Guatemala, Antigua

Semana Santa has started in Antigua. It is a time of color, chaos and necking in the park. This morning we woke up with the sun rise and went to one of the churches near out guest house. A group of about 8 men was putting the finishing touches on a Alfombra (ritual carpet.) The English term carpet only seems to be applicable in the loosest way. An area of about 100 feet long and 5 feet wide had been blocked off in the middle of the street. This area had been filled with layers of colored saw dust. A border of sunshine yellow had been laid down and as we watched, paper stencils were laid out and another layer of emerald green was applied to form the stems of what later became roses. Running down the center of this carpet were parrots, toucans, and quetzals, all formed in relief by iridescent saw dust. This carpet had taken most of the night to make and was later destroyed in an instant.

Starting around noon a crowd began to form around the church. Within an hour the people were so densely packed that we could not have left the area even if we had wanted to. From inside the church drums began to sound. The drums were later accompanied by a disjointed horn section. The level of excitement of the crowd became palpable.

I am taller than most of the Guatemalans and I was able to see over their heads to the entrance of the church. Christ came floating through the air. He was wearing a blood red robe fit for a king and was shouldering a gold cross. This figure floated toward us. As it came nearer I was able to see that this idol was standing atop a dais being shouldered by eighty men in purple satin robes and white turbans. The path before them was kept clear by roman soldiers in plastic helmets.

The air became thick with incense. Though this fog I was able to The Virgin Marry floating out of the church. Her platform was smaller and carried by a group of 40 women.

The crowd pushed, pulled and dragged us down the street with the procession. To escape we managed to turn onto a side street and wind our way back to the hotel and onto the balcony. The street in front of the hotel had earlier been roped off. In a few hours the same procession was scheduled to come to us. Ten to 40 foot sections of the street had been claimed by carpets of pine needles and flowers. The pine formed the back drop for the lilies, birds of paradise, and Dupont plastic flowers.

When the procession arrived we watched from the safety and comfort of the balcony 3 stories about the street. All of the works of art were crushed underfoot and turned into a pile of fragrant compost.

With surprising efficiency the procession was followed by uniformed street sweepers. Their blue jerseys bore numbers 1 though 13. The pine and flowers were swept into a pile and a Caterpillar front-end loader scooped it all into a waiting dump truck.

15 minutes later the procession had moved on and the street looked as it had the day before.