I recently traveled with my daughter to Guatemala to attend the spectacular Festival de Barriletes Gigantes (Giant Kite Festival) which takes place every year on Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) in the small Mayan village of Sumpango, about a 30 minute drive north of Antigua. The festival attracts thousands of people from all over the country as well as many tourists from all over the world. After reading about the festival several months back and seeing images of these remarkable kites, I decided to make the trip.
The practice of flying kites during the Day of the Dead goes back several thousand years. It is believed that the kite (or “barrilete”) creates a connection of communication between the spirits of the dead and their families here on Earth. Some also believe that the kites frighten away disruptive spirits and assure a peaceful reception for the ancestors.
In Sumpango, kite makers (“barrileteros”) work in teams for months from after work to late in the evening to prepare the kites (some as large as 60 feet!) for the festival, which takes place on November 1. The kites resemble giant paintings, similar to a giant mural you would see in Miami’s Wynwood Art District or the Bushwick Collective in Brooklyn. They are made, however, not with paint or spray cans but using layers of hand-cut, colored paper, the same type of thin paper used to line gift boxes(!). The kites are then folded up and taken to the festival where they are fastened to large bamboo poles for display or for flying.
Enjoy the photographs…
Attendees making their way to the festival via the Sumpango public cemetery…
Behold! The kites – in all shapes and sizes…
Giant kite being prepared to be raised…
Vendors inside and outside the festival grounds…
As the kites began to fly, this festival really “took off”! It really can’t be illustrated as well in photographs as it can with a video. So check out the video, shot and edited by my alter ego Dan Perez Films, click HERE then come on back, ya hear?
Día de los Muertos
At the end of the day, the Giant Kite Festival is all about celebrating Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) and after the festival we returned to Sumpango’s public cemetery where families had gathered to pay their respects to their departed loved ones (you can view that set of photographs HERE).
In all, our time spent in Sumpango was very special. The Giant Kite Festival was amazing and watching the families celebrating Día de los Muertos in Sumpango’s dusty public cemetery was quite a spiritual experience. And then there was Guatemala’s rich yet troubled indigenous history on display everywhere we went in Sumpango. It made for quite a father-daughter trip and one we’ll never forget.
Special thanks to Julio Roberto Asturias Chiquitó of the Asociación Barriletes Hijos del Viento Guatemala for all his support and hospitality.
Click the image below to see full set of images from Sumpango’s Día de los Muertos
And check out my images from Antigua by clicking the image below
