Giant Kites Cultural Tour 2013

Cemeteries, Ceremonies and Sacred Kites

This was the third small group cultural tour I’ve led to the Kachiquel Maya pueblo of Sumpango to observe and participate in their unique celebration of the Day of the Dead, featuring los barriletes gigantes, the Giant Kites.  We were very fortunate to be joined again by master kitemaker and international kite exhibitor, Julio Asturias, who over my years of living in Guatemala has truly become a dear and inspiring friend.  It is thanks to his willingness to generously share his time, his knowledge and enthusiasm as well as his practical guidance that this tour offers such depth.  

My fascination with the Giant Kites enticed me to Guatemala in 2011.  But nothing I had seen on YouTube or in the descriptions I found on the internet prepared me for the reality of this creative undertaking. Every year I am amazed anew at the innovations in design and form in these kites. These enormous kites – some as large as a six story building, are ornate mandalas entirely made from tissue paper,  papel de china, and glue.  Nothing is drawn or painted on the kites.  Papel de china, the same paper I used to wrap presents in the States, does not come in rolls, but only in the familiar rectangular sheets.  The construction of the kites begins with rows of white sheets glued one to the other to form a base. The base is lain over the drawing of the kite.   The thinness of this paper allows the drawing for the kite to show through beneath it. The mosaic of multicolored tissue paper is then glued onto the base and subsequently applied in layers for detail and shading. Tissue paper and glue are not natural allies as the fine paper easily absorbs too much glue.  Los barrileteros  use delicate paintbrushes dipped into styrofoam cups of white glue which are periodically refilled from a gallon jug.  They work on their hands and knees or sprawled sideways on the cement floor, gluing with precision, patience and persistence. 

Once I asked Julio how many hours of work he thought went into the kites.  He laughed and said, “We could not count it in hours, it’easier to talk in months.  His group, Happy Boys, begins work designing their kites for November in January.  Below are photos from the group, Corazon Juvenil as they worked a Saturday night in September.  The drawing at right is the original drawing for this part of the kite.  It is then drawn by hand to the dimensions of the kite to give the outline for the placement of the pieces. 

Because of Julio our small group is able to see two of the kites as los barrileters work to complete them   the day before the festival.  The design of the kites is an absolute secret until the following day so we promise not to post any photos before the Festival. This secrecy applies not only to visitors, but also within the pueblo, so that even members of the same family who are working on different kites do not share the theme or the design of their kites with the rest of their family.  For a culture as ancient and persistent as the Maya, this lesson in keeping secrets and in being loyal to a group may be an important key to survival.  

It is breathtaking to see the Happy Boys kite as they complete work on this enormous and wonderfully detailed kite which illustrates angels carrying the spirit of the dead to heaven.  Watching them complete work on the detailed images from the 2nd floor  is like watching the images themselves emerge from the kite.  The view from the ground floor shows the size of this hall.  The last row of pics shows the kite at the festival.  A truly remarkable achievement.  Happy Boys is known as the most innovative of the group and counts architects among their group members.  It is also the only group to take on a name in English instead of in Spanish or Kachiquel.

There are about 75 kite groups in Sumpango with over 600 active members, most of whom are single young men.  What we are witnessed in the municipal hall is the culmination of  months of hands-on labor, los barrileteros working after their “real day jobs” until 1 in the morning weeknights and then working again through the night on Saturdays. 

While staying up all night every Saturday is one of the traditions of making the kites, the week of the festival, los barrileteros may go without sleep for the three nights proceeding the festival, in addition to their usual Saturday.  Perhaps they are too tired to be nervous about the looming and absolute deadline when their kites must be DONE.  One of the kites we visited looked to have quite a lot of cutting and gluing left, but the kitemakers demonstrated the same calm focus I observed when I visited them in September, applying themselves to the task at hand with care.

Finishing the kite is not the last step in this arduous process.  Indeed the crucial step is yet to come. The “small” kites, 6 meters (about 20 feet) and less will be mounted for display and then flown in competitions throughout the day.  The kites larger than 6 meters – the largest this year was  22 meters – the height of a six story building –  are mounted on an intricate lattice of enormous bamboo poles which require significant team coordination, precision and physical strength as well as another sleepless night– a true endurance test for the barrileteros.  It is interesting to contemplate that the vast majority of the barrileteros are single young men between the ages of 10 and 22.  They are guided by older experienced barrileteros who understand each part of the process of the making the kite.  The commitment and dedication to this art is enormous.  

The tradition of kites in Sumpango began when the pueblo was bothered by bad fortune. The brujas, the Maya healers, understood that the trouble lay with an ancient graveyard that predated the pueblo.  They advised that on dia de los muertos, kites must be flown, complete with flechas, a fringe around the edges which makes a sound with the wind.  This sound is believed to frighten away evil spirits.  Originally these kites were made of banana leaves.  Then the Chinese introduced the thin brightly colored paper to Guatemala around 70 years ago.  Julio remembers his grandfather bringing bundles of colored paper home from the city for making the kites.

But  dia de los muertos in Sumpango is honored in other ways than making kites.  Because our group arrives the day before the kite festival, we are able to experience these other preparations that the pueblo’s residents undertake in honoring their dead. 

 There is a special market of flowers, the traditional marigolds believed to guide spirits to their families through scent, white, yellow, purple chrysanthemums, fushia cockscomb all with the longs stems cut this morning from the gardens of the vendors. There are also wreaths resembling those used in funerals in the States.  Here the round shape evokes the carona, the circle of the sun which is sacred to the Maya.  Some say that the rounded shape of the traditional 8 sided Maya kite represents the corona, and the 8 points of the octagon represent the solstices, equinoxes and cross quarter days between them. 

We bought bunches of long stemmed chrysanthemums and cockscomb from the vendors for Julio’s  family to put at their gravesite.  We wandered the indoor food market which was colorful and sparsely occupied by the late morning, sampling some of Guate’s exotic fruits – rambutan and zapote.  I discovered a new treat, the best ever candy, carmelized fresh coconut.  It is the same sauce of raw sugar, panela, which suffuses the more common sticky chunks of squash and sweet potato.   But the texture and flavor of fresh coconut saturated  in this carmalized sauce is ricisimo!   I had another new Guate treat at our homestay– hot diced fresh pineapple in thin oatmeal served in a mug--delicious, nutricious and WARM.

After our opening expeditions to watch the barrileteros and visit the market, we had a traditional meal, chicken pepian, Guatemala’s equivalent of mole, at our homestay.  This was delivered by Vincent, Betsey’s 10 year old son, who brought tray after tray of food up two flights of stairs to serve us on their terrace.  We could see some of the tombs in the cemetery and had a panoramic view of Sumpango as well as interactions with kids on the terrace across the street.  It was a great place to gather and have a beer or a soda.

We visited the cemetery that night to witness the Maya ceremony blessing Sumpango and the kites during this sacred holiday.  The fire lit the canopy edged with flechas .  Maya nanas, shamen, sat on their knees with their legs folded under them, woven cloth on their heads, stories embroidered onto their huipils.  At various points throughout the ceremony we were all given candles to add to the fire which was rimmed with flowers. 

After the ceremony in the cemetery we proceeded up the hill to campo where the Kite Festival would be held the next day.  The vendors were already in motion -- this festival will be their biggest event of the year.  The air smelled of grilling chicken, sausage and steak; there were kebabs and pizza, tamales and tacos, beer, of course, and also shots available from an eclectic collection of liquor.  The next day the campo would become a canvas for the kites.  The night before we saw only mammoth bamboo poles lying on the packed earth, the barrileteros working diligently with fence post diggers and machetes to create a hole adequate to support these central stabiling posts.   It took repeated attempts to raise them, their length and weight a challenge to secure in the hard earth.  

We took to our beds at  Sara or Betsey’s house.  I can’t say that it was a quiet night as the 31st really is a general night of fiesta, but the clear blue sky at 7:00 AM and Vincent’s pancakes got us on the path to the festival in the orning.

In the cemetery people were cleaning the graves and decorting them with flowers Some of the graves are in cement monuments housing multiple generations of the Kachiquel Maya of Sumpango.  Others are simple mounds covered in chac with marigolds.  A few children flew their kites.  

The roads along the cemetery and up to the festival were lined with vendors though the crowd was still thin.  On the campo only a few giant kites had been mounted. This process would continue thoughout the morning, each kite requiring room to be erected. The children’s smaller kites were more prevalent.  The contest for the small kites (under 3 meters) was in the morning while the 4 – 6 meter kites would be flown in the afternoon.  Julio was stationed in the information booth as a part of the kite comite.  We received wristbands for premium seating, which is a great location to watch the kite flying contests and also a chance to sit down.  And so we had a basic outline of the festival which would swell as the day grew with many Guatemalans and visitors from other countries coming to be amazed at this creative wonder of the Kachiquel Maya of Sumpango.  Even so, few of them would know the amount of work and commitment this festival represented.

The morning was a great time for photos-- before the vast sea of visitors and the abundance of kites made taking pictures increasingly challenging.  Although as the crowds grow so did the greatness of the kites and the heightened excitement of the festivites.  The images towered above us, these fragile magnificent creative achievements. 

Of the diverse and magnificent array of kites, this was my favorite.  Maybe it was seeing nana Delfina’s face lit by fire and being held in the trance of the opening ceremony.  The life of this kite, the strong and true face, the beauty of nature surrounding her, the skill involved in creating this likeness from paper. . .  I felt the presence of this kite all day, watching, hoping, leading.  All of the giant kites incorporate the themes of  birth, death and transformation, but each kite also speaks to a theme.  This year the overwhelming theme was mother nature and the necessity of connecting with the earth  It’s also interesting that for the three years I have attended the festival, the kites have featured many strong images of Maya women even thought the kitemakers  are overwhelmingly young men.  

In the afternoon the spectacular kites of 4 – 6 meters were flown to the cheers and moans of the crowd, Each kite gets three chances to fly.  Their flying time is recorded. The spirit of the crowd rises when the kites take off, but for some it is only momentary, while others swerve in tantalizing and unfulfilled promise.  The crowd moans when kites fall to the ground, abandoned by the wind; the wind is fickle and the kites are big.

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The festival winds down as it gets dark.  We decide not to stay for the marimba concert but to find a quieter venue, one with a cheeseburger, followed by a couple of beers on the terrace of Betsey’s homestay.  At the campo the barrileteros and their friends are dismantling their kites.  Some with be saved for exhibition or for sale.  Others have suffered the toll of the wind and are beyond repair.  I looked through my photos five or six times before dropping into bed.  I  lent Julio my camera at various points so there were some interesting surprises.  

On Sunday we had an 8AM appointment for a Maya ceremony with Delfina.  We gathered sleepy-eyed at her house and sat in chairs around the cement base which holds the ceremonial fire.  I had asked her to explain something about the ceremony, for although I had seen and even participated in numerous Maya ceremonies, I was curious to learn more.  Central to the ceremony is the fire which is completely circled by a Tepee of colored candles.  The colors correspond to each of the naguals, the Maya glyphs which form the Maya calendar.   These nahuals also have corresponding animals and insects and together they create the Maya cosmovision which honors and acknowledges the earth and many facets of her existence.  Each person also has a Maya nahaul based on his/her birthday.  Delfina talked about the characteristics of each of our nahauls and we were given candles to offer the fire when our nahual was invoked.  The candles represented things we would burn in the fire and also the dreams we wanted to energize.  It was moving to witness everyone giving their candles to the flames while Delfina steadily prayed in Kachikel and fed the fire corn, seeds, corn liquor and sugar.  Afterwards we were given jocotes, a sweet fruit, like a cross between a cherry and an apricot a glass of fermented punch and a kite she had made inscribed with our naguals.

But we had no time to linger.  There were kites to be made – ours!  For the third year in a row I learned that working with Chinese tissue paper is a challenge, especially if you get glue on your fingers!  I was less pleased with my kite than in former years as I kept changing my mind about how to design it.  My cohort, Jaqueline, Julio’s daughter was helping me, but.bears no responsibility for the outcome .  The other group members however, came through with flying colors.

We were meeting Julio’s family at the cemetery where we would eat lunch, which is traditional on Nov. 2, this sharing of food with the dead.  It is believed they enjoy the aromas.  And of course, there were more kites.  

As always the time flew, even though Julio and I had extended the tour four additional hours this year.  Before we knew it we were saying our thank you’s and hugging each other goodbye.  Part of our group would take the shuttle to Antigua.  Becky, Scott and I would take the chicken bus back to San Pedro.  Or rather, after the direct chicken bus to San Pedro went whizzing by,despite my jumping and yelling, we would take two chicken buses, one minivan and ride the last ½ hour to San Pedro standing in the back of a pickup truck.  Fortunately, my companions were up for the challenge.  And certainly it was a community-based way of getting home!

Each tour is more than the amazing sites and the extraordinary adventures, it's about the companions on the journey who enliven my memories.  Thanks to everyone who participated.  Que te vaya bien.