THE PASSION OF GUATEMALA

Text by Beatriz Martí / Photos by Ricardo Mata

For many centuries Guatemala has been and continues to be a country of Catholics. Their Catholic beliefs evolved from 16th century Spanish missionaries and ancient Maya practices creating a mix of Christianity and ancestral paganism. Today this integrated form of Catholicism is present in most regional religious practices and Easter Week is no exception.

    Easter celebrations usually lasts eight days, beginning on Palm Sunday and continuing through Easter Sunday which commemorates the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. However, in Guatemala the Easter celebrations begin earlier, on Ash Wednesday, start of the Lenten Season. On this day, Catholics attend a special mass where a Priest draws a cross out of ash on their foreheads. The ashes are blessed by the priest and are made from crushed and burned olive branches or palms used in the Palm Sunday mass the previous year.

    Once Lenten season starts, Catholics create holy arrangements or bouquets made of the season's finest flowers, vegetables and fruit. These bouquets are offerings to religious images of Jesus of Nazareth or the Sorrowful Virgin. Guatemalans hang these elaborate arrangements in churches and change them each Friday during Lent.

    Purple is the predominant color during Lent and Easter Week and is displayed on facades of Guatemalan homes and in the streets and churches. The color purple is highly symbolic in ceremonies of the Catholic Church. Many seasonal flowers during that time of year are also purple such as sacramental orchids, jacarandas, bougainvilleas and perennials which are used to make flower arrangements for Palm Sunday which begins Easter Week. The entire country is adorned with Lenten decorations as Guatemalans hang curtains, cloth bows and paper decorations of purple, red, lilac and yellow in doorways and windows.

    Guatemalans also prepare a special meal during the Easter season consisting of dried fish. The fish is cleaned and salted, then set out to dry in the sun on a cane mat or sheets of zinc. The fish is distributed throughout the country to be consumed during Lent. This traditional menu is also complimented by sweet or herb turnovers, sweet bread with honey, sweet chickpeas, and beet pickles.

    Easter week in Guatemala has its own unique ambiance and sounds which penetrate through the streets, squares and churches. The solemn sounds of prayers, pledges and petitions merge with the music of Lenten bands which perform in public religious celebrations. These musical groups are comprised of at least fifty members who play a vast repertoire of funeral songs.

PROCESSIONS

Processions are led by enshrined or encased holy statues such as the crucified Jesus or Virgin Mary and involve long walks through village streets and avenues, as well as city back streets and roads. The sacred images which lead the processionals are often very old statues. Each year, participants construct a shrine which holds the holy icon. They also blanket the path of the entourage with flowers and other materials from which they create beautiful floral 'carpets'.

    The tradition of Easter Week holy processionals dates back to the 16th century in Guatemala. Originally, only four people carried the holy shrine, only adorned with wild flowers, on their shoulders. Today, these shrines measure as much as 18 meters long and require dozens of men to carry them. These holy shrines or altars have evolved into complex works of art. Altareros or altar decorators and artists knowledgeable in the fields of sculpting, scene painting, iconography, and religion compete for the privilege of constructing these shrines.

    Primary materials such as dry flowers, branches, pine needles, sand, gravel, crushed eggshell and colored sawdust are used to carpet the streets the procession will take. These carpet's are primarily decorated with pre-Hispanic motifs and figures. And one cannot speak of Guatemala's Easter Week without making reference to the importance of statues, figures and icons used in the processions. Most of these mystical sculptures were carved during the colonial era when one of the continent's most remarkable schools of religious iconography flourished in Guatemala. Today, very few of these handcrafted icons still exist. Replicas or reproductions may be found in shops that specialize in the work, using the same techniques iconographers used 300 years ago.

EASTER WEEK DRAMA

Some populations in the country's interior celebrate Easter Week with live enactments of Chris's death. The dramas begin on Palm Sunday with the entrance of Jesus into Jerusalem. Diverse performances take place on Monday and Tuesday while Roman soldiers search for Jesus. In some populations residents commemorate Holy Wednesday with an reenactment of the Last Supper mounted in the public square and attended by the entire community. On Holy Thursday, soldiers arrest Jesus and lock him in the town jail where he remains the entire night. On Friday morning Jesus goes on trial and is later crucified.

    With the close of Easter Week, Guatemala ends the year's major period of meditation and prayer. Figures used in the processions remain in the churches until the following year, but the shrines and altar arrangements are taken down. Only the religious fraternities stay active in order to plan for the following year, choosing altar decorators and the main characters for the drama, in to preserve the yearly traditions of the most important week of the country.

 

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