With Good Friday and Easter upon us, I attended Semana Santa in Antigua (Guatemala) a few years ago. Antigua is a magnificent city declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1979. It is also famous for its Catholic celebration of Holy Week, which commemorates the Passion, Crucifixion and Resurrection of Christ.
All of Antigua participates in the annual event, and the entire week is replete with religious activities. These rituals arrived with the missionaries from Spain, who brought Catholic fervor to the local indigenous population during colonial times. The famed colorful sawdust designs that carpet the cobblestoned processional routes of Antigua are called alfombras, and are one of the traditions that date back to the 1500s.
For more of my gallery of photographs during Semana Santa, visit Los Hombres de Popul Vuh
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