Kites and the Afterlife
Sumpango Kite Festival in Sumpango, Guatemala
The question came for our daughter. “I have an opportunity to spend a semester in Guatemala learning Spanish, studying the history and culture of the Mayan people, doing part of my practicum. Should I go?”
With that Trudy and I thought - maybe we should go to Guatemala for our 30th anniversary trip? We started researching Guatemala. With Trudy having grown up in Belize and myself growing up in Nicaragua there was a definite attraction to visit a Central American country where we would be more familiar with the food and people. Hannah told us that she would have some time between Oct 30th and Nov 2nd to spend with us if we wanted to come and visit her.
If you are visiting Guatemala plan to be there either during Holy Week in Spring, or arrive over All Saints’ Day in November. Both of these are high holy days within the culture. Religion in Guatemala is reflected in the union of ancient Mayan practices, mixed with Roman Catholicism brought in by the colonialists. Around November 1st you see the two religions come to life. On the catholic holy day of All Saints’ Day the people celebrate with large kite festivals throughout the country. The kites are representative of connecting with the spirits of those who have died combined with the religious timing of the holy day.
The largest kite festival is in Sumpango. It is a small city, approximately a 30 minute drive from Antigua. During the 2 days of the festival the city swells to hundreds of thousands of people taking part in the festivities. Contests are held for difference sizes of kites, on everything from appearance, to flight time and height of flight. The largest of the kites are for display only.
In preparing for our trip, I had seen a version of the image above and was determined to capture my own shot. From the reference photo I knew that the photo was taken from an elevated spot to the rear of the festival grounds. When we arrived on site I looked for an elevated vantage point and what I saw was a precarious goat path packed full of people using this narrow passage way up an embankment to navigate from the festival grounds to the bars located at the end of the path.
Without a guard rail or even a handrail we made our way up the path until I found a spot that put me in the centre of the action. I sat down on the edge of the path with my feet dangling 40 feet above the field below and started to compose the shot.
It was a cultural experience and a photo challenge that tested my skill, patience, and fear of falling.
