Carnaval is followed by the forty days of Lent - “Cuaresma” - and the first day of Lent is Ash Wednesday, marked by the faithful going to church and having an ashen cross traced on their foreheads as a sign of the penitence and abstinence that each has committed to during the six weeks of Lent.
As Catholicism is the dominant religion in Guatemala a majority of the towns people will at some point during the day attend a mass and observe the ritual. Most of the schools have some religious affiliation and the churches are often filled with children in their uniforms awaiting their schools turn to partake.
