The Sawdust Carpets of Suyapa

For decades, the community of Aldea de Suyapa has followed in a Latin American tradition of creating an Easter procession route through their community, marked by a series of sawdust carpets, designed and created by local youth. This is a tradition dating back hundreds of years, with strong continuity in Mexico and Central America. 

During the months leading up to Good Friday, the community’s Catholic youth collect dozens of cubic meters of sawdust from local sawmills, sift that sawdust into plastic bins, and then separate the batches by dyeing them a variety of different colors. Selected youth will then team up to draw out several 10’ x 20’ artistic depictions of scenes from religious history on large spreads of paper, indicating the colors to be used in each part of the drawing.

The Thursday night before Good Friday, the community closes the procession route to transit, and the youth take to the streets to paint their respective canvases along the Easter procession route. The community is out all night, bringing the young leaders hot chocolate, oatmeal, and coffee as they pour dyed sawdust onto their sketched out drawings. It’s a time of bonding, coming of age, tradition, and unity for the young Catholic residents of Suyapa. 

Over the past several years, Trees, Water & People partner COEAS (Ecological Committee of Aldea de Suyapa) has had its own carpet on the procession route. Young people who work to protect the reserve designed a beautiful depiction of their beloved Triquilapa Mountain, which has provided the community with water, fuel, timber and biodiversity for hundreds of years. This is one way TWP and COEAS create awareness of the work we’re doing together, and encourage more young people to protect their local environment. 

Onward Suyapa youth! Your efforts are noticed and will reverberate for generations to come.