The villagers of Santiago Sacatepéquez and Sumpago, in Sacatepéquez are preparing for the celebration of the Day of the Dead, where they will take their peace messages up to the clouds, showing a new display of art and folklore with their gigantic kites.

The villagers of Santiago Sacatepéquez carry out the exhibition and flying of kites in the local cemetery.

The inhabitants of Santiago Sacatepéquez, tired of the bad harvests, sicknesses and other unfortunate events that were happening, consulted the people's spiritual guide and he was able to solve the mystery.  Perverse spirits were disturbing the peace, not only of those buried in the local cemetery, but also of the living who could not find an explanation for their ruin.

One of the biggest kites that will be exhibited in Santiago Sacatepéquez is this one, elaborated by the Ajpú group with a diameter of 15 meters.

"If you elaborate some kites and fly them up to the sky, the sound produced by the crashing of the wind against the paper will make the bad spirits go away", advised the spiritual guide. And so they did and the panorama changed for the people of Santiago. This legend that is transmitted from generation to generation tells them how from this day on, the dead were able to rest in peace and the villagers could calmly live their lives.

A similar history is repeated only eight kilometers away, in Sumpango. To make sure they are free of negative influences, each November 1, the villagers of both towns take their prayers up to heaven using kites of big dimensions, with motives and techniques that have evolved throughout the years.

According to Mynor Antonio Choxin, cultural promoter of Santiago, there are no records of when the tradition of the big kites started, but their origins go way back into the past century. The existing data indicates that already in the year 1945 they elaborated light structures of paper and reed, with a diameter of one meter. Up to this day, the biggest kite ever elaborated measured 16 meters of diameter.

More than fifteen years ago, the Santiago Association for Cultural Development, ASODEC for its acronym in Spanish, and the City Hall of Sumpango carry out every year, contests to stimulate the creativity and persistence of the "barrileteros" (those who manufacture kites). In Santiago the exhibition and kite flying is carried out in the cemetery, while in Sumpango the scenery is the football field.

Something that has been helpful in preserving the tradition is theinterest of the young ones in the fabrication of the so called"messengers of peace". In Santiago as well as in Sumpango, teenagersand young adults start working in August or September and sacrificemany hours of sleep for the sake of this art, which consists in thecreation of complicated mosaics with china paper.

The groups choose a different theme for each year and reveal it the dayof the presentation. They can have cultural, social and ecologicalmotives. Besides hundreds of china paper sheets, the giant cometsrequire a cane structure built with bamboo cane. This structure isassembled the night of October 31 in the place of the exhibition andthe huge paper panel is adjusted to it using hemp and mooring wire.

The cost of a kite with more than 12 meters has been calculated to anapproximate of Q40,000.00 considering the manpower. Most of the groupscontribute with their own resources to acquire the materials.

The kite tradition is accompanied by another ancient practice known asb'ojoy nayé which in kaqchikel means "the old woman's pot". The membersof the brotherhood visit the houses of the catholic inhabitants and oneach house they receive cooked vegetables such as corn, güisquiles orgüicoy.

The cofrades (brothers) request them to bring out the oldest pot;together they shout in a choir: "b'ojoy nayé", and smash it on thefloor with the purpose of cleaning the house from negative influences.This lasts all night long, until the early hours of the morning. Afterfinishing with the "cleaning" they assist to the 6 o'clock mass and atthe end they share the food received during the whole night.

Byron and Moises Anona and Sergio Cubur, members of the Cucuy group, presented on November 1, a kite with a diameter of 12 meters.

Santiago Sacatepequez is located at 34 kilometers from the Capital Cityof Guatemala. The more direct access will be through the road locatedin kilometer 32 of San Lucas Sacatepequez, where the market andrestaurant area is.  If you want to reach Sumpango use theInter-American road and cross on the left when reaching kilometer 42.

-Besides the traditional fiambre, on November 1, in Santiago you cantaste the pulique. In Sumpango the traditional dishes are pepián andchicken stew.
-In Santiago, parking areas are enabled in places close to the cemeteryand the same thing in Sumpango, near the football field. Since it is aday were thousands of visitors contemplate the show, precautions mustbe taken.