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Witness / Attend in Sumpango
Festival de Barriletes Gigantes de Sumpango
Sumpango is a Kaqchikel Maya town in Sacatepequez, west of Guatemala City, known across the country for its Day of the Dead giant-kite festival, when enormous handmade barriletes up to ten metres across are raised over the town cemetery each 1 November.
Run by Comite Permanente de Barriletes de Sumpango, with published dates and a real program.
Dates & details verified against: Official event site ↗
Why here
On 1 November, the Day of the Dead, the town of Sumpango stages one of Guatemala's most striking traditions. Local teams spend months building barriletes gigantes, giant kites made from tissue paper and bamboo, some ten metres across, decorated with dense, brilliantly coloured Maya designs and messages honouring the dead. In the morning they are stood upright in a huge fan along the field beside the cemetery for everyone to walk among and photograph, and through the afternoon teams try to launch the flyable ones into the wind, a feat that takes dozens of people hauling on ropes. The Maya belief is that the kites connect the living with the spirits of the dead above the graves. It is free, deeply local and visually overwhelming, and it draws visitors from across the country and beyond.
Best months
The festival happens every year on 1 November, with a smaller community kite-flying day on 2 November. It runs through the daylight hours on and beside the football field next to the Sumpango cemetery. Early November is dry-season weather in the highlands, warm and sunny by day. Expect very large crowds, dust and full transport on the day, and note that the biggest kites are displays that are stood up rather than actually flown.
Getting there & around
Sumpango is about forty minutes from Antigua and just off the Interamerican Highway west of Guatemala City, so most visitors come on a day trip on 1 November, either self-driving or with a shuttle from Antigua. Go early, as roads into town and parking fill fast and the display is at its best in the morning light before the afternoon launch attempts. There is a small entrance fee to the festival field. Bring sun protection, water and cash for food stalls.
Skill levels: beginner
Schools & guides (1)
Comite Permanente de Barriletes de Sumpango
OrganizerThe Comite Permanente de Barriletes de Sumpango is the volunteer community committee that has organised the town's giant-kite festival since 1978. Each 1 November it stages the competition on the field beside the Sumpango cemetery, where teams spend months building barriletes up to ten metres across from tissue paper and bamboo and raise them over the graves. The committee registers the competing groups, runs the judging and publishes the results each year.