A Random Parade of Sorts
ByAnother treat for readers now that the Blackberry has given up her data to the safety of my hard drive. About six weeks ago I was going north on 2nd Ave south of Calle Susia (that’s 9th Calle) when traffic on this tiny one-way road came to a halt. There wasn’t the normal honking and yelling, so I figured something was up. I got out of the car and walked north and ran into a bizarre sight; people in costumes wandering around in the street with music blaring.
People were coming out of their houses to watch, and after about 10 minutes the truck holding the loudspeakers moved about a block north, and they resumed the party all over again. Locals hanging in windows and door frames seemed to appreciate the event. Does anyone have an idea what this is all about?
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7 Comments
November 10th, 2009 at 3:08 pm
It is a convite. Though part of a religious celebration, it is not as ritualistic or exclusive as other dances like la Conquista, Venado, Torito, etc. The dancers go from house to house where they have been invited, dance in front of the house, go inside the house to drink and eat and hit the next one. It's really fun to see them near the end of their "pilgrimage."
November 10th, 2009 at 4:13 pm
What a shame, I don't see a single "convite" mask around that "convite". But I guess is too much to ask, if now even the streets are renamed and "Calle Sucia" has become "Calle Susia"… In about 50 years "La Antigua" will be known either as "Old Town" or "Altstadt".
November 10th, 2009 at 12:22 pm
It is a “convite.” I didn’t know either and then this weekend ran into two of those, with giant puppets, acrobats and all sorts of street performers, music, etc. People joining the parade and dancing, etc. Convite means invitation so I assume … don’t know if rightly so … that it is an invitation to some event like a fair or whatever. I wonder if they are common to this season.
November 10th, 2009 at 7:05 pm
Duende, this is what convites look like nowadays. There´s even one made up of only ladies from Cantel, if I remember correctly. Costumes range from cartoon characters, like the ones in the picture, to Norse gods, movie and political characters.
http://www.prensalibre.com/pl/domingo/archivo/rev...
November 10th, 2009 at 9:46 pm
Thank you Cristina. Originally, "Convites" have its roots in Spain and were women driven only, hence the masks. The aberration of using cartoon characters started developing in the 60's, but now the whole tradition is off, not a single "Convite" mask around.
An original "Convite" mask can be seen here:
http://www.masksoftheworld.com/Europe/Guatemala/G...
November 10th, 2009 at 9:51 pm
You're right Trudy. It's not only by invitation, but by previous agreement since the whole "show" in a house can cost you around 500 GTQ.
They're usually common previous to and during a procession.
November 11th, 2009 at 1:53 am
I rather like the new costumes. I once saw a convite where Osama bin Laden was paired with Satan. It was hilarious.