Alfombras sawdust tapestries are a centuries old tradition - an artistic and religious expression of gratitude for blessings throughout the year brought from Spain to the Americas. They are created with sawdust laid directly on the streets for a church procession that happens on Good Friday leading up to Easter. Many hours are required to create the tapestries that disappear under the footsteps of the religious procession only hours after they have been created.
Weeks before Easter the SISE (San Ignacio & Santa Elena) House of Culture sets to the task of preparing for the creation of these intricate sawdust tapestries known as alfombras in the Spanish and, eventually, Central American traditions. In Belize they are called sawdust tapestries It is indeed a labor of love that requires the thoughtful coordination by the Director Karla Pinelo, who organized the hauling of many pounds sawdust from local mills to the community center one evening. Once it arrives with a team of volunteers led by the SISE Puede ("Yes You Can") Girls and SISE House of Culture staff, sieve huge sacks of sawdust to prepare it for dying. All of the preparation and tapestries has to be complete before the procession begins at Sacred Heart Church in the early evening on Good Friday - moving through the streets of San Ignacio and Santa Elena.
Three weeks leading up to the actual creation of the tapestries elementary and high school students filed into the House of Culture to volunteer to manually sieve or sift the mountains of sawdust from their sacks through mesh trays led by the SISE Puede girls. A dozen youth gathered after school into the evening to lovingly prepare the sawdust for dyeing in the upcoming days. Overlooking San Ignacio from beneath the protected porch of the House of Culture, the students enjoyed joking with each other while sifting in the cool afternoon breezes, that surprisingly didn't disrupt the sifting process. With big black buckets collecting the sifted sawdust in teams the students then hoisted those into huge plastic bags ready to be dyed in the coming days.
Around the same time, the student groups coordinating the creation of the tapestries or alfombras met at the House of Culture to create their elaborate stencils for 6 foot width to up to 40 feet in length tapestries, in some cases. They drew out their designs then spread out on the floor of the main community space, they went to work using utility knives to cut precise lines into thick cardboard to create their designs. Sacred Heart Junior College and the SISE Puede girls shared their design ideas as well as photos of last years phenomenal floral 40 foot design. In discussion ambition ideas emerged this year for a stained glass theme as they managed the challenges of laying out and cutting their designs.
In the two weeks leading up to the dyeing process, a team of volunteers coordinated in advance led by the SISE House of Culture staff. The team came together setting up tables, large buckets, boiling water, vinegar, salt and the main ingredient - dyes. The bins were filled with sawdust and then dye was added to the mix, followed by hot water with vinegar added. With rubber gloves and masks volunteers and staff folded the dye into the sawdust until well mixed then added salt as a mordant. Large flat cardboard sheets were laid out to spread the dyed sawdust to dry overnight. As the rains and winds arrived we moved all the cardboard sheets indoors as the evening approached. It was a beautiful dance of team work. Everything would be ready in time for the morning of Good Friday to begin creating the tapestries for the procession that evening.
We learned that the teams started creating their tapestries around 10 am on the morning of Good Friday and said it took only 3 hours to lay them out completely. By the time we arrived in the evening they were awaiting the arrival of the procession that had already crossed the Bridge over to Santa Elena by 5 pm. On our stroll through Santa Elena, on the blocked off street near JJ Furniture, we saw the tapestries were intact awaiting the arrival of the procession. The San Ignacio High School and Jaguar Clubs were beautifully represented and some of the girls from the high school beamed with pride when we asked if they had created the tapestry.
On the evening of Good Friday the many extraordinary flourishes of designs in vivid colors lit up the evening streets of San Ignacio and Santa Elena in preparation for a devout procession from Sacred Heart church through the two towns and back to the church. Over 30 tapestries were created between the two towns with some connected in a continuous carpet down Far West Street. It was quite a divine site to behold and experience this beauty of the annual event of loving devotion.
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