![A man looks at a Palm Sunday altar in the parking area of an Arlington, Virginia, neighborhood, Sunday, April 2, where one of the processions would begin. [Foto: Tomás Guevara, VOA]](https://thelatestnews.world/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Latin-Americans-in-the-Washington-area-celebrate-Holy-Week.jpg)
Latin American immigrants in the Washington metropolitan area, who have strengthened the communities of Catholic Church parishes in the region due to their growing population, began Holy Week on Sunday with different expressions of color, emulating their countries of origin.
The voice of america made a tour to record in these images the participation and the roots of the tradition of the Greater Week among these populations, which have changed the approaches of the Easter festivity by including processions and other activities in their displays of devotion.
In a neighborhood in south Arlington, near the Cathedral of St. Thomas, a significant population of Guatemalan immigrants has settled, who have included in their rituals the elaboration of traditional carpets with sawdust and salt, which stand out for their bright colors.
![Guatemalan immigrants from the Alfo Conce Group, originally from Concepción, Quezaltenango, create a rug in the courtyard of the Cathedral of St. Thomas in Arlington. [Foto: Tomás Guevara, VOA]](https://gdb.voanews.com/01000000-0aff-0242-b06d-08db33ea5708_w250_r0_s.jpg)
Groups have also emerged that interpret sacred music of the time to give solemnity to the celebrations, as do the musical bands that perform them in the marches during the Way of the Cross in Central American countries.
![Members of the Banda de Concepción, originally from Quezaltenango, Guatemala, perform sacred music outside St. Thomas Cathedral in Arlington, Virginia on Palm Sunday, April 2. [Foto: Tomás Guevara, VOA]](https://gdb.voanews.com/01000000-0aff-0242-4cbb-08db33ead826_w250_r0_s.jpg)
The director of the group, Reymundo Ramos, commented to the VOA that about two years ago they began to integrate the band with their countrymen who had experience playing instruments, especially percussion and wind, which predominate in this type of formations.
![The members of this group work in different sectors such as construction and once a week they meet to practice traditional music that is required in different festivities. [Foto: Tomás Guevara, VOA]](https://gdb.voanews.com/01000000-0aff-0242-3d4e-08db33eb4b73_w250_r1_s.jpg)
A few kilometers from the US capital, in northern Virginia, hundreds of immigrants who gathered at the Church of San Antonio de Padua, in Falls Church, began Holy Week with a colorful procession on Palm Sunday that included characters in alive.
![A parishioner plays the role of Jesus the Nazarene in the April 2 Palm Sunday procession through the streets around St. Anthony of Padua Church in Falls Church, Virginia. [Foto: Tomás Guevara, VOA]](https://gdb.voanews.com/01000000-0aff-0242-b38d-08db33ebb858_cx0_cy4_cw100_w250_r0_s.jpg)
During the rest of the week, the parishes will celebrate the offices that commemorate the life, passion, death and resurrection of Christ, as part of the cultural and religious heritage that unites the Latin American peoples.
Unlike Latin American countries, in the United States there is no holiday for the Easter celebrations.
![Hundreds of parishioners in neighborhoods like Culmore in Falls Church, Virginia, participate in the Palm Sunday procession on April 2 in the streets around St. Anthony of Padua Church in Falls Church, Virginia. [Foto: Tomás Guevara, VOA]](https://gdb.voanews.com/01000000-0aff-0242-7c6f-08db33ec7141_cx0_cy6_cw100_w250_r0_s.jpg)
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