Alfombra's and Procession Week #1

The first Sunday in Lent (Cuaresma) - as you will see in posts following this one we have many more pictures of Alfombra's and another week we watched the procession. I'll do my best to explain the process this week...(with a lot of help from www.quepasa.gt)

"Each Alfombra is a symbol of faith. These so-called carpets are made from colored sawdust or flowers and are created as an offering, as a request, or as a sign of gratitude for favors received. Each day that a procession is held, starting early in the morning these carpets are made by hundreds of people along the route. You can see them being made - as well as the final results - if you take a walk along the processions route before it passes."

"The men who carry the procession on their shoulders are called cucuruchos. They wear special outfits - either purple or black depending on the procession. It's said that the origin of these vestments dates back to the Inquisition...The women who carry the processions of the Virgin Mary on their shoulders are called cargadoras or dolorosas." They usually wear black or white (depending on the procession).

The Roman guard (who double as musicians) preceding the ceremonial wooden platform (anda).

Each procession follows a pre-planned route through town - the goal is to circle as many churches as possible.

The band plays dirges and funeral marches - keep in mind these processions go on for up to 12 hours.

These gentlemen seem to keep the crowd back and out of the way - it becomes very crowded...

At this point what I noticed was that it got very quiet. The men in the purple robes are lined up and ready to switch places with the men who are carrying it now (you'll see in another post that they measure their shoulders so they are all the same height).

It looks heavy...
From what we understood these men pay for the honor of carrying the wooden platform. They might pay more in order to be in front of a certain church - but of course they all have to be the same height. They also have to pay for the robes. Then of course the folks building the Alfombra's have to buy the material. This is an expensive month in this Country where the average income is about $2,000/year.

Notice the bell ringers?

Mary's float is right after Jesus'

For some reason men were carrying this one - at least around this corner - notice there are a lot of women in black and white clothes with head scarves on surrounding the float.

Another band - Elizabeth with Antigua tours was telling us that these bands used to be all volunteer but as Lent has grown in Antigua they are now paid.

And the cleanup - so after working so diligently on the Alfombra they get walked over by the procession - and then put in the garbage.