How Holy Week unites Guatemala

In a country defined by deep inequalities and cultural divisions, the Semana Santa celebration plays a key role in forging national identity.

People take part in a procession for Palm Sunday, the start of Holy Week, in the colonial city of Antigua, Guatemala. For Catholics, the procession—known as La Reseña—commemorates when Jesus Christ entered Jerusalem, and palm branches were placed in his path. Holy Week or Semana Santa, which had been on hiatus for two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic, returned to Guatemala, which is famous for its elaborate parades and rituals leading up to Easter Sunday.

In the weeks leading up to Easter Sunday, Guatemala transforms.

From the heart of the dense capital city to remote Indigenous towns in the rural highlands, people flock to the streets, and the country is splashed with a medley of colors: plazas are adorned with flowers and intricate display; women and men draped in bright Mayan textiles hoist heavy wooden caskets to represent the death of Jesus Christ in the Catholic tradition of commemorating his death; and artwork dots the streets as communities gather to eat and take a rare moment to rest.

Known as Semana Santa or Semana Mayor—Holy Week or Major Week—the celebration has become a cultural staple, almost bigger than Christmas, explains Juan Manuel Castillo, a Guatemalan anthropologist. While the holiday

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