We knew that flower carpets in Antigua Guatemala were an Easter tradition before we arrived. We didn’t know that we’d be seeing them every Sunday during Lent, in the run up to Easter, and we knew nothing about the process of making them, nor the amount of time the locals invest in this beautiful tradition only to have them destroyed in a few moments as the procession passes by.
Before the parade after a morning of work. Then within minutes, they are gone.
This was the first one we saw, in one of Antigua’s cathedrals. I’d heard of flower carpets but I couldn’t work out what on earth this one was made of. I had to Google to discover that it’s coloured sawdust. Further Googling told me that the flower carpets in Antigua are a custom brought over from Spain and that the art form is still alive in Europe. That’s something we need to look into. Have you come across these in Spain?
Most of the carpets are laid on the cobbled streets of the old town so a thick layer of sawdust needs to be laid to level out the canvas. The geometric patterns are created using planks as borders and the intricate patterns are applied over the top by resting ladders across the construction and using stencils.
Some of the carpets are just sawdust, some are sawdust with a few flowers, sticks or seed pods, some are entirely made of grasses, whole flowers and petals like these below.
The Antiguan heat and wind would quickly dry them out and the art would be blown away unless team members continuously damped them down, some use high-tech water sprayers, some splash by hand.
The teams were working on these creations all morning. Once the procession came they were gone in an instant, to be recreated in time for the procession to return, well after dark, many hours later. It’s a labour of love and an incredible art display that will stay with us forever.
