 “Semana Santa” is the Spanish name for “Holy Week”, the week before Easter Sunday  In 2011, Semana Santa is from Sunday, April 17, until Sunday, April 24  Runs from Palm Sunday (Domingo de Ramos) until Holy Saturday (Sábado de Gloria)

 Brought to Guatemala by the Spaniards in colonial times  Shares some traditions with Spain  Guatemala and other Central American countries have added their own flavor to the celebrations  First Semana Santa celebrations held in Santiago de los Caballeros (old name for Antigua Guatemala)  2008 – Guatemala declared the Semana Santa celebrations in Antigua Guatemala a National Heritage site

 Cobblestone streets are repaired  Entire city of Antigua cleaned  Homeowners give houses a fresh coat of paint  Extra police are brought in to ensure safety

 Every Catholic church holds Mass (Misa) every night during Semana Santa  Churches host the processions  Figures of the saints are loaned to the hermandades to use in the processions  Large alfombra is often made in front of the altar of the church

 Groups (male and female) that belong to specific church  Create elaborate floats (andas) and processions  Responsible for all aspects of the Semana Santa processions  Participate in fundraising, float preparation, recruit cucuruchos, and organize details

 You can see processions in any large town in Guatemala, and in many small towns  Antigua, Guatemala is by far the major center for Semana Santa processions  Foreigners and Guatemalans alike flock to Antigua to see the festivities  Guatemala City also has very impressive processions, though not as well-known

 Floats for the Semana Santa procession usually very large  Many times weigh 7,000 lbs or more  Built of wood, with handles on either side for the cucuruchos to lift  Have detailed carvings of flowers and birds as well as detailed scrollwork along the edges

 Float designs change every year  Figures of Jesus and Mary stay the same, but with new clothing  Scenes can be very several feet tall on top of the float, with fake boulders, cellophane waterfalls, even bushes and trees around the figures  Bright lights often used, as well

 Statues of Jesus and Mary  Loaned to the hermandades by the churches for their processions  Many figures are hundreds of years old  Range from Christ, resplendent in robes, to a battered Jesus on a cross with pained expression  Some are quite graphic and bloody  Mary sometimes portrayed as radiant mother, other times as sorrowful

 Various saints make an appearance in the processions  Can be on the same float as Jesus, or on smaller floats carried by 4-6 people  St. John and Mary Magdalena always accompany Mary, carried on a separate float behind her  The number of saints depends on the size of the town and how many figures are available

 “Cucurucho” now refers to the men when carry a float  Originally referred to the type of hat that the men wore  Cucuruchos pay for the privilege of carrying the floats  Considered to be a form of penance  Cucuruchos are measured at the shoulders and assigned a “turno” or shift

 The shifts last one block – floats can weight 7,000 lbs each  Floats can have anywhere between men carrying them  Carriers have to be balanced and replaced frequently  Clothing was influenced by St. Francis of Assisi  Very similar to those of 500 years ago

 Normal garb is purple robed  Good Friday clothing is white

 Groups of women who carry floats  No specific dress code, though they typically dress in white or black, depending on the day  Las Dolorosas carry Mary, who is behind the main float

 These men are dressed as Roman centurions  Wear helmets, swords, and armor, as well as short leather skirts  Costume depends on the area and church  Walk with the processions, moving people from blocking the way  Members of the hermandades that do not carry the floats

 The Palestine Squad also accompanies some of the processions  Dressed in red capes and pointed hoods  Carry palm branches or crests on poles  Do not carry the float

 Used in all processions through Cuaresma and Semana Santa  Amount used increases the closer Holy Week gets  Children walk ahead of the procession with incense burners  Scent stays in the air for months

 Marchas funebras/funeral marches are unique to Guatemala  Nearly all are written by Guatemalans  Bring a solemn air to the proceedings  Santiago Coronado is considered the father of the funeral march in Guatemala  There are hundreds of songs in existence  The processions can go hours without ever repeating songs

 Alfombras (carpets) are abundant in the streets of Antigua during Cuaresma and Holy Week  Originally, in the 1500’s, made from flowers and feathers of birds like the quetzal, parrots, guacamayas, and hummingbirds  Traditions is a mixture of customs from Tenerife and the Canary Islands, as well as Mayan traditions  Alfombras are a form of welcoming Jesus into the town, just like people did with palm branches during His time

 Before the procession, people create elaborate alfombras from colored sawdust, plants, food, flowers, etc  Block traffic for hours on end  Mayan influence can be seen in the geometric patterns  Most alfombras long and rectangular  Some L-shaped alfombras go around corners, covering two blocks

 With multiple processions passing over the same streets, multiple processions are made  Cleanup is immediate in order to make room for the next alfombra  No one walks on the alfombras  This is one unwritten rule that is well-heeded  Alfombras can cost anywhere from Q5,000- Q10,000 ($ USD) depending on the materials

 Aserrin (sawdust) is the main ingredient in alfombras  Sawdust is tinted with brightly colored dyes and sold in the market  Simple alfombras take a couple of hours, and more elaborate ones can take up to 12 hours to complete, with many people working on them  Stencils are used to form the perfect design, then carefully laid on top of the sawdust to properly layer the design (see next slide)

 Ventas (sales) refer to the salespeople who wait in the plazas in front of the churches  When the procession enters the church, there are usually thousands of hungry and thirsty partcipants  Common food – cotton candy, chupetes (suckers), empanadas, churros, molletes, ice cream, and any number of drinks  Some people that live on the streets where processions take place will charge a small fee to let desperate participants use the bathroom in their house

 Cuaresma (Lent) refers to the 40 days leading up to Holy Week, finishing with Easter Sunday  The common practice of giving something up for Lent is not popular in Guatemala  Instead people will sign up to be a cucurucho or to design an alfombra as an act of penance

 Cuaresma has its own processions  Usually every Sunday, but often during the week, as well  It can be hard to know where the processions are if you are not from Guatemala, but the locals always seem to know

 Ash Wednesday is a big deal in Guatemala  Churches open all day  Some schools even take their students to church to have them blessed by the priest  The ashes that form the cross on a believer’s forehead are from the palm branches used in the previous year’s Palm Sunday

 There are several processions type of Lent, but the main processions in the capital are the following:  Jesús de Consuelo – the Saturday before Palm Sunday  Jesús de los Milagros y de las Palmas – Palm Sunday  Jesús de las Tres Potencias – Holy Monday  La Reseña y Jesús de las 3 Gracias – Holy Tuesday  Jesús del Rescate – Holy Wednesday  Jesús de Candelaria – Maundy Thursday  Jesús de la Merced – Good Friday (early morning)  Santos Entierros – Good Friday (afternoon)

 The Viacrucis are the Stations of the Cross  People set up stations with visual representations and the processions visit each one. There are fourteen stations of the cross in all:  Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane,  Jesus is betrayed by Judas and arrested,  Jesus is condemned by the Sanhedrin,  Jesus is denied by Peter,  Jesus is judged by Pilate,  Jesus is scourged and crowned with thorns,  Jesus takes up His cross,

 Jesus is helped by Simon to carry His cross,  Jesus meets the women of Jerusalem,  Jesus is crucified,  Jesus promises His kingdom to the repentant thief,  Jesus entrusts Mary and John to each other,  Jesus dies on the cross,  Jesus is laid in the tomb.

 During Cuaresma, special Misas, or Masses, are held  Usually related to the viacrucis

 Velaciones, or vigils, are held through Lent, each one at a different influential church  Biblical scenes are set up at the front of the church  An alfombra is made in front of the altar  A Misa is held in the afternoon  Usually a concert of funeral marches, as well

 Semana Santa, or Holy Week, start the Friday before Palm Sunday and goes through Good Saturday  There are many processions and significant events that make up this tradition time

 “Maundy Thursday”, as it is known in English, has many special processions  Themes vary, depending on church and hermandad  “Jesus es Encarcelado” – in select churches, Jesus is put in jail (behind any barred door), representing his arrest and incarceration

 One of the most famous processions in Antigua is “La Sentencia”  At 3 a.m., Roman centurions ride out of the church on horseback to proclaim Christ’s sentence  They read the sentence at every street corner

 Jesús en Su Camino al Calvario  At 4 a.m., after “La Sentencia”, the procession leaves following the Romanos  Theme: Christ’s journey to Calvary  The figure of Christ carries His cross, which is usually quite heavily adorned

 “Jesús Sepultado”  Final Procession with Jesus during Semana Santa  The floats show the body of Jesus in a glass coffin  Each station of the cross is represented on the float

 La Virgen de Soledad  In this procession, the Virgin Mary is dressed in dark or black clothes  A knife through her heart shows her pain at losing her son  Only female carriers carry her float (Las Dolorosas) and are dressed all in black

 Procesión de Niños (Children’s Procession)  Date depend on the town  Wednesday of Semana Santa in Antigua  Children carry a smaller float  Have all the same roles as adults in the other processions, such as Romans  All the figures are smaller

 Interestingly, Semana Santa in Guatemala focuses almost entirely on the death of Christ  Easter Sunday is very low key  Some say that this is because the resurrection had no parallel in Mayan culture, so it never really caught on when Christianity was introduced

 It is customary for people in small towns around Guatemala to make a Pilgrimage to Antigua – Peregrinaje a Antigua – during Holy Week  Traffic is very slow during Holy Week, due to so many travelers

 In some areas of Guatemala, an effigy of Judas, called “San Simón” or “Maximón” is displayed during Lent  It is later dismembered and burned  Maximón rules over the church while Jesus is “dead” then leaves the church when Jesus is resurrected

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