Holy Week in Guatemala officially received recognition as intangible heritage of humanity by Unesco, in 2022. This considers one of the most representative cultural and religious expressions of the countrywhich has achieved its permanence over time for several generations.
Lhe outstanding Guatemalan Holy Week is an integration of all the senses, describes art history doctor Johann Melchor. “It is perceived by sight with the images, in the music of the marches that integrate instruments such as the drum and the tzijolaj; the characteristic smell of incense and corozo, as well as the flavors of their traditional foods and the textures of the sawdust of the rugs or the same litters,” reflects the historian. Without a doubt, these particularities are linked to what Holy Week represents on a historical level.
“Guatemalan imagery began at the end of the 16th century when famous sculptors came to Guatemala, one of them was the workshop coordinated by Quirio Cataño and from generation to generation the art of carving was taught,” adds Melchor. In his documentary investigations he has found that the images and devotion, as well as the policies of the time and the presence of the army were used since 1773 to force the transfer of the capital of Guatemala from the Panchoy Valley to the Valley of the Cows, where the city is currently there.
The chronicler of the city and director of the National Museum of History of Guatemala, Miguel Alfredo Álvarez Arévalo, says that local imagery is differentiated by showing tormented figures with a peculiar sweetness through the looks and language of the hands, in addition to the carving and incarnations, techniques that have made them considered among the best that existed in Latin America, as well as in Quito, Ecuador.
For her part, Ana Elisa Schumann Guerra, with a master’s degree in history, has dedicated herself to research and has published some books such as The Roots of Devotion and Devotion to the Lady of Sorrows, and assures that she has found interesting information regarding brotherhoods and brotherhoods in colonial times on varied forms of expressions of faith.
For example, the brotherhoods had a very strong concept of solidarity and had activities where they helped poor priests, nuns, and seminarians to support themselves; They were responsible for the burial of their members and paid for the masses for their deaths and made other donations to other charities.
Something that has impressed Schumann Guerra is the domestic cult they had. Wills have been found, some from 1537 where people asked their relatives to continue with their devotions, celebrating the festival of the Lady of Sorrows and to be in charge of paying for the mass that day and the decoration of the altar, for example.
Traditions or institutions that have disappeared are also exemplified in history. One of them is the story of two images of the dedication of Our Lady of Sorrows that are found in the Rectoral Parish of San Sebastián. The most famous of them is the Virgin of Manchén, one of the few images consecrated during the Colonial Era. In addition, there is Our Lady of Sorrows of San Sebastián who was very loved by the inhabitants of her neighborhood and had her own brotherhood. She went out in procession twice during Lent and, although the brotherhood died out before the transfer of the capital, she continued to have many devotees in the New Guatemala of the Assumption. In the second half of the 19th century, many extinct brotherhoods were reorganized, one of them being that of Nuestra Señora de los Dolores de San Sebastián, which became the brotherhood of the tailors’ guild.
The above is just part of the hundreds of stories that exist and are built every day. Álvarez states that since Holy Week is intangible heritage, there is a need to continue documenting, “it is up to each place to make a detailed inventory of everything that involves its images, it is important to inventory them, know their attributes, platforms, altars, decorations, local gastronomy…is a way to protect the set of elements,” he clarifies.
More education
Now social networks are an important means to make more known regarding the images, some projects tell the story of the allegory, the decorations of the litters, but more work is required at an educational level and to continue making known the research done by experts and that might explain why in Guatemala this time is experienced in an apotheosic way unlike in neighboring countries, comments Schumann Guerra.
Melchor emphasizes that since 1952, historical research began and starting with Heinrich Berlin, who made a catalog of sculptors based on archival documents, other names and researchers began to emerge. Melchor adds that the works of Jorge and Luis Luján or Josefina Alonso de Rodriguez, among others, have been important to better build knowledge of what is related to imagery and Semana Mayor in the country.
José Carlos Flores, a photographer specializing in the subject of Lent and Holy Week, comments that documentation in images makes it become a language to interpret history. “I have been surprised by how certain images have served historians to complement studies and analysis, an image shows features, as well as changes, I did not imagine at the beginning of my profession how photography was going to transcend to this level that I began at a devotional level,” he mentions. Flowers.
The photographer has looked for spaces to publicize his work and details of Holy Week, he has also published books. One of the last exhibitions in which he participates with Alex Fledderjohn is called Devotion and will be open at the Ixchel Museum of Indigenous Costume until April 5.
In Spain currently the Museum of the General Archive of the Indies in Seville presents the exhibition Mystical Guatemalan Holy Week which will be open to the public until next March 31. A work created by the photographs of Dany Gamboa and Sergio Cruz, authors of the collection of fifty photos and who brought together elements that represent this era. The chronicler Álvarez Arévalo also participates in the activity.
Gamboa says that it is important to educate Guatemalans and the world more and more. “The brotherhoods have a commitment to guide the new generations and more commitment from the State is also needed to make more of our traditions known,” she explains.
Read more: The 9 most recent intangible cultural heritages of Guatemala: how to get recognition and what are the benefits of obtaining it
For Cruz, Holy Week in Guatemala has a great impact and is an opportunity to invite more people to visit the country as a destination. “We want you to see what this week that we live in is full of mysticism, solemnity and where on Good Friday alone there are almost 300 processions throughout the country, in addition to all the activities that surround it during Lent,” adds Gamboa.
“Holy Week goes beyond the fields of religiosity and is a first-rate tourist attraction, an important moment for religion, culture and economy,” adds Álvarez.
Melchor explains that in research we need even more to explore. In other countries there is the opportunity to evaluate images using tomographs and other modern analyzes that provide valuable data from the images to confirm details and other aspects that enrich the story.
Educationally, Melchor would like there to be more openness to the history of art itself and to seeing Holy Week at that level. “The ideal would be to train teachers and for Holy Week to be seen not only for religious reasons but also as a valorization as cultural heritage. Also for more universities to offer courses and specializations in art history,” he comments.
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