Guatemala is home to numerous events and festivals, both religious and secular, and Antigua hosts one of the country's biggest and most important festivals of all: Semana Santa, known in English as Easter Week. Throughout the week local artists create "paintings" on the streets made from colored sawdust. These huge works of art depict flowers and religious scenes and are left out for the entire week for visitors to enjoy until the Easter Parades process over them and destroy them. This tradition of sawdust paintings is very old and is believed to have begun in sometime the 16th Century with the arrival of the Spanish to the area whose beliefs merged with those of the native people. There is only one other Guatemala city that still follows this tradition, Grenada. Visitors who wish to come to Antigua during Semana Santa should book hotels well in advance, as it is very popular among Guatemalans and tourists alike.
For more information on cultural events in Antigua visit El Sitio Cultural's website.
