Sawdust Carpets 2011

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Comayagua, Honduras and Antigua, Guatemala are the two best known places in Central America to see the "alfombras" or "carpets" each Semana Santa (Holy Week), on Good Friday. Although there are a few other places doing them as well, none are as well known as these two cities.

I have now seen the sawdust carpets 3 times, and am still impressed at the fine detail and work that goes into them. Most are made using dyed sawdust, but several also incorporate materials such as wood shavings, eggshells, dried beans, pine leaves, fabrics, and much more.

The carpets are sponsored by local families, businesses, and schools, and are spread out among the streets in the center of the city, near the cathedral and central park.

People usually take to the streets around 12-1am on Thursday night, and work all through the early hours of the morning to complete the project. Around 9-10am, a procession with many creepy hooded figures (slightly resembling the KKK), carry large (and also slightly creepy) statues of Jesus carrying the cross, as well as Mary and several other saints.

Within minutes, the carpets that were worked on for hours are destroyed, swept up, and saved only in photos.

Every year one of my old student's family makes a carpet. This year I decided I would help instead of just observing, and spent the time between 2am and 4:30am helping to create their family carpet. This year their theme was "Mother and Son" to honour not only Mary and Jesus, but also the grandmother and uncle who are both deceased. The uncle (also the father of one of Walter's friends) died this past January so it's very recent for the family. He was usually the one to design the carpet for their family, so the mood this year was slightly grim.

I did get a chance to walk around and photograph all the other carpets as well. I have almost 100 photos but have chosen my favourites to add here. ENJOY!

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Photos

Helping With the Carpet!
Grandma's head

Framework
Still working hard around 7:30am!

Different Materials
This one used wood chips as well as pine-cones and pine leaves!

Wood Shavings
This one used only wood shavings/chips instead of sawdust.

Scary Hoods
Getting ready for the procession

Beans and Things
Another example of resources other than sawdust

Mother and Son
Finished product of the one I helped work on.

Comments

[Stephanie Ayala]

Gorgeous!!