Holy Week Alfombra

      For the fourth straight year the Sister Parish Committee of St. Joan of Arc commemorated their bond with Tierra Nueva Dos in Guatemala by creating a traditional Holy Week alfombra. An alfombra is a carpet of sawdust, flowers, and other brightly colored organic material arrayed in an artistic scene. This year's design centered on the release of the Archbishop's Human Rights Office's REMHI report,"Nunca Mas(Never Again)". The report was the summation of the travesty of the Guatemalan Civil War which ended in 1996. It represents a vow to never again allow the types of human rights abuses that took place during the 36 year conflict. This report was also the subject of the Lenten Discussion conducted after Soup Suppers by the Sister Parish Committee.(The Sister Parish Committee has a copy of Nunca Mas for anyone interested. Contact Louise Eidsmoe at 651.645.6821 or email at eidsmoel@aol.com.)

Rick Nelson, SJA's Señor Alfombra

       This years design was the inspiration of Rick Nelson, SJA's king of sawdust. Rick has organized and led the construction of the alfombra for the last 3 years. The setup routine is very, well... routine. Mindy Ahler-Olmstead gathers sawdust and colors it using woodworkers dye. Rick, along with Mary Beth and Tim Leone-Getten, sketches out a scale drawing of the design in color. Finally, cardboard templates are cut out for the various shapes of the design. At 8 am on Holy Saturday, "Señor Alfombra" arrives with his hinged frame of 2 by 4's. At about 9 o'clock other members of the committee and parishioner volunteers begin streaming in for the construction phase.

       First a layer of red sawdust is applied. Constant watering is necessary to keep the sawdust from blowing around. This becomes especially important as new colors are added. Using the cardboard templates, the new colors are sifted into place. Various seeds(black beans, corn, white beans, etc.) are used to provide a texture contrast. This year there were several children participating in the construction. They were given the slightly less delicate bean placement jobs.

       The construction took about 8 hours to complete. At 5 pm, tarps were laid across the completed artwork and workers went home for a shower and rest. The process has been greatly improved over the years. The first year, committee members were up all night with spotlights to complete the alfombra by Sunday morning. All told, some 100+ people stopped by to offer help or encouragement. While it was a group project, the driving forces were Mindy, Tim and Mary Beth, and of course, "Señor Alfombra".

       The completed project depicted a campesino woman on the cross with the words "Nunca Mas/Never Again". A pair of shaking hands(one from the CIA and one from the Guatemalan Army) portray the history of America's involvement in the covert war. The REMHI report was released last year describing the involvement of the CIA in supporting the Guatemalan government.

       As the morning masses progressed, many churchgoers stopped to look and ask questions. A minor disaster occurred when a young child ran through the alfombra, however the crew was able to repair the damage. As the 11 o'clock mass concluded, workers removed the wooden frame from around the alfombra for the processional.
       Father Jim Cassidy and Anna Vagle led the musicians through the annual alfombra stomp. Many other parishioners chose to join the processional and soon the alfombra was a mess of multicolored sawdust. As is the custom what took hours to construct was destroyed in minutes.

Jeff Rholl is an original member of the Sister Parish Committee and obviously thinks highly of Señor Alfombra.