Semana Santa (Easter) in Antigua

It's not surprising that a country as religious as Guatemala should work itself into a frenzy over its Easter celebrations. And its not just church services Good Friday and Easter Sunday, or food comas resulting from too many chocolate eggs. Here, Easter is a major public event; a 10-day long party called Semana Santa, or Holy Week. Big themed parades, floats and marching bands take over the town, weaving their way through the streets as they make their way from one church to the next.

In Guatemala Semana Santa is celebrated all over the country, but the most elaborate celebrations are held in Antigua, the beautiful former colonial capital nestled in the highlands among a ring of volcanoes and pine forests. Now, we're not usually ones to go organising our trip around religious festivities, but we were curious to find out what Semana Santa was all about and what it means to people.

It did not take us long to find the festivities. We bumped into a procession as we were walking into town trying to find our hotel. All of a sudden we found ourselves in a massive thronging crowd watching a procession of people dressed up as Roman soldiers and others as wise men, followed by a marching band.

The interesting (and somewhat crazy) thing about these processions, is that they walk over these amazingly intricate floral carpets that are purpose built for each individual event. As soon as a procession blitzes through, trampling all over these beautiful decorations, a dump truck follows behind to clean up the mess and then people jump back into the streets to start all over again.

The arrangements were set on beds of pine needles and were jazzed up with intricately dyed sand and sawdust sprinkles. Some of the fancier ones had little Jesus and Mary figurines while others had carved mangoes and watermelons. One even had 10 mini tablets inlaid within the flowers that spelt out the 10 commandments!

All of this was set against the amazing backdrop of Antigua's immaculately preserved colonial buildings and quaint cobblestone streets. I'm sure if Guatemala were to have a tidy town competition (as happens in Australia), Antigua would emerge a clear winner. It is so neat and tidy, and with all the immaculate paint jobs, well-maintained roofs and flowers sprouting from elegant window pots, you actually begin to wonder what its doing in Guatemala.

More importantly, why is Antigua so prim and proper while so many of Guatemala's villages and towns are so blatantly neglected and in need of repair? Drive 10 minutes down the road from Antigua in any direction and you'll encounter villages with two-roomed houses made of slapped-together concrete blocks and rusting corrugated roofs. To add to Antigua's beauty and to this stark contrast, it has somehow managed to add to its beauty by burying its power lines and banishing stray, mangy dogs.

But back to Semana Santa. Each of the processions tells a story about a certain aspect of Easter. Friday is the main day and draws the biggest crowds; again there are the Roman soldiers along with hundreds of men dressed in black robes cart a giant statue of Jesus dragging a cross. Thick, fragrant smoke from incense burners being swung through the air cloys the nostrils and stings the back of the throat. The procession moved to the relentless beat of big kettle drums, further emphasising the sombre mood.

Later that night, the same black-robed men were carrying a float with a model of Jesus laying in a clear-glass coffin. Other smaller floats of Mary and some angels followed, as did an ominous skeleton with a scythe who appeared to represent the grim reaper. Saturday's processions continued the sombre theme, with most of the marchers dressed in black, and the marching band continuing to play dark, heavy notes.

 On Sunday, along with the weather brightening up (it had been cloudy the whole time and rained on Friday night's parade), a giant flotilla of Jesus dressed in white and standing among a beatiful arrangement of fresh flowers emerged out of one of the churches. In an instant the streets were covered with confetti and the marching band started cranking out bright Guatemalan folk ballads (which to my untrained ear sounded much like Mariachi music).

Jesus was so big he tore down a power cable!

Antigua was buzzing with energy the entire weekend, as folks poured in from far and wide to join in the revellery. It looked like many had not managed to organise a place to stay - scores of people were camped out under the cloisters of buildings in the grand plaza, with entire families huddling together under a blanket for warmth. It was nice that most of the Guatemalans there were from other parts of the country, so in a way nearly everyone was a visitor and for once we weren't the token "tourists" getting gawked at by the locals. And because the place was crawling with American tour groups, we somehow found it easier to blend in!