El Dia de los Muertos, Day of the Dead, is always a rich and meaningful time. For me, an outsider, I have learned to appreciate the way people think and feel about death. They have changed me, all for the better.
These are days of celebration, of remembrances, a time to honor those who have preceded us and whose return is welcomed.
In El Norte, death is many things, as it is here, but so different, There it is distant, sanitary, dark and sad. We have wars in which we don't even see caskets. Can you imagine children playing in cemeteries where you live? ... without people freaking out about it.
Well, in San Antonino Castillo Velasco, one of my favorite villages, they play, laugh, sing and dance all while being surrounded by the graves of their relatives.
The panteon, cemetery is an ocean of flowers.
People spend the morning decorating the graves and while they sit and work, they eat and drink, listen to a little music and the kids are allowed to be themselves.
What a healthy way of approaching death, as a constant and companion.
There is a lot of love and happiness, not exactly how the uninitiated might think about El Dia.
Lots of love cast death in a different light.
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