Students lay sawdust carpets in Orange Walk town

Posted: Tuesday, April 8, 2014. 11:50 am CST.

Sawdust carpet for Easter
(Orange Walk town)

Tuesday, April 8, 2014. ORANGE WALK BUREAU Reporting: Students from several high schools in Orange Walk were involved in a unique project on Monday in this northern municipality.

The event, which included the laying of sawdust carpets, was organized by the Banquitas House of Culture.

Each year during the religious procession on Good Friday, the townspeople of Benque Viejo del Carmen take to the streets to commemorate the death of Christ.

Holy Week, or Semana Santa, is a weeklong celebration of colorful processions that open on Palm Sunday and culminates on Easter Sunday.

Making sawdust carpets
(Orange Walk town)

The community cooperates in creating sawdust tapestries, which involves the participation of hundreds of Benqueños of all ages, along the procession´s route.

And this year, organizers of the “El Santo Entierro’ are in Orange Walk to teach interested individuals about the tradition.

Organizer of the sawdust carpet making project Josefina Salas say it’s a tradition brought down from Guatemala that she has been doing for over 14 years.

Salas says in Benque Viejo del Carmen, Good Friday heralds much hustle and bustle, unusual for such a holiday.

Carpet workers begin the strenuous work of creating colorful sawdust tapestries with themes relevant to the Passion, along the principal routes where ‘El Santo Entierro’ will occur, usually in the evenings.

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