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Semana Santa celebrations in Antigua reach their peak on Good Friday (not on Easter Sunday) with four major processions in town and very
large crowds. Some processions begin at 4 am on Friday morning and one went along the road at the back of our campground at 6am. Kirsten
got up and went out to take photos!
It was going to be a very long day as some processions don´t finish until 6 am Saturday morning. We went out to look at all the carpets
and it was clear that everyone had put in far more effort into the carpets for this, the most important day of the celebrations. One carpet
included a bouquet of flowers made out of vegetables and another had hand made images of the Cathedral, Arch and the Crucifixion.
La Merced procession on Good Friday.
Sleeping angel at Parque Central.
By 3pm everyone has changed out of their purple clothes and into black clothes in mourning for the crucified Jesus. By 4pm a storm came
over and we had torrential rain. We put our little plastic stools on our heads to get some protection from the rain and dashed to the
central square where we could take shelter under the arcades.
The water was gushing down the streets and we knew that a lot of the carpets would be badly damaged before the procession arrived. This
would mean a great deal of last minute repairs. For the time being though, all we could do was to wait it out.
They are obviously used to this as a number of enterprising people made some good money by selling plastic squares to be used as capes.
We watched as a number of people tried to cross the "river" flowing down the centre of the streets. They got very wet!
Torrential rain on Good Friday.
We braved the weather to get back to Winnie, wash our feet and legs and hang up our wet clothes inside to dry. But we didn´t stay long
and went back out to see more. We were even invited up onto a private balcony to get photos from above the procession as it passed. The
floats were lit up and enshrouded by clouds of incense.
Processions at night.
The Saturday processions only include a float with Mary and are carried by women as Jesus has been crucified and has not yet risen. The
men were relegated to swinging the incense burners. We managed to get inside the church before the start of the procession (normally
impossible due to all the crowds) to watch part of the ceremony. A woman conducted Mass and we saw the float being lifted and carried
through the church and outside.
Saturday processions.
There were two processions that day and we went out later in the evening to catch the second. It was a very big one - 1,700 women took part
in this procession and came from all over Antigua, not just from the San Felipe church where it started. The float was carried by 50
women, 25 on each side and took 10 hours to complete.
By now we had had enough of the sombre dirges played by the bands, who are paid to perform and are heavy on drums, brass and wind
instruments. They play a repertoire of more than 100 marchas funebras, mostly written by Guatemalan composers. Some bands throw in a
Chopin tune now and then for variety but it seemed that we were hearing just a few marches over and over again.
There was only one procession on Easter Sunday and it was very different. There were very few carpets and only a small float carried
by people in every day clothes. There was applause, confetti and even fireworks. A pick up truck came by with an electric organ on the
back. The pianist was getting the crowd to cheer and join in with various songs he was playing e.g. When the Saints go marching in.
It was a celebration and a welcome change in music.
Easter Sunday celebrations.
