ALL SAINTS and ALL SOULS' DAY: Prayers Ascending (quite literally) from Guatemala with Love

Sumpango, Guatemala

October 31-November 2

Throughout Latin America, All Saints' Day, November 1, and All Souls' Day, November 2, are treated like a single holiday. In Guatemala, the Indian villagers of Todos Santos (which means "All Saints") stretch these celebrations honoring the dead into a three-day-long affair by adding October 31. Families pay homage to the dead on All Souls' Day by decorating the graves of their loved ones and offering flowers, corn, squash, and orange slices at church. They position them on the floor of the church, pour some coffee into the flower blossoms, and then shake droplets of brandy over the whole display.

These solemn offerings are in stark contrast to the highlight of the festival, wild horse races, in which many of the riders have been drinking since the previous night. In the town of Santiago Sacatepequez people fly huge kites in the graveyard and many attach prayers and notes to their deceased loved ones to the kites' tails...¨ HERE

Thanks to The Guatemalan Tourist Bureau
Thanks to Sumpango
Thanks to Elizabeth Bell, Antigua Tours http://www.antiguatours.net/