I know what you might be thinking... Semana Santa? Christmas was four months ago.
Well, down here in Central America Semana Santa is the biggest religious celebration of the year. It starts on Palm Sunday and lasts through Easter.
Antigua, Guatemala is known throughout Latin America for it's huge processions. We were able to see the big kick-off procession this last Sunday and, let me tell you, it was impressive. The procession started at 8 am and continued until well after 10 pm. People from all over came to Antigua to be a part of this procession...the city was packed.
As you can see in the picture, there were men in purple robes all over the city. The women dressed in white blouses with black skirts and covered their hair with black shawls. The streets were also decorated with intricate art work made of either colored saw dust or leaves and flowers. There was also no lack of incense in the streets.
The most impressive sights were the big wood platforms bearing scenes from the bible being carried (yes, I said carried) throughout the city. These structures looked like they weighed a couple tons and were carried by about 100 men. There were also smaller bible story platforms carried by only women. Apparently, it's a very big honor to be able to carry these platforms and people pay a good sum of money to be a part of the procession.
The platforms were followed by a street filled with people and live bands playing unique, half tempo music. The square in front of the church was packed with food stands and onlookers. We found the best churros we've ever tasted in the square...made completely from scratch. Brandon and I were able to see the procession at many points throughout the day...they covered every square inch of Antigua.
These catholics don't mess around.
1 comment:
That procession was for Palm Sunday. That's when Robert and his people took Jesus into custody so that they could kill him 5 days later.
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