In Guatemala: People of Tradition, photographer Santiago Albert and editor Christine Wilson give us the gift of a Guatemala that reflects the contemplative aspect of this holiday season. Without the noise of vibrant color, the focus turns from the pageantry of feasts and fiestas to the quiet of inward reflection, perfectly demonstrated by black and white photographs. We see the young boy carrying the man-sized anda in a La Antigua Guatemala Lenten procession, and his need to reach for inner strength. We see candlelight reflect peace in an Esquipulas cave dedicated to the Black Christ. We feel the seriousness of an Olintepeque offering to king San Pascual, venerated by the K’iche’ as holy death.

In Guatemala: People of Tradition, we see the depth of feeling, reverence and respect that has created the colorful outward pageantry that identifies Guatemala to the rest of the world.

Santiago Albert, Spanish by birth and adopted by Guatemala 15 years ago, brings us this uniquely intimate view of his fellow citizens. His photographs are taken with a small Leica M with standard lenses, which necessitates that he be within a few feet of his subject. This actual physical closeness intensifies the sense of intimacy felt by the viewer.

The collaboration between Santiago and Christine began several years ago when they produced Portraits of Quality for Anacafe’, the Guatemalan coffee growers’ association. Santiago’s black and white photographs show the viewer the men and women, often worn from sun and work, who farm the fields and run the coffee mills. Christine’s written descriptions of the subjects and the coffee-growing process fill out the picture.

Other Latin American photojournalism by Santiago has included his documentation of the Warao tribe in the Orinoco River delta, as well as the lives of Guatemalan refugees returning home from Mexico. An exhibit of selected images from Guatemala: People of Tradition has been shown at the Museo Ixchel del traje indigena and is scheduled for exhibition at Hotel Casa Santo Domingo, La Antigua Guatemala, in 2012. Watch Revue’s Datebook for this upcoming event.

Christine Wilson is Guatemalan by birth, and her love of her country and its traditions are reflected in Guatemala: People of Tradition. A member of the founding board of the Antigua International School, Christine is donating her proceeds from the book to the scholarship fund of AIS. Christine is married to Phillip Wilson, director of Ecofiltro, a sustainable water purification solution with the goal of providing abundant clean water at low cost.

Guatemala: People of Tradition, available in both English and Spanish editions, is a hardcover book of 280 pages, with 100 images. It may be purchased at La Casa del Conde, 5a avenida norte #4, and at Colibri, 4a calle oriente #3-B, both in Antigua; in Guatemala City the book is available at the Museo Ixchel, 6ta calle final z. 10.

You can also buy copies online by going to www.peopleoftradition.com. The website is available in English and Spanish.

Author/photographer: Thor Janson

Published by Artemis Edinter

Spanish/English

240 pages, color photography

“Biologist, conservationist and photographer Thor Janson has worked in Central America for nearly thirty years. In this book he reveals his deep love and respect for the land and its inhabitants through 250 stunning color photographs accompanied by short descriptive text. An introduction by anthropologist Robert M. Carmack provides a brief history of the Maya. Together, these writings coupled with the pictures present an understanding of the ‘land of green lightning’ so complete as to make each one of us feel protective of such a precious place.”

Author/photographer: Hanne Linder
KOM Publishing (www.komforlag.no)
Graphic design: MILLA Design
Printed in Guatemala by Print Studio
222 pages, color photography

www.youtube.com/watch?v=GrOX29x1zvg

“My Guatemala brings you a powerful encounter with the people and the environment the author has gotten to know throughout more than 20 years. It all comes together as a colorful and fulfilling book about the country, the culture and the people. You will find stories about suppression and poverty, but also about an unconquerable will to live and a flourishing culture.”

Hanne Lunder, ceramicist and author, is one of the initiators of the Cultural Bridge Guatemala-Norway; she’s also been a guest professor at ENAP, the Art Academy in Guatemala City. Her ceramic work is exhibited in more than 20 galleries in Norway; in Central America she is represented by La Antigua Galeria de Arte.

She lives in Norway with her husband and their two children. Readers can contact her at www.hanne-lunder.com

Author: Jacob Wheeler
Foreword by Kevin Kreutner
280 pages, 27 illustrations
978-0-8032-3362-1
Publisher: University of Nebraska Press
Lincoln, Neb.
www.nebraskapress.unl.edu

Veteran journalist Jacob Wheeler puts a human face on the Guatemalan adoption industry through the story of 14-year-old Ellie, who was abandoned at age 7 and adopted by a middle-class family from Michigan.

Wheeler re-creates the painful circumstances of Ellie’s abandonment, her adoption and Americanization, her search for her birth mother, and her joyous and haunting return to Guatemala, where she finds her teenage brothers—unleashing a bond that transcends language and borders.

Following Ellie’s journey, Wheeler peels back the layers of an adoption economy that some view as an unscrupulous baby-selling industry that manipulates impoverished indigenous Guatemalan women, and others herald as the only chance for poor children to have a better life.

“Jacob Wheeler brings some desperately needed clarity to the socially complex, morally and legally confusing issue of U.S. adoptions from Guatemala. He has done the legwork, shown commitment and courage, and the reporting in this book is diligent, heartfelt, and thoughtful.”

— Francisco Goldman, author of The Art of Political Murder: Who Killed the Bishop? and The Long Night of White Chickens

Author: Kathryn Rousso
Three parts within 14 chapters; illustrations, b/w & color photography; appendix 1-5; table, Mayan terminology; glossary; bibliography; further reading & index
Publisher: The University of Arizona Press, Tucson www.uapress.arizona.edu

“There is no other publication quite like this one devoted to maguey use in Guatemala, past and present. Rousso’s photographs are excellent and provide the reader with additional information that words cannot convey.”
—Margot Blum Schevill, co-editor of Textile Traditions of Mesoamerica and the Andes: An Anthology

Kathryn Rousso, an accomplished textile artist, takes a detailed look at the state of maguey culture, use and trade in Guatemala. She has spent years traveling in the region, highlighting maguey workers’ interactions in many locations and blending historical and current facts to describe their environments. Along the way, Rousso has learned the process of turning a raw leaf into beautiful and useful textile products and how globalization and modernization are transforming the maguey trade in Guatemala.

a book written by Naticksqw

When writing about someone as interesting and multi-faceted as Naticksqw (pronounced Nah-tick-squaw) the hardest part is deciding where to begin. Do you start by mentioning she is one of 12 children? That she grew up in rural Massachusetts in a house with no heating? Do you begin by describing the quiet energy that radiates from her? That she is also known as Chief Caring Hands, from the Praying Indian tribe? Or perhaps you start by mentioning that she is a channeler —a person through whom God speaks.

Yes, let’s begin with that.

Naticksqw first started receiving words from God when she was just a teenager. At first, she didn’t know what was happening. “People were astounded by the words God was saying to me, so I wrote them down,” she says, “and turned them into poetry.” The people who read the words considered her an “old soul.” She says, “That’s nice to hear when you’re in your 60s, but not in your youth.”

She never knows when she will receive messages. “I keep paper with me all the time,” Naticksqw says with a smile. “I never know when The Father will speak to me.”

When asked why she was chosen to receive these messages, Naticksqw replies, “I never ask ‘why me’ but instead, ‘why not me?’ He chose me to speak to a world in need of healing.” Her ancestral background with the Praying Indian tribe of Massachusetts—the first Native American tribe to convert to Christianity—taught her to see God in everything. She says, “The hand of God created all that we see—the trees, the rocks, the animals, the wind. All indigenous people recognize one God. He may go by different names in each language but it is the same God.”

Growing up extremely poor in rural Massachusetts taught her not to take anything for granted. “Poverty leaves a horrible mark on you,” she says. “A scar is a scar, whether it’s physical or emotional.” She and her 11 siblings learned not only to live off of but also to love the land. “I was in touch with the ground and the grass and the dew. Dancing on that ground was even better.”

Naticksqw is married to Lyn Hovey, a world-renowned stained glass artist who spends several months a year in La Antigua Guatemala. They met at a Native American Pow-Wow where Naticksqw was giving a presentation. As Lyn says, “I saw her and heard her speak and I knew I had to meet this amazing woman.” And the rest, as they say, is history.

Lyn had a difficult time persuading Naticksqw to travel to his beloved La Antigua. For the first 60 years of her life, Naticksqw refused to leave the United States. It was not due to a fear of flying. She says, “I thought if I left my native soil I would be betraying my people, my roots.” However, God spoke to her and explained that all of the Earth is one piece of land—just that certain parts are under water. It was that conversation that convinced her to get a passport and travel.

On her first visit to Guatemala, Naticksqw was fascinated by how the indigenous people hold on to their culture. “It reminded me of what happened to my people. Language, culture, dress—it was all stolen from us. If I walked around in my full regalia dress in my country, I might be made fun of.” She finds the Guatemalan women to be especially beautiful. “To see these women with their traditional clothing, carrying baskets on their heads—walking as regally as a queen—they have the old souls of their ancient selves by staying true to their culture. I just want to tell these women it is beautiful and they should not give this up.”

Naticksqw created a book, The Words of the Father, from the messages spoken to her. She refused to let the book be edited, for obvious reasons. “If someone were to edit it, they would no longer be His words,” she explains. During our interview she read a few passages from the book. As she spoke, I found myself leaning forward and holding my breath, not wanting to miss anything. “I love God with all that I have—that is what I know,” she says emphatically. “Each time I speak, I am speaking for the Father to his children. God has only one voice, but people have forgotten what it sounds like.”

Naticksqw will be conducting a workshop and a book reading at El Sitio on November 5 & 6.

Whether you are interested in Naticksqw for spiritual, historical or cultural reasons, I encourage you to meet this fascinating woman in person. For more information on her book, visit www.thewordsofthefather.org. To learn more about the Praying Indians of Massachusetts, visit www.natickprayingindians.org

Patrimonio de La Antigua Guatemala

This book was produced in order to promote the rescue and appreciation of the Ermita de El Calvario at La Antigua Guatemala. It is dedicated to Santo Hermano Pedro who lived in the Ermita and was canonized in July 2002.

Spanish language, 156 pages, color plus black and white photographs, fully indexed; cover water color by Luis González Arocha Published by Fundación G&T; editor Miguel F. Torres; nine chapters written by experts in their field, René Johnston (historian & archeologist); José María Magaña, (architect); Haroldo Rodas (art historian); Gustavo Ávalos Austria (anthropologist); Miguel F. Torres, M.A. (microbiologist); Dieter Lehnhoff, PH. D., (musicologist); Fray Damián Muratori (OFM) Fray Edwin Alvarado (OFM); Margarita Estrada, (restorer) and Brenda Penados, (architect).

Printed by Print Studio S.A.
Available now at bookstores in
Guatemala City and La Antigua.

text by Dianne Carafino

Cooking with Audrey is Audrey Buderus’ gift to her family and friends, including the Antigüeños who have been her friends for the past 26 years and to those of us who would like to be her friends. Through her small catering business, limited to “friends and friends of friends,” Audrey’s sticky buns at the Cloister in La Antigua, have become an anticipated tradition to follow the very early morning carpet walk of Good Friday.

If it’s the Christmas season, you must have Audrey’s eggnog. If you are referring to a Chinese dinner, it is the 12-course meal that Audrey prepares for 12 guests or more, maybe many more. These recipes, including the menu for the Chinese dinner, are included in Cooking with Audrey.

Audrey has given us all, yes all, of her catering recipes. In addition to those mentioned previously, recipes include those for her well-known Bloody Mary, for her cocktail party goodies and for her spaghetti bar. The spaghetti bar originated with a party that Audrey and her husband, Brooks, a retired architect, gave for friends: pasta accompanied by the choice of four sauces: chicken liver, white clam, meat and sausage/tomato sauces. The idea is to try a little of each, and then, maybe, a lot of your favorite. Not part of the spaghetti bar menu, but the pasta recipe I will try first, is Audrey’s penne with gorgonzola cream sauce.

In addition to catering, Audrey taught cooking classes in her previous home in Panorama, and recipes from her classes are also included. Chicken and wine sauce, a favorite, is described by Audrey as “easy and delicious.”

Audrey’s catering and cooking classes are part of her “retirement.” Prior to moving to Antigua, she lived on the island of Roatán, Honduras, for 27 years where she enjoyed “most of the time” working in a resort hotel as head of the kitchen, bar and dining room operations. She first visited Antigua in 1973, and many times after that, to buy for her own additional Roatán business, Audrey’s Bay Island Boutique. As the designer of much of the clothing sold in her boutique, she admired the típica fabrics of Guatemala.

It was through her buying trips to Guatemala that Audrey met many of the Antigüeños with whom she later enjoyed sharing recipes, and whose recipes she now shares with us. Alice Bell, mother of historian Elizabeth Bell, had a boutique which earns high praise from Audrey. Describing dresses bought there and lovingly worn for many years, Audrey points out Alice’s recipe for rum baba cake, first shared with Audrey, and now with us.

Credit is given for each recipe that Audrey does not claim as her own, and her notations make the cited recipe come alive. Jane Binaris’ spaghetti pie is described as one of the dishes that Jane often carried to sick friends, and with that the recipe has new meaning. In the chapter “And There’s Still More” (Chinese recipes that is, Audrey’s personal favorite) Audrey writes, “George Hull and I used to cook Chinese together and also shared recipes. This one is from George.” Cooking with Audrey is not only a collection of loved recipes, it is also the culinary history of the past quarter century of a special group of Antigua friends.

Audrey will be signing copies of Cooking with Audrey at The Cloister Bed and Breakfast, located at 5a avenida norte #23 (near the arch), on November 13 from 3 to 6 p.m. The event will be hosted by Helga and George Andrews, who have cordially invited the public, free of charge. Following the book signing, copies of Cooking with Audrey will be available through the author (email: abud@intelnett.com, subject, “Cook Book”) and also on sale in Antigua at La Casa del Conde, 5a, avenida norte #4, Central Park, and Hamlin and White Books, 4a calle oriente #12-A.

Escrito y editado por: D’Buk Editors - Número de páginas: 400

D’Buk es una editorial conformada por un grupo de empresarios jóvenes especializados en áreas como la fotografía, productos de consumo, marketing, publicidad y promociones. La editorial está conformada por José Luis Samayoa, Otto Wolff y un staff de profesionales de la industria editorial.

El libro “Nostalgia Guatemalteca” es el proyecto más reciente de la editorial. Consiste en un exhaustivo trabajo de investigación que reúne todo aquello que hace únicos a los guatemaltecos ante el mundo. Es un libro que rinde tributo a nuestra hermosa Guatemala, recopilando esas pequeñas cosas que hacen tan maravillosa a nuestra tierra: la peculiar forma de expresarnos, nuestros sonidos, nuestras comidas, nuestros ademanes, nuestros juegos de “wiros”, nuestras costumbres y por supuesto nuestros paradisíacos lugares.

“Nostalgia Guatemalteca” es una obra de arte que envuelve, sugestiona, eleva, agrada e inspira gracias a su valioso contenido que está plasmado con diseño gráfico y fotografía de talla internacional.

Puntos de venta: El libro puede adquirirse en librerías Sophos, Artemis Edinter, Café Saúl Zona 10, Café Saúl Pradera, Café Saúl Pradera Concepción, Museo Ixchel, o al teléfono (+502) 6621-0088. Tambien se puede comprar el libro a través de www.nostalgiaguate.com.

Escrito y editado por: D’Buk Editors
Número de páginas: 400

Cover of Lent and Holy Week in La Antigua

Still fishing, she says, “There’s a Semana Santa moment. It’s a feeling, and it’s memorable. You never know when it’s going to hit you, when you’ll have it. It’s just like…wow! That’s what I’m looking for.”

Continuing to look and learn, she published the second edition of the book in 2001, repeating the compact pocket size. The latest edition is larger, matching Bell’s Antigua Guatemala: The City and Its Heritage. “Bigger is better for the photos,” she explains, which, excluding those of the vigils, are all hers. “Wonderful postcards of the vigils are available after 11 a.m. at each church of a vigil. Why compete with that? I took photos of those!” A vigil is held at the church to display its image the day before it is taken in procession. “The artistic quality of scenery and lighting is amazing, with fruits and vegetables representing the garden of Gethsemane.”

Portrait of Liz Bell

The sculptures are town treasures, with hermandad groups responsible for their care and keeping and the activities of Holy Week, although virtually everyone participates. That’s part of the beauty of it. Colonial hermandades were social, religious and civic groups all rolled into one. Even today, religious celebrations such as vigils become festive with foods and fun outside the church. Carpet making is a family or group affair, following months of planning the production. From the simple to the elaborate, “The creativity comes from the heart. And the interaction is wonderful, with kids and grandparents enjoying together,” says Elizabeth excitedly, a new grandma herself.

At the back of the book are calendars for Lent and Holy Week for the next four years, a handy reference. Now a Holy Week enthusiast, Elizabeth wears a purple blouse weeks ahead and, with a sweep of her arm she dons “…matching purple sunglasses!”

Will there be a fourth edition of the book? She already has a notebook for it. “There’s always more to put in.”

In addition to the book, Elizabeth Bell offers a Holy Week slide presentation on Tuesday, April 7 at 6 p.m. at El Sitio, 5a calle poniente #15, and a carpet tour on Good Friday at 6 a.m. Info: 7832-5821

Cover from Nazarenos de Guatemala by José Carlos Flores

Measuring 13×13, it is cloth bound and printed in Guatemala City by Print Studio.

“This book attempts through the various photographs to carry our faith to the hearts of Guatemalans who live here as well as those who presently reside abroad. The most important ingredient of this work is the love of God, faith and devotion.”
—José Carlos Flores L., March 2009

“ISTMO” Featuring unique views of Central America

With stunning aerials by internationally acclaimed photographer Ange Bourda, a new book featuring unique views of Central American sights, including volcanoes, beaches and rainforests, will debut in Guatemala in January 2009.

Titled ISTMO (Isthmus), the colorful hardcover book contains 160 remarkable photos by Bourda, a widely published French photographer who considers Guatemala his adoptive home. In his own words, the accomplishment of this book has meant “the discovery of the extraordinary and unique region, with resources never before available and presented across revealing images that impose and confirm the height and depth of a Central America that is revealed as a new world in the dawn.”

The book reflects Central America as a region, integrated geographically, culturally and economically, in which all of its countries share a united future throughout their similarities.
The objective is to show a new vision of the region, including its natural, material and spiritual richness, and to give the isthmus an international relevance never seen before. The visual creativity and rich writing form the pillars of this exquisite work.

In addition to Bourda’s photography, the book contains narrative written by Rubén Nájera, an award-winning Guatemalan writer whose work has been published in Guatemala, Mexico, Cuba and France. María Isabel Quezada designed the book; Quezada, a graduate of Moore College of Art in Philadelphia, handled design and graphical production of several coffee-table books. Evelina González de Herrera was in charge of general coordination and executive production.

The book contains five chapters:
1. At Dawn: introduces the reader to the adventure of the book.
2. The Great Perspective: presents great sights from the isthmus itself.
3. Memoirs of Fire: photographs inspired by volcanoes in the region.
4. Between Two Seas: photos of the Pacific and Atlantic oceans, rivers and lakes.
5. Inhabiting the Earth: how people have developed the earth in order to subsist.

Proceeds from ISTMO benefits the Compañero en Salud, an NGO which helps bring health and medical care to people in extreme poverty in Guatemala. Since its beginning in 2004, Compañero en Salud has helped over 20,000 patients receive medical treatment. The publication was made possible in part by TACA airlines.

For more information contact Evelina González or Yazmín de Pérez at: 2366-1872 or 5460-8666 or email: yazymau@hotmail.com.