November 1st is the Dia de Los Muertes, the Day of the Dead. To celebrate, the Guatemalan people fly kites to chase away the evil spirits. We went to a festival near Antigua, it was one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen in my life - I don't think I can do it justice trying to explain, hopefully the pictures speak for themselves. The kites are all handmade with tissue paper, tiny pieces collaged together to make these absolutely enormous and incredibly detailed and vibrant kites. We helped a man work on one earlier this week and we just glued it together, row by row of tiny little triangles of tissue paper. When the kite is finished the smaller ones are backed with big, flat peices of white tissue paper and then glued onto a bamboo frame. The giant ones were backed with what looked like big peices of black plastic bag. At the festival kites are just flying up all over the place, you see a little kid running with a monstrous ball of rope and then all of a sudden a giant kite is swooping toward your head. Lots of clothes-lined and dive-bombed disoriented bystanders. Hilarious people watching:) Hands down one of the coolest things i've seen yet.
No comments:
Post a Comment