It’s one or the other dude but either way I’m sure you’ll have a blast. At least in Sumpango which is one of several places here that celebrate Halloween…colorfully. More accurately, they celebrate El Dia de Muertos, a big festival from Mexico on down through central and South America. November 1st, the day of the dead. While Canadians and Americans stuff themselves with chocolate bars gathered from the night before, here they party big time. They do the Halloween thing like everywhere complete with lots of fireworks, but it’s November 1st that important. Families congregate in the cemeteries and celebrate the day with meals right in the graveyard.
In Sumpango, which is about a 30 minute bus ride north of Antigua, it’s also the festivales de barriletes gigantes (aka, day of f****g big kites!). It’s a way of scaring off bad spirits and communicating with departed loved ones. The tradition of kite flying for the dead goes back a few thousand years (all over actually) but here they do it…well, big. Picture this. Narrow street markets that are kilometers long filled with merchandise and food. Music blaring. Add in 130,000 locals and tourists and then shove them all into the grounds of an outdoor stadium where thousands of other people are trying to fly kites. The ones that are flying are easy to dodge but the ones that have or are about to crash are wrapped around poles, vendor booths, and necks and legs. Tangled strings everywhere. And this is the small normal kites. They get started early in the day after the graveyard feast and then the bigger ones come out later when the wind picks up and go until dusk. How big you ask. Anywhere from 2 to 30 meters! Here’s another picture. Crowded stadium, several hundred small kites, a few dozen selfie drones also flying around, a stage with live performers, loud music, general chaos, and a bunch of ‘teams’ trying to find space to launch the big guys. These things are made of a bamboo frame (and not smallish bamboo either) covered with cloth and paper. And they get prizes too for the biggest, most colorful, longest flying time etc.
When the kites actually get off the ground, they are a sight to behold. Spectacular. Lots of ohhhs and ahhhhs interspersed with cheers when one starts to falter and come down. But when they do come down, look out. Crushed vendor booths and possible free trips to the hospital.
This was definitely worth attending and if you like vendor food, there was lots! BBQ meat galore. Because we had paid for a shuttle there and back we didn’t get to see the kites flying at dusk. I’m sure that would have been even more impressive. On the other hand, we missed the lightning storm that rolled in later so…hundreds of kites, thousands of people, sheet lightning…maybe we don’t picture that.
