It’s Easter and I’m thinking of Tarma.
Tarma is a small city in the Peruvian highlands, on the highway from Lima to San Ramon, our destination. It’s famous for its celebration of Semana Santa (Holy Week). Streets are covered with alfombras de flores, carpets of flower petals, showing landscapes, scenes from village life, and religious images. Families and neighbors, young and old, work together throughout the year, planting and caring for flowers, designing their carpets, picking flowers, separating the petals, sketching their designs on the streets, covering them with petals.
Although Tarma is the most well-known, these carpets of flowers are also made in other towns of Peru. We got to see them in San Ramon. It was amazing to see the beautiful pictures emerge.
These carpets are, I think, an act of worship. As a Christian, I believe that we are called to love God and love each other. I believe that God is Love and that love is always stronger than hate. Our lives, like those of flowers, are short. We can create something amazing when we love each other, care for each other. We’re like a tapestry of flower petals; different cultures, traditions, skin colors, languages, genders, ages, sexual orientations, religions, abilities, disabilities; yet each one of us is needed to complete the beautiful picture.
Tarma is a small city in the Peruvian highlands, on the highway from Lima to San Ramon, our destination. It’s famous for its celebration of Semana Santa (Holy Week). Streets are covered with alfombras de flores, carpets of flower petals, showing landscapes, scenes from village life, and religious images. Families and neighbors, young and old, work together throughout the year, planting and caring for flowers, designing their carpets, picking flowers, separating the petals, sketching their designs on the streets, covering them with petals.
Although Tarma is the most well-known, these carpets of flowers are also made in other towns of Peru. We got to see them in San Ramon. It was amazing to see the beautiful pictures emerge.
These carpets are, I think, an act of worship. As a Christian, I believe that we are called to love God and love each other. I believe that God is Love and that love is always stronger than hate. Our lives, like those of flowers, are short. We can create something amazing when we love each other, care for each other. We’re like a tapestry of flower petals; different cultures, traditions, skin colors, languages, genders, ages, sexual orientations, religions, abilities, disabilities; yet each one of us is needed to complete the beautiful picture.
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