Guatemalans commemorate Holy Week with colorful street carpets

During Holy Week in Guatemala, many people participate in the tradition of creating elaborate alfombra, or colorful flower carpets made out of sawdust on the streets for processions to pass over.

April 7, 2023 · 1:00 PM EDT
By Michael Fox

A decorated street carpet known as an alfombra created for Holy Week in Antigua, Guatemala.

Michael Fox/The World

Francisco Orellana guided a group of friends on in Antigua, Guatemala, in creating a huge, ornate design on the street in front of his house, to honor Jesus during Holy Week.

With his black baseball cap, pierced ear and a sliver of a beard, 26-year-old Orellana is not the typical image of a person you'd expect to find actively participating in Catholic Holy Week commemorations. But making an alfombra, or a carpet of sorts, for the church procession to pass over, is something Orellana has done his whole life.

“I learned to do this from my great-grandparents and my grandparents,” he said. "They get you involved from a young age. And then when they get too old, your parents continue the tradition, and then you."

Orellana crouched down as he and his friends pulled colored wood chippings out of bags and layered them onto the cobblestone streets. They're making a vibrant design of purple, orange, yellow and green shapes that looks like it could be in a modern art museum. Instead, it’s going to get trampled over.

“We started about an hour ago,” Orellana said. “This design is a little more basic, because we’re making another one in the afternoon.”

More:
https://theworld.org/stories/2023-04-07/guatemalans-commemorate-holy-week-colorful-street-carpets





























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