As you probably know, in the Christian calendar, Lent consists of the 40 days between Ash Wednesday and Easter, with the final days known as Holy Week–Semana Santa in Spanish. And few place in the world celebrate Semana Santa in as spectacular a fashion as Guatemala. Tens of thousands of people from across Guatemala and the world flock to Antigua and the capital, Guatemala City, to watch the creation of sawdust carpets (more on that below) and, later, religious processions.
One year, Mateo and I were in Antigua on Ash Wednesday, and I vowed we’d return someday for Semana Santa. In 2013, Olivia and I did exactly that–Mateo’s school schedule prevented him from joining us–and the experience was beyond anything I expected: gorgeous, moving, profound. This year, like last, Semana Santa celebrations were cancelled due to Covid. But here’s a blog post I wrote in 2013, with photos that show the process of building the sawdust carpets. In a second post, I’ll share pix of the carpets themselves.
from 2013:
During Semana Santa in Antigua, Guatemala, groups of people–related by family, friendship, faith, association in a brother- or sisterhood, or by other ties I probably don’t know about–band together to construct elaborate “alfombras” or carpets, often referred to as “sawdust rugs.” The rugs are constructed in the street, over the cobblestones, or inside churches.
Although most commonly made from sawdust that is saturated with color and then dried, the alfombras can be made from anything: fruit, vegetables, pine needles—I even saw a Noah’s Ark filled with plastic figurines. The process takes hours, and many, many hands. Ironically, the alfombras are made to be destroyed—-at some point in the day or night a large religious procession will pass by and walk over it—a symbol of the evanescence of life and the vanity of believing anything is permanent.
The honor is in the tradition, the building, the creative satisfaction, and, in this deeply faithful country, the offering of one’s efforts for the glory of God.
