Artisans in Guatemala hand-stitch velvet cloaks for Holy Week processions

SAN MIGUEL ESCOBAR, Guatemala (AP) — Stitch by stitch, artisans have worked for months on the elaborate garments that will debut this week in Holy Week processions across Guatemala and beyond.

The hefty velvet cloaks, finely embroidered with gold thread will cover the wooden Virgin Mary and Christ figures carried by the faithful down cobblestone streets lined by thousands.

Palm Sunday commemorates the Christian belief in the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem, when he was greeted by cheering crowds waving palm branches that they set out on the ground along his path, according to the Bible. The most sacred week of the Christian year also includes the Good Friday re-enactment of Jesus’ crucifixion story and death, and their belief in his resurrection on Easter.

At Alejandro Juárez Toledo’s María Auxiliadora workshop about 25 miles (41 kilometers) southwest of Guatemala City, 28 artisans — mostly women — lean over yards of rich velvet spread across tables, hand-stitching the cloaks, embroidering gold floral designs. The dormant Volcano of Water, one of Guatemala's highest, acts as an impressive backdrop to their workshop.

A cloak for the Virgin Mary can measure 4 square yards (about 3 meters) and weigh more than 50 pounds, requiring a metal frame to support the weight of the fabric without damaging the wooden figure.

Juárez Toledo has been crafting the pieces for 26 years but is still moved to tears when they robe the figures at the center of the Holy Week processions.

“The moment most important for me is when the embroidery is attached to the fabric, that’s when you start to live the process with your client, it starts to generate more emotion, you start to enjoy (the work) even more,” he said.

His workshop’s creations have clothed figures from Guatemala to El Salvador, Honduras, Costa Rica and Panama.

Guatemala’s Holy Week celebrations are especially exuberant. UNESCO, the United Nations cultural arm, designated them as part of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2022.

Walter Gutiérrez, a history professor at San Carlos University in Guatemala, said that “the processions are the true expression of Guatemala in all cultural, spiritual and traditional areas.”

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Guatemalan artist Alejandro Juarez gives an interview at the Maria Auxiliadora embroidery workshop in San Miguel Escobar, Guatemala, Wednesday, April 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo)

Faithful carry a platform with a statue of Jesus of Nazareth, wearing a tunic created by weavers at the Maria Auxiliadora embroidery workshop, during a Lenten season procession in Antigua, Guatemala, Sunday, April 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Santiago Billy)

Guatemalan artist Alejandro Juarez poses with his finished tunic to be worn by a statue of the Virgin Mary, at the Maria Auxiliadora embroidery workshop in San Miguel Escobar, Guatemala, Wednesday, April 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo)

A weaver applies gold-colored pieces to the tunic to be worn by a statue of the Virgin Mary, at the Maria Auxiliadora embroidery workshop in San Miguel Escobar, Guatemala, Wednesday, April 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo)

Faithful carry a wooden platform with a statue of Jesus of Nazareth, wearing a tunic created by weavers at the Maria Auxiliadora embroidery workshop, during a Lenten season procession in Antigua, Guatemala, Sunday, April 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Santiago Billy)

Guatemalan artist Alejandro Juarez, top center, and weavers display their finished tunic to be worn by a statue of the Virgin Mary, at the Maria Auxiliadora embroidery workshop in San Miguel Escobar, Guatemala, Wednesday, April 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo)

A statue of Jesus of Nazareth wears a tunic created by weavers at the Maria Auxiliadora embroidery workshop, during a Lenten season procession in Antigua, Guatemala, Sunday, April 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Santiago Billy)

A weaver applies gold-colored pieces to the tunic for a statue of the Virgin Mary at the Maria Auxiliadora embroidery workshop in San Miguel Escobar, Guatemala, Wednesday, April 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo)

Faithful carry a wooden platform with a statue of Jesus of Nazareth, wearing a tunic created by weavers at the Maria Auxiliadora embroidery workshop, during a Lenten season procession in Antigua, Guatemala, Sunday, April 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Santiago Billy)

Weavers apply gold-colored pieces to a tunic for a statue of the Virgin Mary at the Maria Auxiliadora embroidery workshop in San Miguel Escobar, Guatemala, Wednesday, April 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo)

SAN FRANCISCO & JACKSONVILLE, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan 12, 2026--

Abridge, the leading enterprise-grade AI for clinical conversations, is collaborating with Availity, the nation’s largest real-time health information network, to launch a first-of-its kind prior authorization experience. The engagement uses cutting-edge technology grounded in the clinician-patient conversation to facilitate a more efficient process between clinicians and health plans in medical necessity review.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260112960386/en/

Rather than creating parallel AI systems across healthcare stakeholders, Abridge and Availity are working together to ensure shared clinical context at the point of conversation powers administrative processes, such as prior authorization review and submission, improving outcomes for patients and the teams delivering care.

This collaboration unites two trusted and scaled organizations: combining Abridge’s enterprise-grade AI platform, serving over 200 health systems and projected to support over 80 million patient-clinician conversations in 2026, with Availity’s next-generation, FHIR-native Intelligent Utilization Management solution, which helps payers and providers digitize and operationalize coverage requirements within administrative workflows.

Availity’s FHIR-native APIs enable fast, scalable, and secure connectivity of payer information across the entire healthcare ecosystem. With Abridge’s Contextual Reasoning Engine technology, clinicians can gain visibility into relevant clinical information during the conversation to support documentation aligned with prior authorization requirements.

“At Availity, we’ve invested in building AI-powered, FHIR-native APIs designed to bring clinical policy logic directly into provider workflows,” said Russ Thomas, CEO of Availity. “By embedding our technology at the point of conversation, we’re enabling faster, more transparent utilization management decisions rooted in clinical context. We’re excited to collaborate with Abridge and to demonstrate what’s possible when payer intelligence meets real-time provider workflows.”

The development of real-time prior authorization is just a component of a broader revenue cycle collaboration that is focused on applying real-time conversational intelligence across the patient, provider, and payer experiences. The companies intend to support integration by collaborating on workflow alignment between their respective platforms in the following areas:

“Abridge and Availity are each bringing national scale, deep trust, and a track record of solving important challenges across the care and claims experience to this partnership,” said Dr. Shiv Rao, CEO and Co-Founder of Abridge. “We’re building real-time bridges between patients, providers, and payers, unlocking shared understanding, focused at the point of conversation.”

About Availity

Availity empowers payers and providers to deliver transformative patient experiences by enabling the seamless exchange of clinical, administrative, and financial information. As the nation's largest real-time health information network, Availity develops intelligent, automated, and interoperable solutions that foster collaboration and shared value across the healthcare ecosystem. With connections to over 95% of payers, more than 3 million providers, and over 2,000 trading partners, Availity provides mission-critical connectivity to drive the future of healthcare innovation. For more information, including an online demonstration, please visit www.availity.com or call 1.800.AVAILITY (282.4548). Follow us on LinkedIn.

About Abridge

Abridge was founded in 2018 to power deeper understanding in healthcare. Abridge is now trusted by more than 200 of the largest and most complex health systems in the U.S. The enterprise-grade AI platform transforms medical conversations into clinically useful and billable documentation at the point of care, reducing administrative burden and clinician burnout while improving patient experience. With deep EHR integration, support for 28+ languages, and 50+ specialties, Abridge is used across a wide range of care settings, including outpatient, emergency department, and inpatient.

Abridge’s enterprise-grade AI platform is purpose-built for healthcare. Supported by Linked Evidence, Abridge is the only solution that maps AI-generated summaries to source data, helping clinicians quickly trust and verify the output. As a pioneer in generative AI for healthcare, Abridge is setting the industry standard for the responsible deployment of AI across health systems.

Abridge was awarded Best in KLAS 2025 for Ambient AI in addition to other accolades, including Forbes 2025 AI 50 List, TIME Best Inventions of 2024, and Fortune’s 2024 AI 50 Innovators.

Abridge and Availity Collaborate to Redefine Payer-Provider Synergy at the Point of Conversation

Abridge and Availity Collaborate to Redefine Payer-Provider Synergy at the Point of Conversation