Day of the Dead 2005

Posted on November 3, 2005 in Festivals

I missed my Day of the Dead post by one day. For this I am sorry.

This is one of my favorite holidays not because of its macabre associations but because of the very human affirmation of the ties that transcend existence. (Even arch-skeptic Joe Nickell loves this holiday.) I no more believe in the return of dead spirits than I do in Santa Claus, but on this holiday I suspend disbelief and enjoy the return of all my dearly departed.

Some come through the front door. Others through the windows and the air conditioning ducts. They look for chairs and when they can’t find those, they stand or sit on the floor. Lynn’s grandfather wears the Greek Army uniform he died in. He checks on how I am treating his granddaughter. Babies lay in their mother’s arms. A teenage suicide I knew leans against the wall, his arms crossed. The darkness around his eyes reminds me how sad he was. My grandparents, my father, my departed aunts and uncles all wonder at how tall I have grown. They poke their heads through the refrigerator door to see what I am eating. If it suits them, they suck some of the essence and leave the solid matter for me.

When I walk around the condo, I smile. I wonder what they think of the pictures that I have added to the wall since last year. Do they read my books? Are they as shocked at the turn that politics has taken in this country since the last time they came?

I make a little bow to each as I go about my day. These are not Hollywood monsters, but friends and family.