People visiting the graves of their deceased relatives on All Souls Day. Cemetery of Quetzaltenango, Guatemala.

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Each year, Guatemalans bundle up their families, food and flowers and head to their cemeteries to remember their relatives and share the day with them. They arrive early with hoes in hand to scrape away the weeds that have grown over the earthen mounds. Most of the ravesites in the cemetery do not have tombs, stones or any marker but each family knows exactly where their loved ones are resting. After the cleaning, they lower the hand-woven textile bundles from their heads to unload the enormous quantities of orange marigolds and green leaves that they use to cover the gravesites. The women and their children giggle in glee as they share in the task of decoration and commemoration. Some sit down on the mound or tomb and share the picnic delicacies they have prepared. This is women’s work, because the men are busy with another job – kite-building and flying.

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Size: 5120px × 3401px
Location: Central Latin America Mesoamerica Guatemala Quetzaltenango Xela
Photo credit: © Bert de Ruiter / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

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