Easter in Guatemala

Flower carpets on the streets, some of them being prepared all night long are the main and beautiful attraction during Easter in Guatemala. The inhabitants from other parts of Guatemala head to the town of Antigua to witness this spectacular event. The carpets on the street are also being prepared on all Sundays during Lent. Colourful sand, shavings of wood and sometimes fruit are used to decorate the carpets too.

I used to get up early in the morning to see the carpets and their preparation before it got crowdy. Sometimes people preparing them were laying on wooden planks to decorate the interior parts using templates. We saw owners of hotels making their small carpets in front the hotel.

We used to meet many Guatemalan families walking on the streets of Antigua. The women were wearing traditional Guatemalan dresses, and what is interesting the men wore casual clothes. Some of the women used to hold baskets on their heads with food or something else. They did not want to have pictures taken of them. And whenever they noticed someone trying to photograph them, they were turning back. Some others were selling grass that was used to prepare the carpets and others were selling fresh fruit salads on the streets of Antigua.

Apart from flower carpets on the streets during Easter, there are also Processions. The most important ones are on Good Friday when they start on 4 AM on Friday, and they finish on Saturday morning. They are spectacular and gather huge crowds, but in spite of that, we went to see a couple of them. We saw processions during the day and in the evening too.

Words cannot do justice to how amazing and beautiful is Easter in Antigua. It was so colourful and full of flowers on the streets. Spending Easter in Guatemala although it was very crowdy, was such a lovely experience.

11 thoughts on “Easter in Guatemala

  1. From a fellow traveling family, you make us want to visit Guatemala for Easter. Although we aren’t religious it looks so beautiful! Thanks for sharing 🙂 @allwedoiswander

    1. If you decide to visit, remember it will be very crowdy. But watching how the carpets are being prepared is amazing. But then they simply walk on them and clean the streets. And it all looks as if nothing has happened 😉

  2. Wow, thank you for sharing this with us. I love to learn about new culture and countries and I learn something new today.

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