Parades, Marching Bands, and More - Cultural Week Celebrations
The week before last was a busy one, with our school celebrating a Semana Cultural or cultural week. Us English teachers donned some typical blouses and joined the rest of the Guatemalans in celebrating their culture.
Much like last year's, for each day of the week, we had a different activity. First up were folkloric dances. We had the adorable kids from Pre-K join us.
I sat with this cutie who was amused by the front camera of my phone.
Grade by grade, the students performed for the parents. There were some traditional dances, and others that were more story-like depicting a market day or a corn harvest.
The next day, we had rhythmic gymnastics. The little ones are always happy to smile for the camera.
Then it was time for the performances. There were a few that had a lot more flair than others, and some performances even poppers that emitted colored smoke.
The Kinder students participated in a sector-wide competition a few days before and bagged third place. They presented the same cute routine for us that day.
On Wednesday and Friday we had parades. On the Wednesday one, we joined all of the other schools in the sector, while the one on Friday was just our school. The kids were assigned really random costumes this year, with Kinder dressing up as superheroes on one day.
This year's parades were a lot more fun because we have our own marching band! The majority of the instruments are different kinds of drums, and then some glockenspiels.
On Friday, I headed to Antigua for the weekend. On my way, I saw a small antorcha happening along one of the main roads. The antorcha is a tradition that happens on the eve of independence day, where runners run with a torch to represent the run that was made by horsemen in 1821 from Guatemala City all the way to Costa Rica as Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica declared their independence. Nowadays, the runs are much smaller, held in the different communities, cities, and departments all over Guatemala. There is a main one that happens in the city center of Guatemala City, and I think these runners below were headed towards there.
Then along came Saturday, Independence Day. The sky was quite gloomy in Antigua, but it didn't stop people from going out into the streets to watch the numerous marching bands and parades. It was a festive atmosphere with the restaurants and stores displaying the flag, and people cheering on the bands.
At the Parque Central there were also some posters and banners up at the government buildings for protests, but there were no actual rallies or protests happening at that time.
It was a jovial week (and a chill one with no classes) watching Guatemalans celebrate their independence and love for their country.
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| 2018 English Team |
I sat with this cutie who was amused by the front camera of my phone.
Grade by grade, the students performed for the parents. There were some traditional dances, and others that were more story-like depicting a market day or a corn harvest.
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| Primero's Market Dance |
Kinder's Corn Harvest Dance
The Pre-K students wore some mini versions of the kites that are popular in the Giant Kite Festival held on November first (as seen at the end of this post).
The next day, we had rhythmic gymnastics. The little ones are always happy to smile for the camera.
Then it was time for the performances. There were a few that had a lot more flair than others, and some performances even poppers that emitted colored smoke.
The Kinder students participated in a sector-wide competition a few days before and bagged third place. They presented the same cute routine for us that day.
On Wednesday and Friday we had parades. On the Wednesday one, we joined all of the other schools in the sector, while the one on Friday was just our school. The kids were assigned really random costumes this year, with Kinder dressing up as superheroes on one day.
The Pre-K kids had some suits specially made for the day, and they looked adorable.
This year's parades were a lot more fun because we have our own marching band! The majority of the instruments are different kinds of drums, and then some glockenspiels.
Our baton twirlers were all dressed up in their attire too.
They had spent the last few weeks practicing (with a band teacher that we hired), and were finally able to show off their hard work.
On Friday, I headed to Antigua for the weekend. On my way, I saw a small antorcha happening along one of the main roads. The antorcha is a tradition that happens on the eve of independence day, where runners run with a torch to represent the run that was made by horsemen in 1821 from Guatemala City all the way to Costa Rica as Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica declared their independence. Nowadays, the runs are much smaller, held in the different communities, cities, and departments all over Guatemala. There is a main one that happens in the city center of Guatemala City, and I think these runners below were headed towards there.
Then along came Saturday, Independence Day. The sky was quite gloomy in Antigua, but it didn't stop people from going out into the streets to watch the numerous marching bands and parades. It was a festive atmosphere with the restaurants and stores displaying the flag, and people cheering on the bands.
At the Parque Central there were also some posters and banners up at the government buildings for protests, but there were no actual rallies or protests happening at that time.
Just lots and lots of marching bands coming from all over and somehow congregating at Parque Central.
This particular marching band was from a few days back, but still so much fun to watch, and an idea of what the whole day was like!
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