Guatemala
NEWSLETTER
No.09
November - Dicember 2014 Servicios turisticos Centro America S.A.
Los Cuchumatanes Huehuetenango, Guatemala Photo por Octavio Lopez TOURISM ww w. adrenali
na
to urs.
co m
Luna de Miel Guatemala
Op reis met Thijs
2 NEWSLETTER
NEWSLETTER
SERVICIOS TURISTICOS C.A.
SERVICIOS TURISTICOS C.A.
How Christmas and New Years Are Celebrated In Quetzaltenango.
T
o our visitors, we will tell you how Christmas and New Years are celebrated in Guatemala.
These celebrations are more of a family environment to us Guatemalans, since we are warm-hearted human beings. Before any celebration, one writes down all that will be necessary for these nights. For Christmas, our famous Tamales (made from rice) are prepared. There are two kinds of Tamales, Los Colorados (Red) and Los Negros (Black); Los Colorados are Tamales made of beef, chicken or pork, however the family prefers them. Los Negros are sweet, the dough is made of sweeten rice and the sauce is prepared from peanut and chocolate, which gives a delicious flavor. French bread or tortilla, a preference by the individual, accompanies each Tamal.
Fruits like apples and grapes are necessary on the dinner table. There is our famous Ponche De Frutas (Fruit Punch) made from chopped pineapple, coconut and dry fruits. Lastly, on the table there are cookies, alcoholic beverages and hot chocolate. The houses are beautifully decorates inside and out. Much of the decorations inside are fresh pine ferns sprinkled all over the floor, Pacaya leaves, fresh oranges with their stems, Corroso (fragrant flower) and strings of Manzanilla (small, orange-yellow fruit). The local community of Quetzaltenango makes each string of Manzanilla by hand, then sold in the local market. Also sold in the local market are white and green moss, and wild flowers grown particularly for the holiday season. The Christmas tree is
decorated with natural fruits. The Manger that is placed underneath the Christmas tree is decorated with colored sawdust (also sold in the market). The sawdust brings lively colors that are distinctive to our country and our region. Interchanging Tamales with family and friends is a “thank you� for another year, for having good health, for all the blessings received in all of our lives and for being blessed, having our loved ones at our side. Fireworks are burned on the streets from the first days of December. In our country, the fireworks are burned by all ages and everyone celebrates Christmas and New Years with many
fireworks. A custom that starts from the first to the sixth day is each twelfth hour is a month of the year. On the seventh day, each hour represents a month. A Mayan custom states that the weather that is present on each twelfth hour will represent the weather for that month. For New Years everyone will go with family and friends that live nearby, but before midnight, everyone will go to their homes and not miss the family reunion. To give midnight hugs, to wish our family and friends a blessed and prosperous New Year and to share traditional food for this time of the year. For those who love to dance and want to receive the New Years with music, you will have to leave and let the after party being with friends.
CHRISTMAS MARKET
Quetzaltenango
3
4 NEWSLETTER SERVICIOS TURISTICOS C.A.
Mayan Alters and Archeological Sites Around Quetzaltenango
10th day, Quej), from the calendar. The etymology comes from The Quiche’s Xe= underneath or by the foot of and Lajuj= ten, under the ten or by the foot of ten. Mentioned by the historian Fuentes and Guzmán in his book “Recordación Florida”, by the ends of the seventeenth century such designation was made because the city was divided by ten sections and a king governed each.
Archeological Site
CHOJOLOM Quetzaltenango The city is mentioned in relations to a war between K’iche’s and Kaqchikeles of 1552 with the name of Xelahuh, a name that it had in the times of King Quicab. In the Geographic Dictionary,
it affirms that maybe badly translated or other reasons the name was written as Xelahub. The text also adds that the town was formerly burnt by The Ah Chiyú, The Ah Chi Ckix, The Halic and The
Tabanal in which it was conquered by The Zotziles and The Tukuchés. In the Popol Vuh it was mentioned as Xelahuh.
“Culahá” (native language, known as Mam). Culahá means “Gorge Water”, maybe because the water falls from the tops of the mountains to the valley.
In 1558 before the city was dominated by The Quiches it was mentioned as
Before, the city was called “Xelajuj”, also “Xelahuh” and “XelahuhQuej” (or the
Besides the etymology given by The Quiches, there is a Mexican vocabulary word were the name “Quetzaltenango” comes from. The name means Quetzal=bird from the region and Tenango=place of or city of. The word combined means “City of Quetzals”.
Archeological Site Chojolom Chojolom is a small archeological site by the Mayan civilization located on the highlands of western Guatemala. The site is characterized by numerous stone sculptures that belonged to the Mayan culture of k’iche’ from the Postclassical Mesoamerican period (Approximately 900 - 1520 B.C.). Chojolom is located on a hill
in the municipal city of Cantel, in the department of Quetzaltenango. Decedents of the ethnic culture k’iche’ still live in the municipal to this day and form 93.8% of the local population. Cantel is located 10 km from the modern city of Quetzaltenango on Kilometer 217 on Highway CA2. It is believed that Chojolom was a ceremonial site for the Mayans. Chojolom means “by the head” from the language of k’iche’, from the root jolom “head”. The local historian Mariano Comejo, speculates that placing the stones sculptures and naming the hill the same is related. To this day three stone sculptures have been found, one of an armadillo, the other of a human head and the last one represents a Mayan deity. The stone sculptures were found when removing mud off them after a storm during 2010. One of the stone sculptures was found in a cave site. Found with the sculpture were bones and various ceramic pieces, probably from an offering. Also found were some pottery. A small mudslide occurred on October of 2010 and with that a small alter was discovered
underneath a root of a tree. The Armadillo statue is approximately 15 x 20 cm in size. The Nine Band Armadillo (Dasypusnovemcinctus) is native to the region of Cantel. The Armadillo statue was the first of the three found by the agriculturist Sebastián Sam. The Human Head statue is 50x50 cm in size. Was the second stone statue found in Chojolom. The Mayan deity is the largest; its size is 1.1x1.4 meters. It was the third to be found in the site. The Alter is 25x50 cm in size and it has carvings of circles, hills, human figurines and a deer. The Guatemalan Anthropologist Lina Barrios thinks the combination of six human figurines and a deer is a date from the Mayan Calendar.
6 NEWSLETTER SERVICIOS TURISTICOS C.A.
The Necrotour
A Cultural Walk Through The Cemetery of Quetzaltenango The Necrotour, a tour through the cemetery, a grand tradition in Europe were it is common of the tourists to visit the catacombs.
An important note is that part of the proceeds from the tour is used for preservation and renovation of the installations.
In Guatemala, small steps are being and some cemeteries have decided to open their gates to the curious and organize specific routes.
During The Tour, You Will Visit:
In Quetzaltenango, besides its obvious function, some understand that the cemetery is an architectural element of cultural importance and from there to convert it as a museum. So now, the cemetery is another tourist activity in the city. The Necrotour focuses on themes like architecture, history, art and symbols inside the cemetery and of course legends from the regions of Quetzaltenango. The Necrotours are generally made during a full moon, to see the beauty of the General Cemetery of Quetzaltenango; being the oldest working cemetery of Guatemala.
La Loma, a place dedicated for people of low income. You will also see the presidential mausoleum, some gothic chapels, Monuments of the Martyrs of the Revolution “Sexto Estado De Los Altos”; a period in which the city of Quetzaltenango got independence from Guatemala. The towers of “Sexto Estado” in honor of the martyrs of the revolution, important people of Quetzaltenango and local point of interest like the tomb of Vanushka, an icon inside the city in which the tradition involves anyone that leaves a rose on her tomb will find love. Approximately the tour is of two hours and in charge is the certified guide Augusto Ajca.