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Prologue
Sawdust....street painting.... religious holiday.....beer drinking.... it's a Barrio party in the Sutiava neighbourhood of Leon.....
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We are on the hunt........for the sawdust carpets of Sutiava
....... it's a mysterious religious street festival in Leon..... somewhere in a local Barrio...in one of the original indigenous communities in this city...
Here, the streets are covered in sawdust, then painted with religious motifs from Holy Week to World Peace..it is a long tradition in many countries....
....the work of constructing, forming, painting is seen as an act of faith on the solemn day of Good Friday....the magnificent paintings are a 'holy carpet' for the evening church procession to walk on... and...they are ruined by the many feet...
As the sun sets....a street party begins.....the crowds descend...10's of thousands will pass through the several blocks dedicated to the carpets.
People come to view the finished creations... and eat...drink....renew friendships and make new ones...
Later, in the darkness, the Procession of Sadness..walks over the recently finished sawdust works.....it concludes an extraordinary day in the Barrio Sutiava, the original indigenous community of Leon and honouring Good Friday...
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In the still cool air of Good Friday morning, we head to the Sutiava Barrio by taxi. We arrive to a scene of organized chaos...people are hosing the streets..... building wood frames.....dumping bags of sawdust ....leveling. .....watering... ... packing........watering.....
It seems.....there's so little time to finish everything by 4 pm and so much to do. Some teams (family and friends) are well on their way to painting....while others are still building wood frames to hold the sawdust.
We meet Marvin almost as soon as we walk into the Sutiava neighbourhood in the morning. He instantly 'adopts' us and becomes our defacto tour guide/new friend for the day/evening. Amazing what happens when you ask where he got his beer...(Drink more for better understanding, we always say!)
Marvin's metal workshop with paint bags stored along side some of the iron works he and his sons make. One son is off to Canada/Quebec on a long term contract as a welder.
We spend the morning with Marvin, meeting family and his friends while watching the paintings take shape. The tradition started here when one family decided to adorn the street they lived on....from that time..it's grown...gotten bigger.....
The hours put into the planning and work, under the hot sun are a way of honouring Jesus Christ's Stations of the Cross.
Adios from Leon
Shayne y Yvonne
Additional Random Photos
Why....so many ......dots...
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