PROCESSION OF CANDELARIA 2007

These are the pictures that I like the most of the Procession of Thursday in Guatemala City...hope you enjoy them....

The decoration of the Church before the procession came out

The procession as it's comming out...

The image of Jesus Nazareno de Candelaria

I really love this picture, because you can not really see the begining or the end of the Procession

La Virgen de Dolores

All the ladies are dressed in white, to carry la Virgen.

The kids also get to carry, both boys and girls...but is kind of...I don't know...the poor image is almost falling there...haha

HOLY WEEK CARPETS

Antigua Guatemala 2007


For believers, the meaning of elaborating a carpet is to express gratitude for a certain grace or miracle, this becomes a personal obligation from the person towards the worshiped image.

This is a typically catholic tradition that has been transformed in popular art and is spread out through Spain and Latin America. Its origin dates from the XIV century, which consisted on planting the processional path with foliage, rosematy, blue and yellow flowers, and spreading petals (specially from roses and carnations). This costum evolved into the real carpets made of flowers, dyed soil and sawdust we can appreciate today ....

San Francisco, Flowers carpet


These long and extraordinary carpets, typical of Guatemalan popular culture, are part of what is known as ephemeral popular art. They are attached to the Guatemalan's collective memory and are a clear example of religious and cultural syncretism in contemporary Guatemala.

People love using bright colors, to make the best carpet and always keep improving year after year...

Carpets are usually the size of a block here in Antigua, and it takes from 40 minutes to plenty of hours depending on how dificult the disign might be...

I really like the colors of this carpet, and all the cucuruchos around it waiting for the Procession...

PROCESSION OF CANDELARIA IN GUATEMALA CITY

This is the procession in which we participate. This is in Guatemala city, these pictures are from last year, and this is one of the largest processions in Guatemala, it leaves the Church at 7:00 a.m. in the morning and then goes back at midnight (a little after midnight), they have 120 man bearer's at one time, and each person can only carry Jesus ONE time, since there are a lot of people who wait for one whole year for the procession, and still some of them don't get the chance because for example they don't buy their turn on time (yes, you do have to buy your turn 2 months in advanced). Each turn lasts about 10 minutes or less and they go for 121 blocks, all day long.

The music you'll be listening at is one of the Processional Marches that follow the pace of the images...

I of course participate in the procession of La Virgen de Dolores, and we are all dressed in white...I'll show those pictures on the next post.

Procession of La Merced

Cathedral with thousands of people looking at the procession

Romanos

Jesus Nazareno de La Merced

Procession of La Merced

Virgen Dolorosa

Behind every procession there is a group of people playing instrumental Lent and Holy Week processional marches. In the larger city processions, these bands add up to more than one hundred philaharminics.

PALM SUNDAY

In Guatemala's case, Palm Sunday is filled with joy and color; the palms blessed at church come from the west coast and they are called Palma REal (royal palm) or Menaca.

During Semana de Dolores (the week before Holy Week), in the departments of Escuintla, Suchitepéquez, Quetzaltenango and the mountains of Sacatepeéquez, Palma Real leaves are cut and "the palms" are elaborated. These are decorated with cohune flowers and those that are characteristic of the Lent period, like purple estaticias or red with white carnations.

Sellers of these products, collect the palms and arrive on Saturday evening at the diferent churches of the city; this way on Sunday at dawn the faithful can buy them and recieve the blessing during mass. Catholics holding the blessed palm rejoice as they watch the procession go by.

Palms beeing sold infront of la Merced before Mass.

Piña Colada (without liquor) in front of the church, to eat something after Mass.

MaNgoOoOoOo... mmmmmmy favorite...

Pepe eating PoRk tacoooooos in the street....unbelievable!!!

Me, eating PuPuSaS in the steet...even more unbelievable...(these are tortillas with cheese and cabage and red sauce)

Decoration of Holy Week on the windows...actually is different in every house...

This is our decoration!!! isn't that sooo pretty...I did it myself....(nooooooo I'm just kidding)