Celebrating a Mayan Fin del Mundo

Jumping back two months to December 21, 2012... Mayan End of the World Celebration.

I had the special opportunity to be in the "Land of the Mayans" for the end of their Baktun calendar era this past December.  My host family was going to the celebration and they invited everyone in the house along. 

At the north end of town is a hill called "Cerro de la Cruz".  It is general knowledge to use caution when climbing this hill, even in the day time.  However, for this event many extra police officers were brought in from the city.  They guarded the candle-lit paths through the woods.  The celebration took place at the top, but was much more modern than I expected.  Someone pointed out that since this only happens every couple thousand years, there is no "traditional" ceremony.

We left the house at 11pm.  The plan was to camp out to greet the New Era at sunrise.  We lasted until 1:30 am :)

Here are some pictures of the concerts, the bonfires, and Antigua at night:

 

 

Antigua at night

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Antigua McDonald's... moved from other post

Naturally, there's a view of the volcano

picture taken by Azucena



I thought it was a frog eating a fly, Lisa thought it was a "dude" with shaggy hair, what do you think?  Sorry the shadows make it a bit hard to see clearly.

Y Feliz Año Nuevo!

Christmas at our house

Guatemalan Angel

My Christmas Tree

Christmas at school

Mine and Lisa's doors

Christmas Party Day- Great poses Pablo and Esteban!

Thanks for the great food, Ms. Gaby!  I had 4 pieces of cake :)

 

 

Ready to sing our Christmas carols
in front of the "big kids".

Snowman project

Christmas concert by the ruins

Trip Home

Out with the old, in with the new...

Christmas Videos

The videos to go with both posts of pictures.  You can make them larger by clicking on the "full screen" button, but the quality is not great as the only way I can get the videos to load is by saving them in a smaller format.  Sorry :(

                                                            1 minute.  Handel's Messiah

6 minutes  "O Holy Night" (Spanish and English) at Christmas Concert

 

45 seconds- Advent Procession

1 min 20 sec- Advent Procession

 

 50 sec. - "We Wish You a Merry Christmas"

This is the second of two songs that my students performed for the Christmas devotions at school.  Both songs were cute, but in this one there is nobody hitting each other. 

 

Feliz Navidad!

Sorry for the long wait for an update.  I was back in WI until the first week in January, then jumped right back into school.  The last two weeks have been super stressful and now that we're two weeks away from mid-terms there's even more work to do.  I also received two more students after break.
 
Looking Back:  Christmastime in Guatemala...

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
In the Santo Domingo hotel (5-star hotel built into 16th century cathedral ruins), Charlotte and I attended a concert by the Guatemala Community Choir- Handel's Messiah and Christmas Concert.  
The concert was beautiful and performed in the sanctuary (? don't know what it's called in a Catholic church) of the cathedral.  

Lights decorating the fountain in the hotel

They handed out Christmas cookies after the concert!!

Some scenes from around Antigua...

Parque Central

La Virgen de Guadalupe
I had an awesome experience in November, but unfortunately only have 1 picture as it wouldn't have been appropriate to take any more. (photo from Blanca)
This is a "float"- a mini version of the large religious "floats" carried in processions on holy days.  (see next set of pictures)

 We were invited by the family at my house to join in their procession for the Virgin of Guadalupe.  I believe this is only the second year they have done this, so the group was rather small- between 12 and 20 people each night.  
Over the course of nine nights, the statue was carried to a different house.  The rosary was prayed and typical Guatemalan snacks were served.  
My favorite part was getting a peak behind those misleading Central American doors, designed to conceal any details from would-be thieves and nosey tourists.

Advent
 Here is a larger procession for the first Sunday in Advent.

"Y un gran portento aparecio' en el Cielo"

More coming later!