I was trying to find the right words to explain Lent and Holy Week in Antigua and my high school friend, Maria Cristina, gave me the words "visible faith" in a comment on Facebook. (Maria Cristina used to help me with my homework 45 years ago and I can still count on her for the right words. How sweet!)
Day after day and week after week during Lent, Guatemalans show their Faith. Their is a fervor and passion for their religion that is difficult to describe and or for me to understand. You see it everywhere; in their strained faces as they carry the andas thru the city, in their sweat as the wear the dark purple and black cucurucho robe in the sun, in the hours of meticulous carpet making as a minute offering to their Savior and the long tiring hours of processions. It is not about fun or excitement but an opportunity to do penance and share in Christ's suffering and the Virgin's grief. The Resurrection of Christ on Easter Sunday is not the Focal point. Easter Sunday, there is no celebration. Only the church bells ring, people go to Sunday mass and their was a tiny procession.
Sometimes whole families including babies participate in this rituals. I saw dads who were carrying the andas with a baby on their back. I saw mothers's breastfeeding their babies as they walk. The crowds of families work hours on carpets, wait for hours to catch the glimpse of Christ carrying the cross, Christ buried or the Virgin Mary grieving the death of her son. Some groups travel in trucks for hours to just get a glimpse. They eat food from street Vendors...many can't afford a restaurant or a hotel. At the same time in this occasions Guatemalans from all economic levels participate in these Lenten rituals.
The processions are solemn and amazingly quiet. You hear the music. The gong of the drums tells you they are nearby. As it gets closer, you smell the incense but the crowd is quiet and respectful. Some people are just finishing their carpets as the procession aproaches. These procession can be 8 to 15 hours long. Some originate from nearby towns and the whole towns comes to walk with the anda. ( I was watching one procession nearby a bar full of foreigners. As the anda approached the folks in the bar got very noisy. The crowd and the cucuruchos in the procession shusssssshed them quiet.)
On Holy Thursday I had the opportunity to get together with a group of Americans that create carpets from recycle materials. Before the procession approached, a group of men came by to recreate on the street the history of the proclamation of Christ crucifixion. They do this dramatizations across the city.
In the evenings the processions appear more dramatic as the andas are lighted up and they pass in front of the Catherdral of San Jose in front of the Parque Central. There is usually music that can be heard through the park. It is such a pleasure to sit in Central Park (if you can find a bench) and just watch the pageantry and the passion for Christ and his mother. The moon was so nice to shine right over the cathedral.
On Thursday evening the population begins the preparation of the streets of Antigua with magnificent carpets for Good Friday. They work all night and all day to cover most of the streets. (not easy to travel by car). I got up and out by 6 am so I could see as many of the most creative carpets before they are trampled by the cucuruchos carrying the andas. There are so many you can not see them all!
There are three procession on Good Friday. One procession with Christ carrying the cross and still alive starts at 4am and ends at 3pm the time that Christ dies. The other two carry the dead body of Christ. Two churches are designated to dramatize the crucifixion at noon and the death of Christ 3pm. I was lucky to get a little spot inside the church for the crucifixion and death. You are surrounded with grieving Guatemala's with cell phone cameras. The church service as the body is brought down from the cross and placed on the anda is dramatic and solemn. The funeral music inside the church is overpowering and the crowds waiting outside for the anda with Christ's body is immense and grieving. You can see people crying and the sorrow and seriousness in their faces. They really believe. Their faith is so visible!
On holy Saturday the whole city mourns and there are two processions of the grieving Virgin Mary. You see thousands of women dressed in black with black veils.
See pictures in the photo gallery...Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Virgin Mary
I will never forget this Holy Week. I have to specially thank my friends Edgar(Guatemalan) and Carolina (American) who guided me thru the schedules and told me where to go and made me stay up for every ritual even when I was dead tired. They are both amazing and so into it. They both carried the anda that left from the church I was at.....making it even more special. Carolina even carried my black purse so part of me was part of the procession. Another special thanks to my Belgian friend who accompanied me on Saturday. His perspective as a writer and photographer added to my experience.
I had so many wonderful converstions with so many Gustemalans in the crowds. I am so blessed to speak Spanish and to not be shy. Truthfully, I think guatemalns are so happy to talk to a Gringa who speaks fluent Spanish so I get tons of attention.
Some of the pictures I already posted on facebook. There are many more in the photo gallery. Unfortunately, I don't know how to upload videos to the blog. They are on Facebook. I apologize for the pictures not rotated correctly.
Again...thanks for coming along. This next week should be quiet. Next week we go to TikaL. Read up and get ready
