Todos Santos
Guatemalans celebrate Todos Santos (All Saint's Day) by tending the burial sights of loved ones. Tombs are repainted, the soil turned, headstones re-lettered, and flowers planted. The ground is then purified with a blanket of pine needles. Families spend several nights at the gravesides holding vigils. The celebration ends with a day of kite flying, in which the kite's flapping communicates messages from the spirits down to the earth and the string allows passed family members to find their way home.
Page two of this gallery contains images of San Maximon (also called San Simon), the single Mayan folkloric figure acknowledged by the Catholic church. Described as a Judas character and capable of bringing destruction to his enemies, Maximon is protector of those who have fallen from society: prostitutes, drunkards, the sick. Visitors to his shrine offer tobacco, alcohol, and money, asking for health, work, and other essential items. For those who need it, the chapels offer soul-cleansing rituals ('limpias') where the afflicted person is beaten with branches, spat upon, and forced through clouds of smoke and fire. We visited 2 of the 3 cities where Maximon reigns, during the week of his birthday. (Photographing limpias was not permitted.) Images of Catholic processions and Catedral ruins complete the gallery. Posted On: November 19, 2007.
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