Guatemala Events and Festivals

12/21/2009 - 12/21/2009St Thomas' Festival

Chichicastenango is a town famous for its market - a dense sprawl of stalls filled with colourful weavings and Guatemalan crafts. A honeypot to tourists on market day, it is also famous for its Festival of Saint Thomas before Christmas. Highland Indians pour into the town to participate in a sometimes frenzied day of celebrations. Each village has its own colourful traditional dress, and many have their own language, too. Gathered together here, they form a vibrant mix, celebrating with many forms of music and dance while firecrackers discharge and thick clouds of incense drift across the scene. Effigies of saints weave their way bizarrely through the confusion, and in one particular dance, masked dancers perform the "baile de la conquista", in which they satirise the conquering Spaniards. A great deal of alcohol is consumed, fuelling the faintly unreal sensation that prevails throughout.