Holy Week in Guatemala

We have been having such a wonderful time traveling through Guatemala with Herm, Laurie, and Annette (and Karina for a while). It's been frustrating to not be able to get on the internet often enough, or with fast enough connections, to really communicate what we're experiencing.

We are in Guatemala City now, staying at the home of one of the families associated with the school, who are back in the States for a while. Karina's been house-sitting, and while she's out-of-town we're enjoying having a home to stay in that's just a few miles from Annette's house. Laurie is staying with Annette; she's been quite under the weather and unfortunately has had to lay low for a couple of days.

Today we experienced a bit of "Semana Sancta" - Holy Week - in Antigua, which is the former capital of Guatemala, and is a wonderfully preserved old city. Throughout Guat. there are Catholic processions throughout Holy Week, with statues of Jesus, Mary, and other figures paraded through the streets. We started out at 4:30 AM, driving up the mountains from Guat. City, seeing the lights of the city spread out down below us and up into the hillsides, with a full moon adding its own glow. Crossing the mountains we descended into Antigua in time to see the sun rising above the city's main cathedral and shining on the volcanoes that loom over the city. Through the night, Catholic faithful are decorating the streets with intricate carpet designs of colored sawdust and dried flower petals, fresh flowers, fruits and vegetables, pine branches, and even plastic toys. There are several parades through the day, with thousands and thousands of people taking part in marching alongside the statues, which are hefted on large wooden platforms - weighing up to 3.5 tons - by 100 or so people. Most of the marchers are men and boys, decorated in purple robes, but the statues of the Virgin Mary are carried by women dressed in black and white.

The processions start with marchers who walk on the outside of the carpets - some of them looking solemn, some listening to Ipods or talking on cell phones, some with their entire families walking alongside. Sometimes even babies, carried by their parents, are clad in the purple robe and headdress. Then Roman soldiers come by, some on horseback, some carrying the SPQR emblems. Finally the statues come - the bearers march along, swaying from side to side, sometimes grimacing from the weight of the load. They are followed by a band played funereal march music. Behind them come, jarringly, the balloon and toy vendors. Finally, following closely, is the cleanup crew, sweeping up the now ruined carpet designs--and the parade continues through other parts of the city.

We were able (thanks to our outstanding tour guide Annette) to view the procession at 3 different points in their route, and it's an amazing, beautiful, and even inspiring event. Although we all felt that the pageantry of the processions sometimes distracted us from the "real event," it's still a meaningful commemoration of Christ's death.

At this time of year we miss our family and our church family, and we rejoice with you in the gift of eternal life through the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. Happy Easter to all of you. "The Lord is risen! He is risen indeed!"