accuracy, others use a free hand technique to construct ‘alfombras’ that are uniquely beautiful and imperfect. I arrived in Antigua on Thursday afternoon after an all night flight from California. But even lack of sleep couldn’t deter me from spending several hours wandering the streets awestruck with the preparations for Good Friday.
The carpet designs reflect Maya tradition, biblical symbolism and scenes from nature. The art of carpet-making is thought of as sacrificial because of the intense detail and amount of time dedicated to their creation, only to be destroyed once the processions pass. It is said to be an honor to have the procession pass over your creation and if there is more than one procession on a particular route, residents will often make a new carpet for each following procession sometimes reusing some of the materials from the previous one.
The processions are certainly a testament to the devotion of the followers. On Good Friday the first began at 3am (yes, that would be before the sun was even thinking about rising) and lasted 11 hours traversing a convoluted path around the city. This was the only procession that included horses and it was beautiful.
“Never be angry with your neighbor because his religious views differ from your own; for all the branches of a tree do not lean the same way.” – WILLIAM SCOTT DOWNEY
The floats depict scenes from the bible, the bearers shouldering the heavy weight wearing purple robes a color historically known for both royalty and suffering while marching bands walk behind the floats playing a solemn tune seemingly to incite emotion. Slowly, the procession plods along the path, trampling over the ‘alfombras’ that are obliterated as the processionals pass along the route.
As the procession passes, the air, filled with a mix of flowers, sawdust and incense, carries the heaviness of sorrow. This feeling is intensified by the somber bass filled music from the marching bands so deep it reaches into your chest as the musicians follow the floats through town.
The processions are parades consisting of marching bands, costumed actors, and hundreds (sometimes thousands) of people from the church congregation carrying incense, flags, candles, or other props. Each one can take anywhere from two to twelve hours and span a few blocks or almost the entire length of the town. Between the smell of the incense, the buzz of the crowd, the blaring of the trumpets, and the brilliantly colorful floats and carpets, they are complete sensory overload.
The bulk of the Semana Santa celebrations occur between Holy Thursday and Easter Sunday. It is impossible to witness every procession that occurs in Antigua in that four day period (okay maybe not impossible, but this traveler needed to schedule some sleep into the nights!). There are dozens scheduled in that time, often with overlapping schedules and conflicting routes. They occur chronologically, with each depicting a stage or scene from the story of Jesus’ death and resurrection.
The parade statue’s depicting the story are elaborate, a dozen plus men (and for some women or children) in matching robes carry the enormous weight of the wood float on their shoulders, some reaching over two tons. For some it requires upwards of nearly 100 people at a time to move the heavy float down the cobble streets. It is no easy feat, but carrying the float is considered an honor. Members of the congregation sign up and pay to participate months beforehand. The lengthy march offers hundreds of people the honor of bearing the weight of their savior through the streets of Antigua.
As the days pass and the story changes to crucification and then resurrection the robe colors change and the somber music slowly builds. There are processions that have only women carrying the floats dressed in black and often with their children in tow. And at night a portable generator pulled by parishioners is used to power the lights for the elaborate processions.
I planned as best I could and was able to see many of the processions as they passed through different parts of the city. And the most joyful by far were the final parades on Sunday. The streets were filled with joyful celebration, purple and black robes were discarded in favor of everyday dress, some very colorful. Floats were at times carried by the children and marching bands swapped the somber bass filled tunes with celebratory music.
“Religion is the whole soul marching heavenward to the music of joy and love, with well-ranked faculties, every one of them beating time and keeping tune.” – HENRY WARD BEECHER
It’s truly impossible to explain the immensity of Semana Santa in Antigua. It was difficult to grasp even as I stood in the midst of it.
The city is full to the brim with celebrations, music, and people. Everywhere you turn there are colorful events, marching bands playing late into the night, and street vendors hawking souvenirs and food. Day and night as the celebration starts to close you can hear the explosions set off by the joyful revelers. The whole city turns into an overwhelming, intensely beautiful amusement park type atmosphere.
And kudos to the city for doing an incredible job of managing the thongs of tourists and the cleanup behind the celebrations. After each procession there was a cadre of workers and a truck scooping up the remains of the carpets (those that were not collected by the children to be reused) and getting the historic streets ready for another day.
And all this chaos is backed by the city of Antigua, a pastel-walled, cobblestoned, historical city resting in a valley between three towering volcanoes. Crowds of thousands crammed between antique walls; dramatic processions beneath active volcanoes; tree covered slopes overlooking the most elaborate, temporary street art you will ever see. This is Semana Santa in Antigua, and there is simply nothing else like it in the world.
On Monday the crowds were gone and it was time to leave Antigua for my next Guatemala destination, the second largest city in the country, Quetzaltenango for my Spanish language school. But more about that in another post!
“When people try to use religion to address the natural world, science pushes back on it, and religion has to accommodate the results. Beliefs can be permanent, but beliefs can also be flexible. Personally, if I find out my belief is wrong, I change my mind. I think that’s a good way to live.” – LISA RANDALL
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