I knew about the civil war in Guatemala and I knew it was bad in the 80’s and I’m old enough to remember Central America Solidarilty Newtworks working for change and big bad Oliver North, but I didn’t expect some 35 plus years later to still have the war be such a big part of the story. (Sidenote - this war thing has got to end). I was in Guatemala to learn about textiles not about a sad part of US overseas involvement. But there it was and hard to ignore.
This war went on for over 30 years. This means entire generations in some parts of the country just didn’t go to school. Think about that. It also means collective PTSD and when I ask a guide about the war, he suggests I google it. You can’t really blame him. Why should he want to relive this trauma every Sunday when the tourist shows up with their endless questions? I did google it and you can go here if you’d like to learn more. Trigger warning - just about every bad thing you can imagine happening does, in fact, happen.
On the north side of the graveyard, away from the big, gaudily painted mausoleums, and the hustle and bustle of a busy Sunday including the families visiting their loved ones, the tiny packs of tourists and the shamans hard at work with incense and prayers, there’s a peaceful, shady knoll with grassy mounds and pine needles and crosses.. This is Chichicastenango’s version of the tomb of the unknown soldier. Except they weren’t soldiers, they were hundreds of innocent peasants slaughtered and buried in mass graves during the US sponsored civil war.. The people of this community felt it was important to give their dead a proper burial and so dedicated part of their municipal cemetery for that purpose. They’ve created a hauntingly beautiful sea of several hundred blue and green crosses to honor these unknown innocents. Their story deserves to be remembered.
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