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One unique tradition people in Santiago, Guatemala celebrates every 1st. of November to commemorate the spirits of their deceased loved ones is the flying of beautiful and colorful giant kite in the sky.

Locals from here built extravagant kites or barriletes gigantes and fly them high above the cemeteries as they say it’s a symbolic link between the living and the dead.

Even the graves are astonishingly beautiful too, painted in blue, pink and green all decorated with different kinds of flowers and loose flower petals are beautifully arranged to form soft carpets.

A traditional dish of the festival called Fiambre is cooked only once a year during the Day of the Dead celebration.

When it’s time for the spirits to return back to heaven, they once again release the giant kites in the sky for they believe that the kites will guide back their spirits but if the kites were torn by the wind, they are burned inside the cemetery in the hope that the rising smoke will guide the spirits back.

• Photo By: Renata Avila

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