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Everything you want to 

know about Guatemalan 

Culture

A is for Art!

Guatemala is mostly known for their local 

handicraft art such as woodwork, pottery, and 

weaving. The most popular work is the fabrics 

and textiles created because of how 

distinguishable they are from each village. Most 

crafts use materials from the local environment 

or from the material Terracotta.

D is for Dress

The Mayan people are known for their brightly colored 

yarn-based textiles, which are woven into capes, shirts, 

blouses, and dresses. Each village has its own distinctive 

pattern, making it possible to distinguish a person's 

home town on sight. Women's clothing consists of a shirt 

and a long skirt. Many people in small villages still wear 

traditional clothing but many of the people in urban 

cities have developed westernized styled clothing. 

Although many people in big cities still continue to wear 

traditional clothes. 

G is for Government

Guatemala has a Presidental Representative Democratic 

Republic. This means, the President of Guatemala, 

Alejandro Maldando, is both head of state, head of 

government, and of a multi-party system.Since 1993, 

the president, vice president, and sixteen members of 

the eighty-member congress are elected by the nation as 

a whole for non-renewable four-year terms, while the 

remaining sixty-four members of the unicameral 

legislature are popularly elected by the constituents of 

their locales. 

I is for Icons

Guatemala is home to many big corporations. For 

example, Corporación Multi Inversiones (CMI) is a 

multinational agro-industrial corporation based in 

Guatemala. Malher S.A. is a Guatemalan food products 

and beverages company.Ron Zacapa Centenario is a 

premium rum produced in Guatemala

Pollo Campero is a restaurant based and created in 

Guatemala   The chain has over 300 locations, including 

50 in the United States.

J is for Jobs

In Guatemala, 52% of the jobs are in agriculture. In the 

Ladino sector, upper-class men and women work in 

business, academia, and the major professions. Older 

Ladino and Indian teenagers of both sexes are the 

primary workers in maquilas (factories run by a foreign 

company) Children as young as four or five years work 

at household tasks and in the fields in farming families. 

In the cities, they may sell candies or other small 

products on the streets. Women usually are involved in 

housework but some educated women are owners and 

managers of businesses.

woman and her kids selling 

candy

K is for Knowledge

Education in Guatemala is free and for six years. 

Guatemala has a 3-tier system of education starting 

with primary school, followed by secondary school and 

tertiary education. Middle-class and upper-class Ladino 

children may attend a private preschool, but formal 

education begins at age seven. Children are educated to 

the highest level of which they are capable, depending 

on the finances of the family.

 There are six other private universities, several with 

branches in secondary cities. They grant undergraduate 

and advanced degrees in the arts, humanities, and 

sciences, as well as medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, law, 

engineering, and architecture. Postgraduate work is 

often pursued abroad by the better and more affluent 

students.

L is for Language

Spanish is the official language of Guatemala, but since 

the end of the civil war in December 1996, twenty-two 

indigenous languages, mostly dialects of the Mayan 

linguistic family, have been recognized. The most widely 

spoken are Ki'che', Kaqchikel, Kekchi, and Mam. Most 

people in urban areas have access to tv, internet, 

computer, and mobile phones. Only indigenous people in 

rural areas don’t have much access to modern 

technology either because lack of resources or tradition.

N is for National Pride

Celebrations:

February 2,4: Coffee Harvest Celebration - 

Taking place in the Fraijanes, this town comes 

alive with the arrival of the coffee harvest. 

March/April: Semana Santa (Holy Week, 

Easter)

May 1: Día del Trabajo (Labor Day) 

June 30: Día del Ejército (Army Day)

September 15: Día de la Independencia 

(Independence Day)

October 20: Conmemoración de la Revolución 

de 1944 - One place 

November 1-2: Día de Todos los Santos (All 

Saints Day) and Día de Los Mertos (Day of the 

Dead) 

O is for Organizations

Organizations/ Political Parties:

Democratic Union (Unión Democrática) 

Encounter for Guatemala (Encuentro por Guatemala)

Grand National Alliance (Gran Alianza Nacional (GANA))

Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity (Unidad 

Revolucionaria Nacional Guatemalteca (URNG-MAIZ))

Institutional Republican Party (Partido Republicano 

Institucional (PRI)) - formerly Guatemalan Republican Front 

(Frente Republicano Guatemalteco)

Movimiento Nueva República (MNR) (Movimiento Nueva 

República (MNR)) main

Nationalist Change Union (Unión del Cambio Nacionalista 

(UCN))

Patriotic Party (Partido Patriota)

CREO-Unionist Party (Partido CREO-Unionista)

P is for Population

Total Population: 15.47 million 

Age Groups: 

0-14 years: 36.2% (male 2,698,238/female 2,597,026) 

15-24 years: 22.1% (male 1,625,139/female 1,615,543) 

25-54 years: 32.4% (male 2,251,665/female 2,487,332) 

55-64 years: 5.2% (male 362,686/female 393,273) 

65 years and over: 4.2% (male 286,041/female 330,140

Ethnicity: 

Mestizo (mixed Amerindian-Spanish - in local Spanish called Ladino) and European 59.4%, 

K'iche 9.1%, 

Kaqchikel 8.4%, 

Mam 7.9%, 

Q'eqchi 6.3%, 

other Mayan 8.6%, 

indigenous non-Mayan 0.2%, 

other 0.1%

Q is for Quality of Life

Life Expectancy:

total population: 71.74 years 

male: 69.82 years 

female: 73.76 years

GDP:

53.8 billion USD (gdp) 

24 percent of the gross domestic product is agriculture

Number of Doctors (per 1000 people)

0.93 physicians/1,000 population

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