The Unique Holy Week of Central America

Via Crucis Aquatic-Granada, Nicaragua 

 

Holy Week in the Central American countries of Guatemala and Nicaragua is similar to that in other parts of the Latin American world, but also very different. Nowhere else will you find the elaborate sawdust carpets, Huertos (elaborate gardens constructed of fruits and vegetables) or a Good Friday Via Crucis in boats on the water.

The sawdust and floral carpets created during Lent and Holy Week are unparalleled. These carpets are created on streets before the passage of a religious procession and are meant to be destroyed as they are walked on by the procession.  They are a gift to the divine.  Antigua, Guatemala is world-famous for its carpets.

https://colonialmexicoinsideandout.blogspot.com/2015/03/the-anatomy-of-sawdust-carpet-lent-in.html

The carpets of Barrio Sutiava in Leon, Nicaragua are very different from those of Antigua.

https://colonialmexicoinsideandout.blogspot.com/2017/05/art-as-sacrifice-sawdust-carpets-of.html

This video, shot in Antigua, Guatemala takes an in-depth look at these carpets and their construction.

https://colonialmexicoinsideandout.blogspot.com/2015/03/video-available-sawdust-and-floral.html

                                        ___________________________ 

Huertos are spectacular displays of fruits and vegetables constructed in churches and, in Nicaragua, in special structures built for the occasion.  The word huerto translates as vegetable garden or orchard and they symbolize the abundance and redemption of the resurrection. 

https://colonialmexicoinsideandout.blogspot.com/2017/04/the-huertos-of-guatemala-and-nicaragua.html

                                       _____________________________

On Good Friday, throughout the Christian world, the Via Crucis, Stations of the Cross is performed publicly.  In Granada, Nicaragua there is a completely unique Via Crucis in boats on the city's Lake Nicaragua.   

https://colonialmexicoinsideandout.blogspot.com/2018/04/via-crucis-aquatic-granada-nicaragua.html

                                      _______________________________

Nandaime, Nicaragua is a small country town that has a celebration that turns the ancient purification ritual of self-flagellation on its head.  In Nandaime on Holy Wednesday each year for one hour, participants roam the streets good-naturedly whipping anyone in their path. It did sting a bit, but was interesting to be there.

https://colonialmexicoinsideandout.blogspot.com/2016/04/taking-hit-holy-wednesday-in-nandaime.htm

                                          ___________________________________                                                                     

Antigua Guatemala is world-famous for its spectacular Holy Week processions. Here is one that took place on the day before Easter, an important day in the Latin American world.

https://colonialmexicoinsideandout.blogspot.com/2015/04/video-holy-saturday-procession.html

                                        ____________________________________

Bands are a central part of processions.  Special music has been composed for them over the years. In essence they are funeral bands.  

https://colonialmexicoinsideandout.blogspot.com/2018/05/the-music-of-holy-week-processions.html

Video of Holy Saturday Procession: San Felipe de Jesus, Antigua, Guatemala

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The Semana Santa processions of Antigua, Guatemala are world-famous and rival those of Seville.  In the progression of Holy Week, by Saturday Jesus has been crucified and his mother and disciples are grieving their loss.  In this Holy Saturday procession, shot on location in Antigua, the focus is on the Virgen de Dolores (Virgin of Sorrows), the grieving Mary, who is clad in the colors of mourning.  Here is a link to the video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAznN3wsbE4

The Church Ruins of Antigua, Guatemala

La Recolleción, Antigua, Guatemala

The churches of Mexico and all of Latin America are vibrant places, and retain their vibrancy even in a ruined state.  The church ruins I wrote about several years ago, in the state of Quintana Roo, are just one example. 
https://colonialmexicoinsideandout.blogspot.com/2013/07/tihosuco-san-martiniano-other-mayan.html

Oaxaca Cathedral, Oaxaca MX

Buildings in many places in Latin America are at-risk from the frequent earthquakes in these zones of frequent seismic activity.  In fact, this environment prompted a new style of architecture that would be more earthquake resistant.  The Oaxaca Cathedral in Oaxaca Mexico typifies the solidity with which these churches have been built. There are none of the slender bell-towers and sky-grazing spires of churches in other places; these churches are rock-solid. Please follow the link below to learn more about this "Earthquake Baroque" architectural style.
https://colonialmexicoinsideandout.blogspot.com/2013/04/oaxacan-baroque-environment-and.html


Yet, even the most stringent architectural guidelines are not a guarantee; Latin America  bears testimony to the destructive power of earthquakes. The churches of Antigua, Guatemala are one case in point.  Although the original structures are gone, some of their outline and all of their spirit remains.  It is impossible to walk through a church ruin without sensing it is still a holy place.

San Jose Cathedral Cloisters:

Cloister ruins of San Jose Cathedral, Antigua, Guatemala

The Antigua (San Jose)  Cathedral has been damaged by earthquakes since the original church was built in 1541.  It was rebuilt and consecrated in 1680 and then again seriously damaged again in the earthquake of 1773. The church has since been rebuilt, but the cloisters have not and these cloister ruins remain a beautiful tribute to the past. 

Cloister ruins of San Jose Cathedral, Antigua, Guatemala

Church of Santo Domingo

This former Dominican Monastery dates from 1538 and was destroyed in the 1773 Santa Maria earthquake that destroyed the San Jose Cathedral.  Today, the old church-convent is a cultural complex that includes a museum and a hotel.  

Santo Domingo Convent ruins, Antigua, Guatemala

Santo Domingo Convent ruins, Antigua, Guatemala

Santo Domingo Convent ruins, Antigua, Guatemala

La Recolección:

This mission complex built by the order of Recollects in 1717 included classrooms, a library, hospital and cloisters. It was damaged by an earthquake in 1751 then largely destroyed in the major Santa Maria earthquake in 1773.  Today it is surrounded by a park. The mission remains hauntingly beautiful in its destroyed state.

La Recolección ruins, Antigua, Guatemala

La Recolección ruins, Antigua, Guatemala

La Recolección ruins, Antigua,Guatemala

La Recolección ruins, Antigua, Guatemala

La Recolección ruins, Antigua, Guatemala

Why Visit Church Ruins?
Churches, like the human beings they are built to serve, have an interdependent physical and spiritual component.  Even when their physical structure is destroyed, what they were and what they meant to people remains.  This is what makes church ruins such compelling places.  They are places of spiritual memory, something that cannot be destroyed.  Touring the church ruins of Antigua, Guatemala, or anywhere else, is as valuable experience as visiting the functioning churches themselves.

Good Friday Procession: An Invisible Participant

Semana Santa, Holy Week, is the final week of the church's observance of Lent, the 

40 day (more or less) penitential period of the church leading up to Easter.  In Mexico and all of Latin America, Semana Santa is a major event, marked by religious processions and ritual.  The Holy Week processions of certain places are famous, particularly the world-famous processions of Antigua, Guatemala.  Please follow the links below to see previous posts and videos of some of these:
https://colonialmexicoinsideandout.blogspot.com/2015/04/video-holy-saturday-procession.html   
https://colonialmexicoinsideandout.blogspot.com/2015/04/videos-of-holy-week-in-latin-america.html

As you can see from the videos, processional figures and floats are elaborate and their imagery rich.  The major actors from the biblical accounts of the last week of Jesus' earthly life are represented in beautiful and costly images, as in this float bearing Jesus carrying his cross    

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However there is one curious exception you will see on Holy Friday in Antigua. In the photos below we see a procession forming at the magnificent early 18th century church of San Francisco el Grande.  There are the incense and standard bearers and some of the clergy in front of the church's magnificent baroque façade.

Good Friday procession, San Francisco church, Antigua Guatemala

Good Friday procession, San Francisco church, Antigua Guatemala

A red velvet canopy emerges carried by four men in the traditional hoods that conceal their faces and identities.  There is no image visible under this canopy and it remains empty to our eyes throughout the long procession.  Yet, it leads the procession.

Good Friday procession, San Francisco Church, Antigua Guatemala

The Holy Spirit in procession,  Good Friday procession, Antigua Guatemala

Although the canopy looks empty, to the eyes of faithful believers it is not.
The occupant is the Holy Spirit, the spiritual force that breathed life into being and continues to support creation.  In Christian theology, the Holy Spirit, along with God the Father and Jesus, is one part of the Trinity, a concept that was the end of long theological debate centuries ago. 

In Latin American religious art, the Holy Spirit is typically represented as a bird. This can be seen in both Mexican depictions of the Trinity below.

Holy Trinity, Merida Cathedral, Merida MX

Trinity, Itzimna Church, Merida MX

Another typical Latin American representation of the Trinity is as one of three actual persons, as in this New Mexican santo.

Santo of Holy Trinity by Jose Maria Benavides, New Mexico

Yet, in the Antigua procession, there is no image.  This representation of the Holy Spirit without any image is not seen in many (if any other) Holy Week processions where the focus is on Jesus, Mary, St. John and other central participants in the biblical accounts of the final week of Jesus' earthly life.  It is something unique in the Latin American world, although perhaps there are precedents in Spain where the processions have a longer history, stemming from medieval times.

Art as Sacrifice: the Sawdust Carpets of Barrio Sutiava, Leon Nicaragua

Creating a Sawdust Carpet, Holy Friday, Barrio Sutiava, Leon Nicaragua

We have been conditioned to think of art as something permanent,  something of intrinsic value to be preserved.  Yet, there are other way to think about and use art.  Sometimes it is the process and intention behind the creation of a piece of art that are most important, not the outcome itself.  Such works of art are made to be fleeting moments of beauty dedicated to a higher cause.  The beautiful sand mandalas painstakingly created by Tibetan monks are one example.  These intricate designs are ceremonially destroyed when they are finished and the sand deposited in a stream or river to bless the world around it. 

Monk working on Mandala, Aspen Colorado

Ceremonial Destruction of Mandala by Monks in Aspen Colorado

Another of these perishable art-forms are the sawdust carpets created throughout Latin America during the season of Lent leading up to Easter day. (Also see post of March 25, 2016 on the carpets of Antigua, Guatemala).   They typically are made the same day or evening before one of the many Lenten and Easter processions in these countries to create a sanctified surface for the feet of the holy procession.

These carpets are labor of love and religious dedication; the work is painstaking and difficult.  The carpets below were constructed on a mercilessly hot Good Friday in Sutiava, a barrio  or section of Leon Nicaragua.  As someone explained, the work itself is a kind of meditation,  done prayerfully as a personal sacrifice and gift to the glory of the procession that is to follow.  It is a way to personally participate in the holiness of the event.

Group creating a Sawdust Carpet, Holy Friday, Barrio Sutiava, Leon Nicaragua

                                

                                       

Creating a Sawdust Carpet, Holy Friday, Barrio Sutiava, Leon Nicaragua

                                 

Early in the day the the base of the carpets, blank rectangles of dirt are laid out, ready for the carpet designs that,  In Sutiava, will be made free-hand, based on some image or idea. 

Bases for Sawdust Carpets, Holy Friday, Barrio Sutiava, Leon Nicaragua

                                 

Beginning a Sawdust Carpet, Holy Friday, Barrio Sutiava, Leon Nicaragua

                                 

The designs are made with colored sawdust that is placed on top of the dirt base.

Creating a Sawdust Carpet, Holy Friday, Barrio Sutiava, Leon Nicaragua

                                   

The process is painstaking and difficult 

Creating a Sawdust Carpet, Holy Friday, Barrio Sutiava, Leon Nicaragua

                                

and, typically, groups of people collaborate on a carpet.

Creating a Sawdust Carpet, Holy Friday, Barrio Sutiava, Leon Nicaragua

Occasionally, in the Sutiava carpets, a pre-made stencil will be used for detail, as in the edge of the carpet below.

Carpet Stencil, Holy Friday, Barrio Sutiava, Leon Nicaragua

                                  

Sawdust Carpet detail, Holy Friday, Barrio Sutiava, Leon Nicaragua

By contrast in Antigua Guatemala use of stencils is more wide-spread and the stencils are more elaborate, being sold commercially. Because of the stencil use the carpets have a much more geometrical look, resembllng Oriental carpets.( "Anatomy of a Sawdust Carpet" 3/25/15).

Making Stencils for Sawdust Carpets, Antigua Guatemala

Stencils for making Sawdust Carpets, Antigua Guatemala

Sawdust Carpet, Antigua Guatemala

                                    

Sawdust Carpet, Antigua Nicaragua

Sawdust Carpet, Antigua Guatemala

The carpets of Sutiava have a very different visual impact.  Their religiosity is much more straightforward and devotional; they are powerful statements of personal faith. The Antigua carpets do contain religious symbolism, but the religiosity of the Sutiava carpets is personal and direct.

Sawdust Carpet, Good Friday, Barrio Sutiava, Leon Nicaragua

Sawdust Carpet on Good Friday, Barrio Sutiava, Leon Nicaragua

Sawdust Carpet on Good Friday, Barrio Sutiava, Leon  Nicaragua

Sawdust Carpet on Good Friday,  Barrio Sutiava  Leon Nicaragua

As with the Tibetan mandalas, the glorious designs of the carpets are demolished as soon as the religious procession for which they were created begins.  There is no sense of regret at their destruction, because they have lived their brief lives and served their purpose.                                              

Processional carpet after its destruction, Holy Saturday, St. John Seelos Church, New Orleans, Louisiana

                                              

Videos of Holy Week in Latin America

 Jesus in procession, Holy Thursday, Merida, MX

Virgen de Dolores in procession, Holy Thursday, Merida, MX

Holy Week, the period of time from Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday and when the central story of Christianity culminates, is observed with greater intensity in Latin America than elsewhere.  Celebrations there are on a grand scale and the story of Jesus' Passion unfolds in processions and pageantry.  What the outside world only hears in readings of the Gospel there can be seen in vivid color.  Here are a few videos links which will offer you a look into  Holy Week observances in Latin America.

Attend a very unique Holy Saturday religious service in Merida, Mexico in which Jesus  is resurrected in light.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMzCIxbLHWA

Participate in a Holy Wednesday Procession in rural San Mateo Milpas Altas, Guatemala.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIT5Wg5JNZE

Witness a Good Friday re-enactment of Jesus' Crucifixion in front of a Mayan pyramid in Acanceh, MX.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCVbI_aww6s

The Anatomy of a Sawdust Carpet: Lent in Antigua, Guatemala (includes video link)

Carpet in progress,  Antigua Guatemala

The sawdust carpets that grace the streets and churches of Antigua during the season of Lent (Ash Wednesday-Easter Day) are as beautiful as any valuable oriental rug that you can find.  But these magnificent carpets have a very short life-span, sometimes only a few hours, although those created in churches for the vigils of the season are on display longer. The carpets in Antigua's streets are created by the residents and businesses; if a procession passes by your home or business, you have the option of creating a carpet in honor of it. Sometimes these carpets involve months and months or planning while others are created much more spontaneously.  Holy Week ( Palm Sunday-Easter Day) is the time when there are the most processions and greatest number of carpets.

Sawdust Carpet detail, Antigua Guatemala

As exquisite as these carpets are, they are not meant to be decorations and exist for one reason only: to be walked on by the feet of those bearing holy images in procession. All processions start in a church and then follow an hours-long route throughout the city's streets, often late into the night.  In the course of its route each of the processions you see below walked over many carpets that were created specifically for it. The act of the float-carriers walking over the carpet is considered to bless the carpet and the whole making of carpets is, at heart, a sacrificial act offered to God.

Holy Saturday Procession, San Felipe de Jesus Church, Antigua Guatemala

Holy Week Procession, Antigua Guatemala

Holy Week Procession, Antigua Guatemala

All of the carpets begin with an empty space either on the street or a church floor.  A rectangle of sand is spread on the surface to provide a base for the carpet.  The designs that will be laid on top of it are intricate and precision is essential. 

Sawdust Carpet under construction, Antigua Guatemala

Designs are not done freehand, but use pre-cut stencils of heavy cardboard that are used in various combinations to create the intricate geometry of the carpets. The stencils are quite costly and good quality ones are cut by hand, not machine and are meant to be used year after year.

Stencil for Sawdust Carpet, Antigua Guatemala

Stencil for Sawdust Carpet, Antigua Guatemala

Stencil for Sawdust Carpet, Antigua Guatemala

Making Stencils for Sawdust Carpets, Antigua Guatemala

The stencils are laid on the sawdust base and colored sawdust is applied to form intricate designs that in many cases look like actual oriental carpets.

Sawdust Carpet under construction, Antigua Guatemala

Sawdust Carpet under construction, Antigua Guatemala

Eventually the carpet you see under construction will have a very densely patterned surface and look something like the carpet below.  After the sawdust is laid the carpets are sprayed with water to set the design.

Sawdust Carpet, Antigua Guatemala

Carpets are created within churches during the time of the vigils which are held to honor the statues that will be used in procession. These carpets range from the relatively simple to the very complex as seen in the photo below in Antigua's La Merced Church.  This carpet was created for a velacion, a vigil, and remains up for a period of time, perhaps a week or two.  The scene in front of the religious figures are made to resemble a garden, huerto in Spanish.
The fruits, vegetables and candles are brought to the church as an offering before the scene is created.

Sawdust Carpet and Huerto for vigil, La Merced Church, Antigua  Guatemala

All of the carpets will be destroyed the instant the feet of those in the procession hit it and there is no sense that these carpets are meant to be preserved.  A carpet is made to be walked on by a processions and the holy images that are carried in it.   

Sawdust Carpet after procession, San Felipe de Jesus Church, Antigua Guatemala

Sawdust Carpet after procession, San Felipe de Jesus Church, Antigua Guatemala

I invite you to view my video of these carpets at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbXvvBSCvSA

Not all of Antigua's carpets are made of sawdust; some are made of plant materials
and this type pre-dates the Spanish conquest.  You can still see sacramental ground-coverings of pine needles in small, isolated Mayan villages.  The fourth carpet down combines colored sawdust and flowers.

Carpet, Antigua Guatemala

Carpet, Antigua Guatemala

Carpet, Antigua Guatemala

Sawdust and Flower Carpet, Antigua Guatemala

Sawdust Carpet, Antigua Guatemala

Sawdust Carpet, Antigua Guatemala

Sawdust Carpet detail, Antigua Guatemala

Sawdust Carpet, Antigua Guatemala