Semana Santa Craziness--Alfombras, Parades and Effigies!

Back in Antigua, the town was buzzing and so much more full than when we´d been there just a week earlier! Vendors were selling toys, sweets, and food of all types, and there was an air of festivity everywhere. Most windows were draped in purple cloth for Easter and little storefronts that had once been bookstores or laundry shops had transformed into eateries or travel agencies for the weekend. We arrived at our hotel and checked in with no problem, then went out to get a lay of the land. At the central park, among the ice cream and balloon vendors, were some helpful information booths, where we were informed that there would be three parades that evening (of Good Thursday or Jueves Santa), and four parades on Good Friday. Lining the parade routes would be alfombras (translated as rugs) that local families and business owner s would create out of natural materials such as pine needles, seeds, fruit, flowers, and colored sawdust, for the procesions to tread upon.

I was VERY excited to see the alfombras and sort of threw myself into an alfombra fervor, dragging Peter up and down several side streets to check out the alfombras. My original intent had been to photograph every one, but that soon become too onerous a task! Every now and then, we would happen upon one of the processions, that were weaving their way through town, in clouds of incense. The processions were hundreds of people long and each church seemed to have its own. The general format was: small kids and men dressed as Romans in front announcing Jesus´ doom; then, came a long line of men dressed in purple robes on Thursday and black robes on Friday, who were marching (amusingly, we caught some of these on their cell phones) and filling the streets with incense from censers. Finally, came the floats, which were huge wooden and styrofoam creations born upon the backs of up to 70 penitents, who were groaning under the float´s weight. Generally, there was one float depicting Jesus, either carrying the cross or in death, and one float of Mary sobbing. The Jesus float was borne by men, the Mary float by women.

The two days came to a culmination on the evening of Good Friday. At noon in the town square, there was a mock crucifixion of Jesus´effigy. Then, at night, the largest, most ornate processions filed through the streets by the light of lanterns. Although the processions were clad in black and the subject matter of the floats was somber, the atmosphere remained extremely festive with food and balloon vendors all over the place. During the time we spent in Antigua, we met Susan and Lauren, from Eugene, OR, who we´d hoped to travel with later, but then lost. ..we hope they are having fun wherever they are!