Semana Santa in Junin
Earlier this year I had plans to go up to Iquitos (Amazon Jungle) during Semana Santa because Peace Corps gives us free vacation days, however, with the current state of the coast vacations were cancelled. My silver lining was that my site, Tarma, is within the top 5 destinations for Semana Santa in Peru (number 2 on peruthisweek.com). What makes Tarma so popular during this time is the flower carpets that line the main streets. On the weekend of Holy Week, my plaza was filled with beautiful and detailed flower carpets and flower arches that reached the tops of the buildings.
Originally, I was planning on trying to do a Peace Corps alfombra (flower carpet), but sadly I did not have the funds. The cost of the carpets start at 500 soles, something I couldn’t really afford on a PC budget. Instead, I helped Austin, the PC volunteer leader in Junín and my site mate, who was helping his counterparts (EPS Sierra Central-sortof like the water department) with their alfombra. The sight of these carpets is breathtaking when you see all the details, especially when you understand the entire process behind the end product. The preparation includes: hours of depetaling flowers of all different colors, graphing out a design, making the borders and outlines with used coffee grounds, and finally the careful placement of the petals.
The crowds started filling the streets as early as Thursday night, it was weird seeing the streets I walk down daily filled with people. This somewhat prepared me for what was to come the next day. It was finally the day, we showed up in the afternoon and there was already crowds surrounding the marked off areas where in a few hours would be covered with colorful flower carpets. We started with the coffee ground outlines, which was tedious work making sure all the lines were the same thickness and straight. After an hour or so it was time to bring out the petals. This was probably the hardest part because you had to step in between the coffee outlines and try not to mix the petals. After the petals are in the right place someone uses a 2L bottle to sprinkle water on the petals to weigh them down. Overall, I would say it took up to 4-5 hours and that is not including the hours of depetalling the day before, but it was all worth it because the alfombra won first place in the Public and Private Institutions area! In total, 52 communities participated in the carpet competition on Friday, the areas included communities (districts and anexos), public and private institutions, and schools. After the judging was completed, a procession stomped through all the carpets and my heart ached a little seeing these beautiful carpets that took hours of work disappear under the feet of others. But tradition is tradition, and I knew that I would get another chance to see more carpets early Sunday.
Saturday, a few volunteers and myself decided to go check out another Semana Santa event in a fellow volunteer’s site up in high Junín (4,083m) by Lago Junín. We really lucked out (weather wise), because the clear skies allowed us to see all the surrounding mountains including well-known mountains from Ancash- Cordillera Huayhuash and Mt. Huascaran. Phil, the volunteer of Carhuamayo, assisted with this event that had boat rides and sports competitions.
I got back to site Saturday evening and went straight to bed in to prepare myself for getting up at 4:30 am the next morning. Early Sunday morning, 48 communities got up to start making their flower carpets as early as 2am. Once again, the streets of the plaza were covered with flower carpets and the sidewalks had makeshift pallets for the workers to nap.
I am grateful that I could be a part of this cultural experience and what an experience it was, from all the preparation to placing the petals in their designated areas. Semana Santa in Tarma was one for the books, it was amazing to see my home here during its main celebration and to see the City of Flowers covered in flower art.