Las alfombras

As promised, I am back with stories to tell. Semana Santa was pretty calm and I took the free time to read, write, and listen to lots and lots of tape. In addition, I showed Salvador off to some visiting American friends and made a one-day visit to my favorite lake, Coatepeque.

Passover was celebrated two nights in a row with the community seder topping off everyone's holiday. All in all, it was an activity-filled week.

Some friends of mine visited Antigua, Guatemala and shared fantastic photos, one of which you see above. The alfombra, a beautiful ritual carried out during Semana Santa can be loosely defined as a religiously inspired community art project.

Families/neighborhoods/parishes/co-workers (and more) come together to create beautiful designs out of fruit, vegetables, colored powders, sawdust, and more in honor of the holiday, a patron virgin or saint, or Christ himself. Processions then walk through the alfombras on their way and the designs are accepted as a fleeting gift to the community and those honored during the religious week.

For more information on the alfombras of Guatemala, click below:
http://www.prensalibre.com/suplementos/RYS/ssanta/alfombras.htm

For more information on the alfombras of El Salvador, click below:
http://www.elsalvador.com/noticias/semanasanta/ALFOMBRAS/

Photograph courtesy of Stephanie Young and Joshua Braunstein.