Home » Travel » Latin America » All Saints Day in Guatemala: A graveyard tale
“Cerveza, cerveza?” hollers the vendor, above the hubbub of humanity that’s hunching its way across the graveyard of Santiago Sacatepéquez, Guatemala.
Kites flutter overhead, their larger cousins punctuating the ground and the skyline.
Graves of the moneyed serve as a picnic-table for tucking into El Fiambre, the traditional festival dish that honours the dead. Kids are passed to parents, who haul them up 6 ft stone freshly-painted mausoleums for a birds-eye view.
All Saints Day in Guatemala (Dia de Todos Santos) on 1 November is – on first impressions – one big party in a graveyard.
Pulsating colours scream out from 60 ft tall paper kites, which tower over the chaotic scene below.
Still others line the earth, ropes binding them to a wooden stake and their eventual standing point; levered by their proud architects with huffing and bluster into their elevated position.
Months of painstaking sweat and tears by the town’s families, clubs and societies are reflected in the detailed designs.
A kite raised and flown successfully brings kudos. One whose supporting bamboo structure collapses makes grown men cry.
Kites can be lost within seconds to the dry earth, joining the departed whose marigold-topped earthen mounds far outnumber the formal mausoleum-style graves.
Smoke rises, fire courses through the kites’ paper and bamboo in the day’s ceremonial climax, allowing the souls to return to their resting place.
Back to the earth that holds them, rich or poor. Respect and honour binds both together in remembering their dead.
I experienced All Saints Day on 1 November 2013.
Hi, I'm Julie, a York (UK)-based travel blogger and comfort-zone pusher. Join me as I bring you pics and musings from my mildly adventurous travels around the globe. My mission is to hear you say, "I"m so glad I did it!" instead of, "I wish I could, BUT ..."
Use the links here and in my posts to buy at no extra cost to you. I’ll receive a small commission, which helps keep this website running. Thank you for your support 🙂
We use cookies on this website. We'll assume that's ok, but you can opt out if you like.Agree Decline Read our Privacy & Cookies policy