Antigua Guatemala Sawdust Carpets

As elaborate and individual as they are ephemeral alfombras are carpets that adorn the street routes of church processions during the season of lent.

Antigua guatemala sawdust carpets.

Every year during holy week amazing carpets composed of flowers vegetables fruits and dyed sawdust adorn the streets of antigua guatemala a lovely colonial city home to latin america s most famous easter celebration. That day la merced church takes a procession out that goes through the streets of the colonial city with sawdust carpets adorning its passage. Along with the processional carpets white and yellow plastic decorations mark the route of the town s procession. Guatemala s semana santa the easter festival in the former colonial capital are beyond comparison to anything in the northern hemisphere along cobblestone streets intricate carpets of colored sawdust are painstakingly laid down.

Thousands of catholics in antigua guatemala join together during lent each year to make colored sawdust carpets in preparation for semana santa or holy week in 2014 they broke the guinness book of world records and made the longest sawdust carpet ever at an astounding 6 600 feet in class the art teacher drew stencils in pencil on colored bulletin board paper and then students. Sawdust carpets during semana santa in antigua kaushik patowary nov 5 2012 1 comments antigua guatemala puts up one of the largest easter celebration in north america with an estimated 200 000 people flocking to this colonial town every year to watch the colourful semana santa celebrations or holy week leading up to easter. Really why wait for semana santa holy week. Holy week in antigua guatemala begins on palm sunday with a mass in catholic churches.

Antigua guatemala dyes its sawdust and then uses it to make some of the coolest carpets you ll ever see. Antigua guatemala carpets are generally made using molds with allegoric designs religious symbols biblical scenes geometric shapes and floral designs with entire families working together using sawdust pine needles fruit flowers sand and cut paper. See more ideas about sawdust carpet guatemala. Apr 2 2018 explore susan savage s board sawdust carpet followed by 161 people on pinterest.

The people of la antigua guatemala and surrounding villages simply love to make processional carpets and the town fair provides the perfect excuse to make sawdust and flower carpets throughout the year. Bella guatemala travel antigua is a small city of 35 000 people defined by cobblestoned.