Guatemala celebrates Holy Week with new Unesco heritage status

The festival mixes Mayan rituals with Catholic fervour and culminates in colourful processions and street carpets

Tourists make carpets with coloured sawdust before the passage of a Good Friday procession, in Santiago Atitlan, Guatemala. AFP

Thousands of Guatemalans are participating in this year's Holy Week celebrations, which have been granted Unesco heritage status since November.

The week-long festival actually stretches over six weeks, culminating at Easter with processions, vigils, and brightly coloured carpets lining the streets of the Central American country.

This year's Good Friday processions in particular have special meaning, given the new Unesco recognition.

The customs, music, food, and art of Guatemala's Holy Week reflect a “cultural fusion” between the Catholicism of Spanish conquistadores and the ancestral beliefs of the Indigenous Mayan population.

The festival's blend of Mayan rituals and Catholic religious fervour distinguishes it.

“Guatemalans experience Holy Week differently from the rest of the world,” said Culture Minister Felipe Aguilar.

Street vendors in Antigua, the colonial capital, sell food, soft drinks, and other products to thousands of faithful and tourists flooding the streets to participate in the processions.

The Jesus of Humility procession in Antigua, which marks the final part of Christ's life, is particularly noteworthy, with some faithful dressed as Roman soldiers.

“The Jesus of Humility has always blessed us … we don't want to lose this tradition that identifies us as Guatemalans,” said restaurant cook Jose Perez.

The Holy Week celebrations have a rich history in Guatemala, dating back to the 16th century when Spanish colonisers brought the festivities to the region.

The local Mayan population soon syncretised the celebrations with their own traditions and worldview.

For many Guatemalans, participating in the processions is a significant part of their spiritual lives.

“I feel very satisfied … and I will remain here to be with this devotion,” said farmer Jorge Pines.

The festival is not just celebrated in Antigua. Mayan neighbourhoods also mark Holy Week by wearing traditional outfits and carrying images of their saints through the streets.

In the north-western San Andres Sajcabaja municipality, indigenous people from the Mayan K'che' ethnicity crawl on their hands and knees about five kilometres through the streets to mark the Passion of Jesus, wearing thorns on their heads or backs to atone for their sins or give thanks to God.

This year's Holy Week celebrations have special meaning for many Guatemalans, as the Covid-19 pandemic forced the cancellation of last year's events.

“People are happy because it has been three years” since the last such procession due to the pandemic, said Susana Leimi, a trader in the village of Santiago Atitlan.