This morning we sat in the sala, talking about religion and Day of the Dead and what a big holiday it is. Easter is not the huge holiday that it is for Catholics in the States, Jane (the owner of the Casa) told us. "Everyone rises from the dead here in Oaxaca--at least for one day," she said. The weather is changing in Oaxaca, the heat easing, the skies thinning into a clear blue. The spirits are coming, people say. They can get through now. We can feel it.
We went to the Abastos Mercado today to the special section for Day of the Dead. We bought marigolds and cockscomb, Pan de Muertos and sugar skulls, candles, copal, and whatever else people in the group wanted for our alter here at the Casa. As we turned a corner and came upon the flower section--all marigolds and cockscomb, my eyes filled with tears. All those thousands of flowers will be purchased for graves and altars. All that color and sweetness for departed loved ones. Maybe the scent and the color is what guides them to us.
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| The dining room, decorated for Day of the Dead |
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| Supplies are piling up for the altar, there's sawing in the courtyard as I write this. |
3 comments:
I love going to the cemetery in Mexico a day or two after the Day of the Dead celebrations. So much color and love represented there. It's so beautiful.
Gorgeous.
its always unexpected, the things that make us cry from missing the ones who are on the other side. those flowers and that riot of color, no wonder.
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