El Dia de los Muertos
God pours life into death and death into life without a drop being spilled.
~Author Unknown
Halloween. Bare Bones Style.
Not a single decoration. No scary movies. Rain all day, but so, so warm. I bought just enough candy, apparently. Thank goodness. I have about 20 pieces of chocolate left in the pot. The rush came between 5 and 7 pm. But I am happy that I get to be here tonight. Day shift is good sometimes. At least now I don’t have to de-decorate. I will update this here bloggy thing as soon as possible. Thank you to my 2 new followers and all you wonderful people out there who are still checking and reading the same old thing every day. I am funny and relevant and have things to say. I just don’t have as much time to say them anymore now that I have my new job. Soon. Soon. Tomorrow is All Saints Day. Then the Day of the Dead or All Soul’s Day. Since I am lazy, I will link all my cool past posts here, and you can be amazed and hungry for the next thing I might write. Click the holiday to read about it! In the meantime, here is a giant spider that was in our house. We have had a lot of them but this is the only picture. And it’s blurry with the eyes all flashed out. But I post it because you can clearly see how big it is. Each one of those small squares is 4 inches in area. That spider is taking charge of at least half of those inches. Now 2 inches may not seem like a lot, but this is a house spider. Wolf spiders mostly. Go get a ruler and look at 2 inches. Really look. We forget how big an inch is because it’s always portrayed so small. 2 inches of spider is just a little bit too uncomfortably big to kill with a kleenex. And there seems to be a rash of these giant mutated spiders all over the Midwest this year. We all better be careful. Focusing too much on zombies and forgetting the real, live, predator threats that crawl around our houses at night when we are all snuggled in bed. So you are welcome for that. Have a safe and happy Halloween. The dead will be rising in a few hours and I need to go get a spell casted to keep the spirits where they belong. And dinner. Later.
Final shot, as promised. It is very late and the dead have returned to their rest for another year.
I don’t know if I built it up too much, but I like it. I like the idea of this small altar with the skulls and flowers all around and the candles that will burn into the night.
Picture this altar, meticulously and carefully arranged upon a stone slab in a crowded graveyard in a burnt-orange town or sand-blown village. Children are laughing and playing amongst the dusty tombstones. Families are sharing food and drinks while gentle breezes skip, soft and dry, touching lightly and lifting easy over warm and blushing skin, the way it does when you are far out in the desert. As darkness falls, the dusky air gets cooler and the little ones gather and tuck in closer as night takes hold. Final words are said and prayers are whispered too low to hear, eyes and hands search and fold, clutching at the skyline, but the time has come to say goodbye. The dead are left to lay, quiet and peaceful, resting again, with their own. They remain as bodies below our feet, yet spirits within our hearts and minds. While the flames of our steadfast watch silently burn, deepest night arrives. Black and still, it covers and comforts even the most restless soul and it seems intrusive to stay. When dawn lifts her weary head to herald in a bright new day, the magic will be gone, hidden amongst the wilted flowers and broken candy shells. In the glare of unforgiving sunlight, the altar is just a colorful reminder of what we remember and why. We feel lucky and joyful to be alive. We pay our respects but save a bit for ourselves. We must now carry the honor of living for those who cannot. Time belongs to us again and we have a job to keep.
(Dia de los muertos by Pristine Cartera-Turkus)
God pours life into death and death into life without a drop being spilled. ~Author Unknown
All Saints Day. Second in the Trifecta of creepy holidays in a row.
First, though, in my newest series of “skeletal trees against a sky background.” I’m not sure why I like taking pictures of the trees as they sit quietly in their places losing their leaves and turning their bark to a dark brown-black color, but I noticed that I have about 5 or 6 different pictures of various trees in various stages of dormancy, so what better time of the year to post them to a website that is mostly just for my amusement anyway?
In case you are scratching your head, like, what?, what other holiday is there besides Halloween this time of year?? Well, now that we have scared all the ghouls back into their rightful resting places, we want to make sure that they stay there.
So today, we have All Saints Day. A Christian/Catholic day to honor our Saints (and martyrs), known and unknown. The Catholics are real big on martyrdom, just ask any Catholic raised child with a Catholic mom…oh the sacrifices she has made for her children…with one hand to the forehead, and the other clutching at her heart…That’s why it’s a good idea to just hang out at the cemetery and throw goodwill all over the place, because you just never know who is sanctified and who isn’t. It’s the total Catholic way, better safe than sorry!
Then we have All Soul’s Day tomorrow. A much more exciting and morbid celebration of the dead. It even has an awesome title:
El Dia de los Muertos, the Day of the Dead. Also Catholic, mostly celebrated as you have probably seen in Mexico, with the skulls and candles and colorful skeletons. In a nutshell, it is basically a day to go visit relatives/spirits in the cemetery and assure them that all is good and they should just stay where they are at and not bother rising up and creeping around all benevolent and zombie like. Technically it’s celebrated on the First and Second. I researched it and the children and babies that have passed get today for their festival and the adults get tomorrow. I like this particular holiday because it is so specific and it has very uniform traditions. The main components are sugar skulls and marigolds and the departed’s favorite foods and beverages. All brought to the grave and offered up like gifts as if the dead have any other choice but to stay where they are at. Some believe that the spirits are allowed to walk around for this one day after resting the whole year, so it needs to be a real celebration. But not too good. The world is crowded enough without the undead returning to the population.
Sugar skulls and marigolds. It sounds like a rock band. But I am impressed by the fact that they have very particular items in their prayer rituals. Classic sugar skulls, which are basically just a candy-type confection shaped like a skull. They can be sugar or chocolate, and can have your name on it. They are representative of someone alive and symbolize “eating your own death.” I’m not really sure about the marigolds. It may be because they are colorful, and the celebration itself is supposed to be upbeat and joyful, or it may be that they stink and they keep the spirits happy visually, but repel them from trying to take up any real residence back in the world.
That’s it for my educational information for today. I had started this post at 9 am this morning but I got sidetracked helping a real friend in need. Seriously. You can hardly ever say that you had to go help someone who truly needs it. But this girl did.
Then when I got home I actually exercised. Yes. I said exercise. Two days in a row. Goal accomplished!! I will now be setting all my goals in the extreme short term. So much more satisfying then stretched out hopes and long term failures. I may set the goal to exercise tomorrow too….but I don’t want to get all crazy with it now.
Besides, I seriously have got to finish my school paper/project that I have not even started on. The only thing do I have is an idea about what to write, and if I have learned anything from the last 9 weeks, it’s that I stink at putting fingers to keyboard and just finishing my damn homework. Sorry I had to use a cuss word. I frustrate myself to no end with all this procrastination and I either have to stay up all night now or frantically try and finish it tomorrow morning. I’m starting to get off track here and I’m feeling tense and stressy. I just need to post this already and get some dinner for my family. Another home cooked meal (from the pizza place down the street) coming right up! I stink at cooked-meals-in-a-row too.
So that’s it. Hopefully you remembered someone you loved today and wished them peace and maybe said a little prayer for yourself, if that’s your thing. If not, you can try again tomorrow. Go hang out at a cemetery if you can and feel the earthly vibe of walking over restless spirits. Bring a lunch and offer some up to the deceased around you. Toss out some compliments and take pictures. I don’t think you necessarily have to know the person to pay your respects and wish them a good rest. It’s just good manners for the living and the dead. If I get off this site and do my work, I’ll post the rest of the stuff I have for these few days. There will not be any more serious and thoughtful musings on life and whatnot. It will all be silly jokes and goofy pictures. You know. The usual. I think we have all learned enough for this week. Later.
just shy of pretty 