Cucuruchos

While the word cucuruchos now refers to the men who carry Semana Santa floats, the word originally meant a piece of cloth, paper or card that formed a cone, like the traditional hoods used for the processions. Its meaning has evolved over the centuries and is now used to talk about the actual person doing the carrying. Women who carry their own floats at different times are called Las Dolorosas.

The heavy floats have to be carried through the streets and people pay for the privilege. It's considered to be a form of penance, to wipe away your actions of the previous year and start anew. People come from all over the country to carry the floats in the larger cities.

Everyone who signs up to be a cucurucho will be measured at the shoulders and assigned a turno, or shift. These shifts last for one block. cucuruchos Since the floats weigh up to 7,000 pounds each, with anywhere from 40-140 people carrying them, it's very important that they are well balanced and everyone is replaced frequently.

The typical garb for the cucuruchos is a purple tunic which includes a white or purple headdress or hood. On the morning of Good Friday, the headdresses used are white. Then, from Friday afternoon, everyone switches to black robes and headdresses to symbolize mourning. A black lantern is also part of the costume. The tunics are custom made by seamstresses or tailors during the weeks leading up to the processions.

The tunics used today are influenced by those used by Christian pilgrims in Central Europe in the 9th century. The tunic design was made official in the 1100's thanks to San Francisco de Asis (St. Francis de Asissi). In the early days in Guatemala, during the 16th century, these special tunics were only used by monks and were quite similar to their every day habits. In 1596, in the procession Jesús de la Candelaria, the first cucurucho tunics were used by common folk. Not much has changed over the generations and tunics today are still very similar to those used five hundred years ago.

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