Semana Santa en Guatemala (Easter)

 Semana Santa is one of the most celebrated times of the year in Guatemala.  It is a celebration of Holy Week.  The celebration begins at the beginning of Lent with processions that continue throughout the 40 days, with the culminating processions in the final week of Lent.  A procession leaves from the Church of origin (each church has their own procession throughout the month) and travels throughout its town for varying amounts of time and distances.  There are people, known as cargadores, who carry a very large float that has a statue of Jesus carrying a cross on it. 

 This is a picture taken at one of the night processions in Antigua, Guatemala.  Antigua is world renowned for its beautiful processions.

 The people who carry the float are typically dressed in purple robes.  At certain points along the route of the procession, the cargadores exchange positions with another man in a purple robe to take over their load.

There is also another group of men known as the “Romanos” or the Romans to represent who crucified Jesus.  They are typically dressed in Red.

The procession is almost always followed by a band.

Another large part about the Semana Santa are the traditional carpets or “alfombras” that are hand decorated by the locals.  The streets are cleared of all traffic, bus routes are detoured, and road blocks are put up.  Local families decorate a large piece of the roadway with their own unique design to honor the procession.  Many alfombras include fruits and vegetables that are offered to the procession and can also be eaten by those carrying the float as they pass by.

Normally wooden planks are placed to create a rectangle, then filled in with saw dust.  This dust is then dyed and decorated using stencils and more dyed sawdust to fill in the rectangle with lots of colors and designs.

During the procession locals are led down the streets of the town following a crucifix, until they make their way back to the church and wait for the float with Jesus carrying the cross to enter back in.  This process can take many hours.  Some processions last up to 12 hours.

There are also alfombras that are simply made with flower petals.  Notice the watermelon and food offerings made in the alfombras.  These were by far my favorite part about Semana Santa.


Semana Santa in Guatemala was truly a special experience to be a part of.  The best part was watching the families working on their beautiful alfombras and all of the time and effort they put it…all for it to be walked over by the procession and ruined in a short instant.  The time and hard work that goes into the alfombras is a true reflection of the dedication and respect the families have towards the Catholic Church and the holy event of the Semana Santa