Guatemalan Kites

I recently discovered the Guatemalan Kite tradition associated with Day of the Dead and I fell in love with it! This information below is from: http://www.cnn.com/2016/11/02/world/barriletes-gigantes-guatemala/index.html

Huge, colorful kites are soaring over the skies of Guatemala as hundreds of people gather in cemeteries to honor their dead.

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The main objective of the cultural and religious tradition is to honor the dearly departed in a spectacle of color and allow the younger generations to express their art by painting the giant kites.

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Giant kites festival by Rolando Estrada – The Barriletes Gigantes festival is celebrated every year on the first and second of November in Guatemala.

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The Barriletes Gigantes festival is one of the region's main cultural events. On All Saints' Day, the people of Sacatepequez fly the giant kites, painted by hand, over the graves of their family members while they pray and deposit flowers.

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One of the greatest challenges is keeping the kites in the air, due to their weight and size. The largest kites have a diameter of 15 meters. Young men and children join together in teams to launch the kites and compete amicably with each other as everyone wants to keep their kite flying for as long as possible.

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The tradition goes back to the pre-Colombian era, before the appearance of European influences on the American continent. It has evolved through time to incorporate Christian religious traditions, and was declared part of Guatemala's cultural heritage in 1999.

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The giant kites often contain messages aimed at inspiring the living to be friendly to each other and work towards peace. The motifs drawn on the giant kites are not a way of communicating with departed souls, but a way for the people of Sacatepequez to express themselves artistically.

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The main objective of the cultural and religious tradition is to honor the dearly departed in a spectacle of color and allow the younger generations to express their art by painting the giant kites.