postscript to earlier post on "Feria del Barrilete Gigante", Guatemala

Several people got in touch after our recent post June 9 about the "Feria del Barrilete Gigante" in Sumpango and Santiago Sacatepequez, Guatemala. Each year on All Saints Day enormous, colourful and spherical kites made from tissue paper take to the skies.  People asked, "What happens to the kites afterwards?".  After the kites have delivered their messages to the ancestors and cleansed the air of negative spirits, they return to Earth.  Villagers gather the surviving kites together for the final chapter in this November 1st "Dia de los Muertos" Day of the Dead ceremony.  Then the surviving kites are burned and their ashes are scattered in the cemetery on the tombs and graves of the departed, thus coming 'full circle'.  

Henri van Bentum