Guatemala English language Magazine
“Three tectonic plates meet in Guatemala and the result is a wild and crazy adventure park with high and beautiful mountains, crater lakes and hundreds of volcanoes to form the spine of the country.” This is one of the best descriptions of Guatemala I have found was recently posted by Vanderbilt University archaeologist Arthur Demarest in “Five Things I Love […]
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Guatemala and Cuba have ties that go back to the first arrivals of the Spanish to Guatemala in 1524. The conquerors used Cuba as a stepping stone to access Mexico and a greater part of the New World. Guatemala’s conqueror, Pedro de Alvarado, had been in Mexico with Cortes. After finding very little gold in Guatemala, an export economy was […]
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Teachers have a particularly difficult job in Guatemala as few resources are allotted to public schools. In theory, education is free and compulsory through sixth grade. Books, busing and uniforms are not free and result in higher drop out levels. Today, about 4 million children are enrolled out of a total population of 15.8 million people. Education in colonial times […]
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With Teacher’s Day celebrated in Guatemala on June 25, we recognize teachers’ hard work and the difficulties of education in Guatemala. Many visitors ask if public education is free in Guatemala. Well, “yes” — but school supplies, uniforms and transportation are not. Public schools have little funding as Guatemala has one of the lowest investment rates per child/per school day […]
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Century-old hermandades using social media to increase carrier participation. Lent is here with Ash Wednesday celebrated on March 1. All of the Lenten activities are designed and organized by hermandades. Traditionally, men and boys are in their grandfather’s hermandad and women and girls in their grandmothers’ hermandad. With processions in many of the surrounding areas and all of the active […]
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Another generation creating centuries-old Christmas traditions in La Antigua by crafting ceramic art. The Rodenas family has been well known in La Antigua Guatemala for centuries for making ceramics. Don Francisco Rodenas made loza (ceramic dishes) and added an innovation at that time as he began to make miniature items, including toy figures that were then painted and became popular […]
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A Dream Come True for the Obras Sociales del Santo Hermano Pedro Residents. The pilgrimage for resident patients with multiple disabilities from their home at the Hospital del Santo Hermano Pedro in La Antigua Guatemala to Virgen del Socorro—on the road to Santa María de Jesús—was an event celebrated by many with great jubilee on Dec. 3 of 2016! The […]
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LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION! With all the rave for “Ixcanul,” which was submitted as the Guatemalan entry for Best Foreign Language Film (Kakchikel) for the 88th Academy Awards airing this month, we focus on filmmaking in Guatemala. While Ixcanul was not nominated for the Oscars, it has won dozens of awards internationally. With our own actors from nearby Santa María de […]
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GUATEMALA INSIGHT. by Elizabeth Bell, author/historian. Guatemala honors all of the dead on All Saint’s Day (Nov. 1) and holds services on the Day of the Dead (Nov. 2) How cultures honor and bury their dead has been of great intrigue for millennia. While the ancient Maya buried their deceased under their houses or temples, the Spanish brought other traditions with […]
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Guatemala Insight — by Elizabeth Bell, author/historian. With the celebration of Independence Day on Sept. 15, national symbols, which include the ceiba tree, come to our attention. The ceiba was declared the national tree of Guatemala in 1955 at the request of the botanist Ulises Rojas. This was, in part, because of its importance to the Maya. Today ceiba trees are protected […]
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Guatemala Insight by Elizabeth Bell. With the passing of Laura Mora (1923-2015), famed paintings and mural paintings conservator who taught us about the importance of the history of colors at ICCROM (International Centre for the Conservation and Restoration of Monuments) in Rome, it brings to life again the importance of exceptional professors and mentors who move us to a new […]
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Lent and Holy Week celebrations in La Antigua Guatemala can be a bit overwhelming at best. Over the years, I have learned some great tips to enjoy the more than 50 activities during this time of year. Some of them are: Plan ahead and allow plenty of time. Know the times and locations of the velaciones and processions. City Hall […]
Read moreby Elizabeth Bell. Guatemala’s current flag has flown over the skies of Guatemala since Aug. 17, 1871, although independence from Spain was signed on Sept. 15, 1821. Colonial banners and flags were quite popular before independence and usually incorporated a red and yellow color combination similar to the Spanish flag. In 1822, the Mexican flag flew in Guatemala during […]
Read moreby Elizabeth Bell, author/historian. Francisco Marroquín (1499-1563) was the first bishop of Guatemala and the country’s first linguist. Born near Santander, Spain, he studied philosophy and theology and was a professor at the University of Osma. He became a Dominican priest and was at the Spanish royal court where conqueror Pedro de Alvarado met him in 1528 and persuaded him to […]
Read moreLa Antigua maintains its holiday in honor of St. James on July 25th, and the celebration begins now! by Elizabeth Bell. It’s fiesta time again in La Antigua Guatemala! July 25th is our patron saint’s day—St. James—as the city was founded as Santiago de Guatemala. St. James was an apostle, the conquerors’ patron saint and is Spain’s patron saint today. […]
Read moreThere are many “hidden” mermaids throughout town, can you find them? The most famous mermaids are those on the Fountain of the Mermaids in the Central Park originally built by Diego de Porres in 1739, inspired from the fountain of Neptune in Bologna, Italy. As reported by Dr. Miguel Torres in his recent research on the topic, there are many […]
Read moreAntigua recently surpassed Seville, Spain as having the largest Easter Week celebration in the world today! In 1524 the conquerors had barely set foot in Guatemala when they introduced their traditions for Lent and Semana Santa from Seville, Spain. These have evolved over the centuries and Antigua recently surpassed Seville as having the largest celebration in the world today! Carpet […]
Read moreSince 1992, much effort has been dedicated to preserving Antigua with an eye toward finding a balance between preservation and economic development. It is sometimes difficult to remember how abandoned the city truly was. After the 1773 earthquake, most residents did not want to move to muddy empty lots in Guatemala City during the rainy season. It took a royal […]
Read moreRewriting history When the Universidad Francisco Marroquin acquired the Casa Popenoe from the Popenoe family in 2007, we never imagined that, through its historical research, the university would rewrite the house’s history. Dr. Arq. Alberto Garín, curator, has done a fabulous job of just that! Meticulously going through the Popenoe family records and interviewing Dr. Marion Popenoe Hatch, he has […]
Read more“When I first viewed the ancient manuscripts in the early 1980s, I was surprised at the beauty of the music and decided to devote efforts to its revival.” —Dr. Dieter Lehnoff Far from modern Christmas carols in English made popular by Bing Crosby and José Feliciano, villancicos are a common poetic and musical form from Spain that date back to […]
Read moreGuatemala has some of the finest wood sculptures in the world, certainly surpassing those of other Spanish American regions and many artists in Spain. A recent lecture at the Universidad Francisco Marroquin in Guatemala City by Philippe Malgouyres from the Louvre Museum brought light to the importance of Guatemalan sculpture, particularly throughout the 17th and 18th centuries. He suggests that […]
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Antigua Guatemala was included as No. 65 in the United Nation’s Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization’s World Heritage List during the World Heritage Convention’s Third Session in October 1979 in Luxor, Egypt. Today there are 981 sites that the World Heritage Committee considers as “having outstanding universal value… the protection, management, authenticity and integrity of properties are also important considerations.” […]
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September 15 is best known for the civic ceremonies, children’s marching band parades and marathons with Olympic-style torches as Guatemala celebrates its independence from Spain (1821). Spanish America declared independence between 1808 and 1826 and many efforts were intertwined. While women participated behind the scenes—influencing family members and friends at home—some outstanding women also participated openly. Before independence, Guatemala included […]
Read morePhones. Yes, phones. Many visitors comment on how Antigua must have changed so much since I arrived in 1969. That was also the year that one of the first Spanish schools formally began (Proyecto Lingüístico Francisco Marroquín) and when the Protective Law for the Protection of La Antigua Guatemala was passed by the Guatemalan Congress. In 1969, a few houses […]
Read moreAntigua’s architecture is remarkable. The capital, known as Santiago de Guatemala, was founded by the Spanish (1541) in what was then a remote valley, after the previous capital was inundated by floods and mudslides. Water, climate and fertile soil were the main factors in deciding its new location. In 1543, shortly after celebrating the first city council meeting, there was […]
Read moreA common question I receive is about property measurements, probably expecting the short answer as whether we use feet (imperial system) or meters (metric system). No easy answers here. When the Spanish came in 1524, European measurements were based on Marcus Vitruvius’ (80-70 BC—15 AD) “De Architectura,” known today as the “Ten Books of Architecture.” According to Vitruvius, architecture is […]
Read moreFormer City Council member, Edgar Ruiz, gets the official green light to move the town forward. It’s official! Edgar Ruiz, who was a City Council member, was approved by Guatemala’s Tribunal Supremo Electoral (TSE), as interim mayor on March 20. He had been acting mayor since Sept. 17, 2012 and, with his new official title, will have more of a […]
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Close to 10 years ago, while admiring some Christmas decorations at San José Catedral in Antigua, I was astonished at the poor state of preservation of the colonial paintings. All of the original colonial art had been moved to the new capital in 1773, except for the 1680 paintings of the apostles by Mexican artist Juan de Correa (1646-1716). Restored […]
Read moreAntigua used to be second to Seville, Spain for its Lenten celebration until recently. It is now considered the largest celebration in the world with 50 activities during the 40 days of Lent. In March processions fill the streets of Antigua with the fragrance of incense, pine needles, flowers and coroso (a pod also used for carpet making). The increase […]
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The new phrase for the XII International Paiz Festival is very appropriate as Guatemala has launched itself into a new era with the 13 Baktun, progress in democracy and even with its first medal at the recent Olympics! While the Paiz Festival has been bringing some of the best cultural activities to Antigua since the 1970s, this month we look […]
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