Chichicastenango, one of the colorful cemetery of Guatemala

3 min read

5 days ago Danilo

In Guatemala culture, afterlife is highly celebrated, and this cultural aspect is readily visible in their cemeteries.
Scattered throughout the countryside are in fact graveyards that feature tombstones painted as colorfully as possible, and friends and family members paint them using the favorite color of the departed as a way of honoring and remembering the dead.
One of them is located away from the town center of Chichicastenango, a highland town in the El Quiché department of west-central Guatemala, on a hill that is rarely touched by tourists, and it’s one of the most colorful cemeteries in the world.
Steeped in Mayan tradition, the vibrant style celebrates the afterlife, symbolizing different family roles, as well as a color-coded clue to the stories of the dead.

Featuring rows upon rows of painted crosses and tall mausoleums, the Cemetery is a perfect example of Guatemala’s brighter outlook on burials.
Many tombs are colored based on the person’s family status. For example, tombs may be painted white to represent purity, while graves of mothers are painted turquoise for protection, and grandfathers are marked in yellow to indicate that the golden sun will protect humanity.
Other graves break this more traditional mold, painted in lime green or red or simply the favorite color of the deceased.
In a town where the majority of the population is indigenous Mayan K’iche, this is also the home to a variety of rituals on Day of the Dead, including incense, alcohol, and the occasional chicken as offerings to the deceased.
Another tradition is the construction of giant kites of vibrant colors that are flown near the cemetery.
The locals believe that by flying kites with messages written on them they could communicate with the dead.
However, despite their vibrant colors and the beloved customs, Guatemala’s cemeteries also have a darker side.
Tombs are on lease, and if a family fails to pay rent, grave-cleaners may exhume the corpses, package the remains in plastic bags, and transfer them to mass graves in a practice that affects a large number of poor families.
While Roman Catholicism is the predominant religion, it remains infused with Maya ritual. The melding of pre-Columbian and Roman Catholic religions dates back to the 16th century, when Spanish conquistadors arrived in modern-day Central America and attempted to wipe out indigenous culture and, over centuries of colonialism, their beliefs became intertwined.

The Popol Vuh, a sacred ancient manuscript that documents the creation of humankind according to Maya cosmovision, was discovered right in Chichicastenango in the 18th century and continues still today to inform the beliefs and practices of the K’iche’ people.
According to the text , the dead dwell in the underworld of Xibalba, where they communicate with the living through dreams, but a person’s transition to the afterlife hinges on the observance of proper burial rituals.
If a body isn’t properly buried, the soul becomes trapped between the realm of the living and dead, and lines of communication are severed.
This superstition was sadly potent during the 36-year Guatemalan civil war (1960-1996) that claimed upwards of 150,000 lives and whose legacy lingers in the country’s collective memory.
During the brief presidency of Ríos Montt, later indicted for genocide, the Maya were declared “enemies” of the state and brutally massacred, many even dumped in mass graves without proper burial, leaving their families to mourn their disquiet spirits.
Traditionally, though, and luckily for believers, when these gravesites are discovered, special ceremonies are conducted to properly send them to afterlife.