The pre-hispanic Mayans made carpets of flowers and pine needles for their sacred processions. In the 1500s, the Spanish Catholic church, in addition to vigorously converting the Maya, introduced the Spanish use of colored sawdust for creating street carpets especially for holy week, over which the statues of Jesus, Mary and the town’s saint would be paraded.
These elaborate temporary carpets or alfombras, continuously line the route that the procession will take. In Guatemala these are called Aserrin de Alfombra, or “carpet of sawdust” or simply alfombras, to include the traditional alfombra which uses seeds, plants, and carefully separated parts from trees and flowers to create designs. These are constructed on Thursday or Friday of holy week and will pave the way for the processions. Though the lifespan of an alfombra is a matter of hours, they are the culmination of weeks and even months of creating new designs, carving stencils from cardboard, hand-dying sawdust to achieve the colors, collecting natural materials for alfombras and hours of communal labor before the procession. Each group pays for its own supplies and most begin collecting quetzals in February to cover the cost. The collaborators are family, neighbors, friends, or organizations, together focused on creating a work of art worthy of the divine.
These elaborate temporary carpets or alfombras, continuously line the route that the procession will take. In Guatemala these are called Aserrin de Alfombra, or “carpet of sawdust” or simply alfombras, to include the traditional alfombra which uses seeds, plants, and carefully separated parts from trees and flowers to create designs. These are constructed on Thursday or Friday of holy week and will pave the way for the processions. Though the lifespan of an alfombra is a matter of hours, they are the culmination of weeks and even months of creating new designs, carving stencils from cardboard, hand-dying sawdust to achieve the colors, collecting natural materials for alfombras and hours of communal labor before the procession. Each group pays for its own supplies and most begin collecting quetzals in February to cover the cost. The collaborators are family, neighbors, friends, or organizations, together focused on creating a work of art worthy of the divine.
The alfombras draw on imagery from Maya cosmology, the natural world and Christianity. Although Semana Santa is a Catholic tradition, many evangelical community members also join with groups in making the alfombras. Traditionally women are responsible for dying the sawdust, a time-consuming task begun weeks before, while men primarily assemble the design. The designs are frequently watered to keep them fresh and also to keep them from blowing away in the breeze. It is also an important event for community vendors who often make a large share of their income during this festival.
Antigua receives most of the fame for it’s Holy Week, boasting the most popular celebration in Latin America and displaying the largest alfombras (setting a world record and surpassing Spain in 2014) as well as thousands of faithful who dress in purple and then black robes, participate in processions where they carry impressive statues (andas) weighing as much as three tons, (see my post from 2012 in Antigua), and receive the most Holy Week visitors in Latin America. It was also the only time in Latin America that I feared asphyxiation by copal incense while standing on the street.
Outside of Antigua, alfombras are created throughout Guatemala at this time and smaller andas are paraded by Catholic men and women over the beautifully arranged carpets of flowers, vegetables and fruit or of colored sawdust. As a resident of Lake Atitlán I had the honor of watching both my own pueblo, San Pedro La Laguna and the neighboring pueblo of San Juan La Laguna assemble their alfombras. For me the difference between the celebrations in Antigua and the ones I saw here were theatre and art. In Antigua much attention is given to the actual procession, where the passion story is depicted i detail each day due to it's extensive collection of andas which tell the story of Jesus's life in a collection of exquisitely crafted scenes telling Jesus's last week. Here at the lake, the celebration was the making of art, a creative offering, a collective undertaking, an offering and a celebration of creativity, community, and the joy and of making something divine with one another which would then again disappear in the way of the sacred cycle of life.
Outside of Antigua, alfombras are created throughout Guatemala at this time and smaller andas are paraded by Catholic men and women over the beautifully arranged carpets of flowers, vegetables and fruit or of colored sawdust. As a resident of Lake Atitlán I had the honor of watching both my own pueblo, San Pedro La Laguna and the neighboring pueblo of San Juan La Laguna assemble their alfombras. For me the difference between the celebrations in Antigua and the ones I saw here were theatre and art. In Antigua much attention is given to the actual procession, where the passion story is depicted i detail each day due to it's extensive collection of andas which tell the story of Jesus's life in a collection of exquisitely crafted scenes telling Jesus's last week. Here at the lake, the celebration was the making of art, a creative offering, a collective undertaking, an offering and a celebration of creativity, community, and the joy and of making something divine with one another which would then again disappear in the way of the sacred cycle of life.
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