The Kite Festival!

Dia de Los Muertos! It is interesting, being in Guatemala I have learned to celebrate the dead. For Day of the Dead I attended a traditional Kite Festival in Sumpango. For about 6 months to a year before the Day of the Dead, groups of people or separate teams create these beautiful kites in honor of Day of the Dead. On the actual day there is a huge festival in Sumpango where they put all the kites up (all shapes and sizes), there is food beyond belief and the cemeteries are garnished in beautiful flowers and different types of decorations. The people celebrate their dead and give thanks to them. The cemeteries become beautiful locations of celebration. Our group decided we should leave at 6 30 am to get there early just for good seats... So not necessary. For about the first two hours I sat waiting for the kites to go up in the cold with an empty stomach. Delightful! But around 9 all the different teams started to put their kites up. There were kites ranging from 5 ft to almost 65 ft. It was incredible to see the art and dedication in each kite. Each kite has its own design, message and shape. I would venture to say the kites represent their creators. Around 11 Sumpango started filling up with people from all over. Our group decided to walk through the town and visit the cemetery as well as the market. People where everywhere. Slightly overwhelming but amazing to see the community work together to support such a major day of celebration and thanks. In order to put up the larger kites the men attached large ropes to the top of the kite which were supported by bamboo. Once they had the kite secure they fed the rope through a pulley system and about 25 men jump on the rope and play tug of war with the kite for about 15 minutes. You can hear 2 or 3 men shouting orders as the kite rises foot by foot. For the very large kites you can see men literally jumping up the rope to use their entire body weight to pull the rope down. It is incredible. We stayed at the kite festival until about 12 and then headed home. Instead of taking the boring old highway home we went four wheeling through the mountains to descend into the Antigua valley. It was weird we were higher up in altitude and we could see pine trees and it reminded me of home. I know you are all saying, uh Courtney you live in the desert but it reminded me of Mt. Lemmon and the fresh air. Just a small something to identify with. It made me really miss home. Ok that is all for now.

Putting up a kite! 

Kids kite! 

Cemetry in Sumpango!