April 6-13 was the most important week for the Catholics here in Guatemala. It was the holy week, or the days leading up to the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The people here make big ¨carpets¨ out of a special type of dyed sand. These carpets of sand are all over the streets in intricate designs, and almost every day procesions pass through them. The carpets represent different events that happened in the walk to the cross. The processions represent this sacred journey as well, and some people actually carry large crosses and coffins of Jesus. The idea is that people participating in the procession will experience some of the hardship that Jesus felt when he was about to be crucified. I was told by some local people in Parramos that other villages actually choose a live volunteer to be "Jesus" and tie him up to a cross, but the processions I saw werent quite so intense. The processions I saw included people dressed up as Romans with weapons, followers of Jesus (in purple), huge elaborate coffins of Jesus with Mary following close behind, and many random people. There was a special mass on Easter, which everyone in the village attended.
At the orphanage, the caregivers were given vacations during this week. So, guess who was in charge of all the special needs kids! Actually, I was put in charge of coordinating the other volunteers and high schoolers that were put in charge of directly caring for them, which was no picnic. But, it was a great week, and we got out to see the processions and participate in the carpet-making. It was very important to me that my kids, with all their needs, were not left out of these very important cultural and religious ceremonies.
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