There are hundreds of villages in Guatelama that pass without notice most of the year. This village was the exception. Their fame came about during the religious festival of All Saints on November First. Many visitors flocked to Santiago Sacatepéquez to attend this observance.

It was at that time when the traditional kite flying event took place. The preparations began early, usually at the beginning of September, when the young men of the village applied all their free time in the laborious construction of giant picturesque kites as industriously and skillfully as their women who wove huipils.

First, one circle of colored paper was placed on the floor.; then they carefully glued together more concentric rows of diverse designs, until the whole design was impossible to fit inside a room.

The average dimensions of one of these kites was about five meters in diameter, but at times, one could and di exceed nine. Ten young men, more or less, collaborated in the production of each kite. Yet, even with so many involved, it took between six to eight weeks to finish the project. It was said that it was about the same amount of time their women used weaving a huipil. But this was like an adventure in avant-garde art. The kites lasted only one afternoon; the huipils, on the other hand, last for many years.

When November First finally arrived, the women of the village went, early in the morning, to the cemetery on the hillside just outside the village. Continuing an old tradition, they covered the tombs and mounds of earth that were the resting places of their loved ones with petals of a yellow flower called the "flower of the dead." At the same time, far below, in the patios of the village houses, the young men began the task of gluing the pieces of the kites to a well-built bamboo frame.

Half a day passed anxiously. When the breezes began to ruffle the hill-top vegetation which surrounded the village, the giant kites were transported to the cemetaries. There, upright on the ground, like shields in a vertical position, they lined the fence that bordered the cemetery at the lowest elevation. The young people waited for a favorable wind to raise their creation to the skies. They strung the guide lines up to the highest elevation of the hillside. Only when the breeze was strong enough, according to the judgement of each the psuedo-pilots, did the kites become airborne. Sometimes, a few kites hardly rose above the tombs but many times these creations soared heavenward, their silhouettes visible in the clear skies above the hills.

Clearly, this event did not lack excitement. Accidental breakage of the fragile framework occurred in the air; other kites fell in the corn fields of the neighboring valleys. Nevertheless, they completed their mission, that of carrying to their difunct loved ones a prayer and a tribute, equal to laying the flowers on the grave sites.

This traditional event no longer takes place because on February 4, 1976, Santiago Sacatepéquez was one of the towns that suffered most from the distasterous effects of an earthquake. Except for a few photos, the kite-flying days of the Guatamalan highlands will never be seen again. 

For Ancient Greek version of kites, see: Ancient Greek Kite-Making Technology