Alfombras

Cueresma (lent) in Guatemala is a huge deal, literally everyone participates. Each town/aldea has its own day for the procession to celebrate cueresma, and this weekend was my town's, which meant that my friends and I got to help celebrate my helping make alfombras! Alfombra literally means "carpet" in Spanish, but here it is where they decorate the street for the procession. My family made theirs with palm trees, but we also helped make the alfombra of my friend's family. Since we helped I was able to take pictures of the steps, which was really amazing because so much work goes in to every alfromba.

They made a turkey out of a pineapple!

My family's alfombra

Step 1: Use stencils to make the outline of the shapes on the street





Step 2: decorate, this is either done with small pieces of wood, sand or palm/pine needles. Here is my host dad decorating, putting everything in its perfect place






Step 3: Enjoy the beauty.















Step 4:Watch it be walked over and destroyed :/