Guatemalans celebrate Day of the Dead with a giant kite festival


Guatemalans often celebrate Day of the Dead by flying kites, which one town took to extremes by making kites too huge to fly.

According to Guatemalan culture, flying a kite is a way to honour and get closer to your lost loved ones. In Sumpango, in southern Guatemala, they take it so seriously that they build up giant kites, so big that they can’t even fly.

Groups of local people had worked on the kites for the previous 6 months, gluing together pieces of coloured paper in order to make astonishing pictures. On November 1, they assembled these giant kites on the ground at a local soccer field and raise them up using ropes and bamboo posts.

The process of pulling up those giant kites, some up to 20m tall, in strong winds created a spectacular and sometimes dangerous display.