At Easter time, the week leading up to it is called Semana Santa, or Holy Week. It's a festival week with vacationing, partying, family gatherings, and religious celebrations, culminating with Easter Sunday.
Monday, April 21, 2014
Life in Guatemala A to Z: Religion
There are many churches in Guatemala, with the Catholic Church being the largest and the oldest, of course. Catholicism goes way back to when the Spaniards came to the New World.
At Easter time, the week leading up to it is called Semana Santa, or Holy Week. It's a festival week with vacationing, partying, family gatherings, and religious celebrations, culminating with Easter Sunday.
Regardless of one's personal religious affiliation, appreciating the
Catholic churches with their schools, culture, statuary, courtyards is
part of learning the history of the land.
At Easter time, the week leading up to it is called Semana Santa, or Holy Week. It's a festival week with vacationing, partying, family gatherings, and religious celebrations, culminating with Easter Sunday.
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Beautiful architecture.
ReplyDeleteVery colourful yet sombre too! Take care
ReplyDeletex
Those churches are gorgeous. That's one thing we discovered when we moved to ABQ. Almost all of the churches were Catholic.
ReplyDeleteThose old churches are so beautiful. It points out how important the church was and hopefully still is.
ReplyDeletebeautiful pictures… it seems to be a very rich tradition in South America … would love to visit.
ReplyDeleteThe pageantry and celebration in those photos look amazing.
ReplyDeleteSophie
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Beautiful churches!
ReplyDeleteHow beautiful and the first church is really interesting with the Points...it almost has a Moorish design or look which would make sense since Spain was the country that is represented here. I love the colourful way they celebrate Easter and there is probably some old customs intermingled with the catholic faith
ReplyDeleteVery colorful pictures. Thank you for sharing. I imagine the pageant for Easter Sunday was exceptionally grand.
ReplyDeleteGail visiting for AtoZ
I love the humble churches, the ones that show its purpose is to worship. All the glitz of European churches (Austria stands out) is distracting.
ReplyDeleteI love architechture and historic places. Great photos.
ReplyDeleteLovely churches! How is Puerto Rico responding to the new Pope? I think Latin America has such a complicated connection to the church, it must be interesting to see.
ReplyDeleteEvery place has its own signature style when it comes to celebrations. enjoyed the Guatemala Showcase Karen :)
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