Easter Petal Pathways

Celebrate Semana Santa the week before Easter! Recreate glorious Guatemalan street carpets—alfombras—with an explosion of color and textures.

• 1.

  In Guatemala, Semana Santa, the week before Easter, is filled with parades, ceremonies, and many traditional rituals. One of the most beautiful is the creation of alfombras. These are street carpets made with flower petals, pine needles, and dyed sawdust. They cover a path for many blocks.

• 2.

  Parades and ceremonies take place on top of a crafted carpet of traditional emblems and national symbols including the country’s crest. Sometimes Mayan designs are created, such as the quetzal. Find photographs of alfombras in books or on the Internet for inspiration.

• 3.

  Place recycled newspaper over your art area. Cover construction paper with Crayola® Washable Tempera and Paint Brushes. Make solid areas of vibrant Guatemalan flower-petal colors. Air-dry flat.

• 4.

  On more paper, outline designs for your alfombras with Crayola Erasable Colored Pencils. Remember to include a border and center designs as well as unifying graphics. Choose symbols that remind you of spring and that can be easily pieced together in a paper mosaic. If you change your mind, use the colored pencil eraser and redraw those areas.

• 5.

  With Crayola Twistables, lay down a base color, such as pine needles. Color in the designs.

• 6.

  Tear up or cut with Crayola Scissors the painted paper into petal shapes. You will use these for the mosaic parts of the path. With Crayola School Glue, stick the pieces inside the outlines, making designs with the different colors.

• 7.

  With Crayola Glitter Glue, highlight your designs and outlines. Air-dry flat.

• 8.

  Spread glitter glue with a brush across the whole paper so it looks like colored sawdust. Air-dry flat.

Benefits

• Students learn about Guatemalan Easter rituals and customs.
• Students gain an understanding of Guatemalan traditional color and design.
• Students create a mixed-media representative piece using paper mosaics, layered crayon, and glitter glue.

Adaptations

• Another Guatemalan tradition during Holy Week involves filling empty, painted eggshells with confetti to throw in celebration. Why not try it with plastic eggs?
• Many of the festivals in Guatemala blend Mayan and Spanish traditions. Discuss how and why this happens. Research where else these two cultures merge into a unique combination that is Guatemala.