Semana Santa Guatemala 2022 Antigua and Lake Atitlan

Semana Santa Guatemala,  Holy Week in Guatemala 2022 Antigua and Lake Atitlan are celebrated with street expressions of faith , called processions, usually organized by a “hermandades“. Each procession of Holy Week has processional floats and steps, which are often religious images of the Passion of Christ, or Marian images, although there are exceptions, like the allegorical steps of saints.

Semana Santa Guatemala | Antigua and Lake Atitlan

To understand why this event is so interesting to see is to start with Alfombras which are carpets of sawdust, flowers, or fruits that are one of the most important features of the celebrations of Easter Guatemalan. These Alfombras are placed upon the roads and villages on or before Good Friday. They take hours to create as each Alfombras has a unique design.
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The long and extraordinary character of the Guatemalan culture Alfombras rugs called ephemeral part of folk art and are rooted in the collective memory of the Guatemalan long. They are a clear example of religious and cultural syncretism. Alfombras origin has two sources: in ancient times, by the Spanish chroniclers of the sixteenth century and the writings native testimony, that the lords and priests walked in certain ceremonies, on carpets of flowers, pine and feathers gorgeous birds are known as quetzal, macaw, and hummingbird.

Then we have the large Onda that hundreds of volunteers carry through the streets of Villages in Guatemala. To explain an Onda is a large float covered with religious figures from a church. Which is carried by hundreds of people who walk over the Alfombras which are placed on the streets before the Onda entering the streets are part of the processional. Those who carry the Onda walk over and destroy the Alfombras that hat has been laid on the street.

Antigua Guatemala is by far the most Famous region in Guatemala for Holly Week, seeing processions and the amazing Alfombra Carpets and the Onda’s. We have seen the crowds in Antigua many times for Holly Week and we do prefer the amazing carpets in the villages around Lake Atitlan during Semana Santa.