The story
Semana Santa Gracias Lempira in Gracias
Holy Week observance in the colonial town of Gracias, Lempira, featuring Passion processions and sawdust carpets, or alfombras, laid through the historic cobblestone center, part of the wider Honduran tradition that originated in Comayagua and later spread to other colonial-era towns including Gracias.
Gracias, the colonial-era capital of Lempira department and once the seat of Spain's Audiencia de los Confines, marks Holy Week with the same core elements found across Honduras's western colonial towns: religious processions representing the Passion of Christ through the historic center, and sawdust carpets, or alfombras, laid along the procession routes over the cobblestone streets.