Festival de Barriletes Gigantes or Day of the Dead Kite Festival 2021

[Judi Lynn]

Giant flamboyant hand-made kites embody the millennia-old tradition of communicating with the dead

Last updated: November 2, 2021



©
Rolando Estrada

The first days of November are marked with the most colourful and delicious festivities observed in Guatemala. The residents of Sumpango and Santiago Sacatepéquez gather around the main cemetery of the country to honour the dead through flowing giant kites made of paper, cloth patches, and bamboo frames. Similar displays can be observed in Comalapa.

This tradition is believed to be over 3,000 years old, since long ago indigenous people regarded kites as tools to communicate with ancestors that had passed away. The construction of such kites takes 40 days. The vibrant kites explain why the festival is the most colourful, but foodies must be already impatient concerning the word "delicious"—for you the festival presents the only occasion all year to sample the iconic Guatemalan dish Fiambre made of around 50 ingredients. Certain regions of the country have their own elements of celebration. For example, Todos Santos Cuchumatán is renowned for wild horse races and its wide variety of spirits consumed during the festival.​

https://rove.me/to/guatemala/festival-de-barriletes-gigantes-or-day-of-the-dead-kite-festival

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[2naSalit]

1. Wow. Amazing beauty!

I find it interesting how these people work together like that and the magnificent displays they create while here the biggest togetherness events we can muster are football and sports that feature isolating certain players while sort of supporting the possible cohesion among the team members. Or qanon or christofascists.

And what do they produce? Our clique-ish society is in trouble because we illuminate individuality as sacred while community is something of a myth.