The week leading up to Easter is Holy Week here in Guatemala and is celebrated quite heavily by the Catholic population. It’s really quite intriguing and beautiful. People make alfombras (rugs/carpets) in the streets out of dyed sawdust, flowers or fruits and vegetables. The designs can be extremely intricate and time consuming. Saturday night, some of us helped make one in Antigua. We started at 10 pm and worked until 2 am, and they continued working after we went home. What then happens with all these alfombras is a procession comes of men and boys dressed in purple robes carrying a large float with Christ on it. After all the hard work that goes into making the alfombras, the procession walks right over the top of it and destroys it! But everyone knows that going in, so obviously no one is upset.
The processions in Antigua are huge, but each town also has its own procession. There was one in Magdalena today and I went and watched it with my family (even though they’re Evangelical and don’t observe this holiday). Leading the procession were two pairs of young men dressed in skimpy black outfits. One in each pair held a large log over his shoulders while the other one whipped him relentlessly. I did not to expect that. After that came the float and band, which seemed more normal.
Tomorrow morning I’m going to head into Antigua around sunrise to see the processions there because Friday is supposed to be a very big day during the week.
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