2007 Day Four: Passion Sunday in Antigua

If there is one thing the city of Antigua is known for, it is the town’s celebration of the Easter holiday.

Semana Santa – Holy Week – is celebrated with a series of elaborate processions that last nearly the whole day and weave throughout the town. And the most remarkable thing about the processions is the ground on which they tread.

Before the procession makes its way down a particular street, the road is covered in a series of ornate carpets made of flowers and pine-needles or colored sawdust (such as the carpets pictured). The carpets range in size, but are all brightly colored works of art.

Today was the Rotary team’s free day from their work on the mountain, and was also Passion Sunday. Most team members had a chance to see the carpets and parts or all of the procession as it wound its way around town.

The procession consists of various costumed groups – there were men dressed as Roman soldiers, women dressed as shepherds – and a few floats bearing religious scenes, such as Jesus carrying his cross with hell before him and heaven behind. This float was carried on the shoulders of nearly 100 men dressed in purple robes; the float featuring the Virgin Mary was carried by women dressed entirely in black. Both floats are so heavy that they must be traded off from one group of processors to another frequently, and the result of needing so many participants meant that the town was full of men in purple robes.

The procession lasted all day, but no one from the Rotary trip stayed with it for that long. Many of the team members spent the day milling about town through its various markets. A small, adventurous group – Dr. Allen Methven, Dr. Jim Ransom, Ben Gonzales, Laura Gonzales and Kyle Hoffer – spent the afternoon hiking a nearby volcano (though not one of the three surrounding Antigua). They got to poke lava with sticks.