Video: Alfombra - Guatemalan Easter carpets made of sand and sawdust
2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55
“Any furniture lifts us off the ground - it doesn't matter if it's a stool or a throne. The carpet is fusion with the ground, full and direct contact with it. And, probably, none of the forms of art is so connected with the soil, with nature, as a carpet,”Anar, a famous Azerbaijani writer, wrote in his essay“The Wisdom of a Carpet”. In the town Antigua, the former capital of Guatemala, this unity with nature is felt very organically - to carpets here is a special attitude. During Easter week, locals create real masterpieces of sand and sawdust that "cover" city streets!
Residents of Antigua prepare for Easter very carefully: during Lent, processions with statues of Jesus Christ and the Virgin Mary pass through the streets every Sunday. However, even these large-scale events cannot be compared in beauty with what happens in the last week. Everyone, young and old, participates in the creation of magnificent carpets, which are called alfombra here. On the cobblestone pavement of the Guatemalan city, real "carpet paths" appear in a matter of days. To do this, first, everything is covered with sand to create a flat surface, and all sorts of pictures and patterns from multi-colored sawdust are laid out on top.
The theme of the images is syncretism of the Mayan traditions, Christian religion, as well as folk motives. Craftsmen use carved wooden stencils, most of which are passed down from generation to generation. However, new images appear every year, so alphaombra are always unique. In addition to sand and sawdust, flowers, bugles, pine needles, vegetables and fruits are also used to decorate carpets. The carpets are constantly poured with water from the watering cans so that the wind does not sweep away the sawdust.
The most beautiful alphaombra are created on the eve of Good Friday, it is along them that the procession passes, which begins at three in the morning. People spend the night at the graves of deceased relatives and join the procession on the way from the cemetery. The crowded procession sweeps away the unique alphaombras, which were destined to last only a few hours. The creation of unusual carpets symbolizes the personal donation of every Guatemalan on the last journey of Christ.
Only an Indian carpet made of pearls and precious stones, a Belgian carpet made of flowers or an Iranian carpet made of sand can compare in beauty with Guatemalan carpets!
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