To respect death is to respect life. One is impossible without the other. For it is a continuous circle. I thought that I left all of that metaphysical ranting back in British Columbia. It s bad enough here that Mexicans have fiestas in graveyards.
People even send their loved ones little sugar coffins with their names written in icing.
And if Uncle Pancho drove his truck off a cliff last year, you ll buy a Pancho skull for the family altar and perhaps a large sugar skeleton clutching a real bottle of his favorite tequila and a cigarette. And in their homes, tables turn into altars with food and delicacies heaped around photographs of the dead. The families actually eat this food together in the cemetery during the night of November 2. I see the meaning of traditional D a de Los Muertos escapes you completely. Even when someone dies, yes, people are sad but there is dignity too with honoring the dead.