I think my family is pretty reflective of what most Catholic American families are like. Religion is for little kids (the look so cute in their communion dresses!) and old people. People are too busy during the middle of their life to have time for church. They still consider themselves Catholic, but non-practicing. They still pray (whenever someone's sick or the lottery is really high) but like a distant cousin, contact is usually limited to awkward holiday get-togethers.
Now let's talk about Guatemalan Catholics. Guatemalans are every church's fantasy. They revolve their lives around Jesus. Homes are adorned with His picture, women grasp crosses in their hands as they walk down the street, churches are overflowing on Sundays (and Saturdays). If God ordered a sacrifice in Guatemala, hundreds of Abrahams would flood the streets, willing sons in tow. That being said, it's no surprise that Guatemala is world-renowned for it's Easter celebrations. And not just it's Easter celebrations, because unlike in the States, they make it very clear that Lent is 40 days long and you FEEL those 40 days here. There are shrines to Jesus in front of people's homes (literal shines, with candles and flowers and photos like you'd find at a shooting scene back in the US). Every Friday they have a parade through the streets where people take turns doing their penance: helping to carry a 7,000lb statue of Jesus through the streets. And then comes Holy Week. This is like the World Cup of religious events; people come from all over the world to watch the religious celebrations. The population of Antigua jumps from about 36,000 to over 150,000. Along with the normal American and German tourists, tons of folks from neighboring countries flood in, too.
All these people visiting lead to three big things happening: first of all, it's a HUGE flood of money for Guatemala. Rooms are booked solid in Antigua and tourists usually book up all the rooms in neighboring towns as well, small towns that usually don't get the benefit of much tourism. Obviously, a great thing. The second big occurrence is a huge wave of extra jobs during this time of year. Hundreds of vendors were in Antigua today selling everything from iced tea to yo-yos. Families take full advantage of the influx of tourists; it's common to see kids as young as nine or ten walking around trying to sell their families merchandise (even younger kids work as shoe shiners). Another great way that money is reaching people here. And then the third change. This week isn't just a good week for families, it's also a spectacular week for thieves. The crime rate in Antigua sky rockets during Holy Week. A common trick here is to watch someone put away their cellphone/camera/wallet in their backpacks, then walk behind them and slice right through their backpack, grabbing the item without them ever knowing anything happened. Another trick (which happened to my friend last week) is to distract someone with pleas of buying merchandise. It's not uncommon here for folks with jewelry/fabric/candy to walk right into a restaurant and ask you to buy from them. They rarely take no for an answer, so you have to eventually start ignoring them until they give up and walk away. Well apparently thieves took advantage of this little ploy, walked into a cafe and tried to get my friends to buy their goods. While my friends buried their noses in their books and started ignoring them, one of the people grabbed her wallet out of her purse. It wasn't discovered until it was time to pay the bill much later. So that being said, while this is a great time of the year to visit, you need to be on guard at all times.
Vendors galore!
It felt like a theme park when I got to Antigua today. Vendors walked up and down the streets with cotton candy and peanuts, people snapped photos every few feet and I heard about as much English as I did Spanish (though in Antigua that's not really note worthy). I immediately sought refuge from the crowds and ran to a cafe. On my way there I passed the beginnings of some alfombras (carpets). One of the most beautiful parts of the parades are carpets that the townspeople make. The carpets serve two purposes: the first is to level out the cobblestone roads (it's hard enough to walk on them, once you have a 7,000 lb statue on your shoulders, it's downright deadly). Sawdust is placed on the cobblestones to even it out. Once it's completely even, dyed sawdust is placed on top in a decorative design as a tribute to Jesus. I was surprised that they were just beginning to build these with the parade only a few hours away, but then I found out that they PURPOSELY wait for the last minute, that way the alfombra looks it's very best for when the parade starts. It's kind of sad that these awesome pieces of art are going to get destroyed in a few hours, but it serves as a reminder that beauty is temporary.
The parade started with Roman guards reading out the charges against Jesus
Some men dressed up like Romans
The Roman guards walk through with other men to be crucified.
(Side note, men of all ages were taking part in this. I saw everyone from babies to about 85 years old. It was really cool)
Next, men come with those little incense pots (which are SUPER popular here) and smoke up the whole street. It was really cool seeing the huge smoke clouds and hearing the drums in the background, gave it a really powerful feel.
There are two main statues for this parade. I call them statues, but really they're platforms with figures on top. The first one is of Jesus carrying the cross. After Good Friday, this will be replaced by a statue of Jesus on the cross, and again replaced at night with a statue of Jesus' body after it had been lowered off the cross. This platform is carried by men. Each church has it's own day to do the parade, and their church members are the ones in charge of carrying the enormous platform. Because of the enormous weight, people have to switch in and out during the parade to keep anyone from getting too exhausted. Deciding where/when people switch in is very precise; all people carrying the platform at any given time must have the same shoulder height or else some people will be forced to carry the brunt of the weight. The men wear purple robes up until Good Friday, after which they'll switch to black. Right now the entire city is purple; purple flags fly from houses and purple flowers are everywhere. It's truly gorgeous to see. Anyway, here are the dudes.
Following the Jesus statue are two small statues (carried by just four people each) of St. John and Mary Magdalene. Don't ask me who's who; they both look completely gender neutral to me.
And then Mother Mary get's a float. This one is smaller than Jesus' but still considerably large. The women carry this float and are usually dressed in black with black veils. The ones holding the platform here seem to not be adhering to that norm, so maybe I don't know what I'm talking about.
Check out the crowd!
And here's what happens when the parade passes through. These dudes walk behind with shovels and make big piles of all the beautiful sawdust. The street sweeper takes care of the rest, and three minutes after the parade passes through, you would never know anything happened.
The parade was an amazing, amazing experience. The same as when I was involved in La Posada and La Viacrucis, you get caught up in the emotion of everything and you can really feel the immense amount of religious dedication and love that these folks have. Today was a great experience and definitely one of those great times when I felt absolutely 100% right in choosing to spend this year here.
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