Families tidying and decorating
graves at a cemetery in Almoloya
del Río in the State of Mexico

Today is the Day of the Dead, a Mexican holiday celebrated throughout Mexico and around the world focusing on gatherings of family and friends to pray for and remember friends and family members who have died. A friend invited me to a local celebration but I did not go. I do remember how important the day was in Latin American cultures I have visited. Scholars trace the origins of the modern Mexican holiday to indigenous observances dating back hundreds of years and to an Aztec festival dedicated to the goddess Mictecacihuatl. There is something attractive about this holiday and relates to people throughout the world.

In a culture, like the USA, that fears death and tries in many ways to escape from the reality of death I can understand why, except for Mexican and other cultures, it is not a day of celebration. For most of my life I was one of those persons refused to face up to death. As many of you know, the death of my son Peter forced me to face the reality of death. Living in the shadow of death has some benefits. Although living with death makes feeling sorrow and sadness more intense, it also increases the joy and peace felt in life.

So the choice is escaping from death which is inevitable or facing death and finding either darkness or light or both. The Day of the Dead is a celebration of life while honoring the dead. The belief that life follows death and that by honoring the dead we can experience life more fully propels the celebration of the Day of the Dead.

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