Food and Faith in Antigua, Guatemala

If you want to see Easter done right, you need to head to one of two places – Seville, Spain or La Antigua, Guatemala. Luckily, I call the latter my home, and I am about to experience my first Semana Santa in, arguably, the biggest Easter week celebration in the world.

While the Semana Santa tradition was brought over to Guatemala from Spain, Guatemalan citizens have made this Easter celebration a source of national pride, with the help of well-organized church groups called hermandades.

These groups, similar to the cofradías in Seville, arrange not only the processions during the eight days leading up to Easter, but also the seven other processions that take place every Sunday starting after Ash Wednesday and leading up to Semana Santa, which starts the Sunday before Easter. The processions consist of 7000 participants (on average), each paying for the honor of carrying large wooden depictions of Jesus, Mary, various scenes from the Stations of the Cross, as well as hefty crosses and other religious depictions.

Around 75 quetzales (one dollar) buys you the privilege of carrying a two-ton statue with your fellow purple-clad cucuruchos for about two blocks and then in come your replacements. They do this for about 200 or so blocks, or 100 turns. The procession route from various surrounding pueblos is the same every year, so Antigüenians can prepare their alfombras, or elaborately decorated carpets, outside their homes on the procession route. It is considered an honor to have your alfombra destroyed by thousands of cucuruchos carrying one or another depiction of Jesus.

But what you should really look out for during this time is a special empanada that is only available during Semana Santa, empanadas de leche. Made with milk, cornstarch, sugar, and canela, these packets of dough are fried in oil to a light crispness, dusted with sugar, and served street-side. The creamy yet solid milk filling is sweet and spiced and makes a great accompaniment to coffee or tea. These little treats are a great way to keep your energy up from start (usually around 6am) to finish (as late as midnight!), when the cucuruchos return their statue to the church they started from. Happy Easter!