"The word "Death" is not pronounced in New York, in Paris, in London, because it burns the lips. The Mexican, by contrast, is familiar with death, jokes about it, caresses it, sleeps with it, celebrates it; it is one of his favorite toys, and his most steadfast love." ~ Octavio Paz
"Hay más tiempo que vida." (There is more time than life.)
"Pero quizás una persona solo tiene dos residenciasreales: el hogar de la infancia y la tumba" ― Valeria Luiselli,
(But perhaps a person only has two real residences: the childhood home and the grave.)
“Realmente había pasado por la muerte, pero había regresado porque no podía soportar la soledad.” ― Gabriel García Márquez
(He really had been through death, but he had returned because he could not bear the solitude.)
“El muerto no sabe lo que es la muerte, pero los vivos tampoco.” - Carlos Fuentes
(The dead do not know what death is, but neither do the living.)
"Una persona no pertenece a un lugar hasta que haya alguien muerto bajo tierra". - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
(A person does not belong to a place until there is someone dead under the ground.}
"El único arrepentimiento que tendré al morir es si no es por amor." - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
(The only regret I will have in dying is if it is not for love.)
“Death is alive, they whispered. Death lives inside life, as bones dance within the body. Yesterday is within today. Yesterday never dies.” ― Luis Alberto Urrea, The Hummingbird's Daughter
“Uno quiere contar una historia, como Scheherezade, para no morir. Es uno de los impulsos más antiguos de la humanidad. Es una forma de retrasar la muerte ". - Carlos Fuentes
(One wants to tell a story, like Scheherezade, in order not to die. It's one of the oldest urges in mankind. It's a way of stalling death.)
“Each of us is born with a box of matches inside us but we can't strike them all by ourselves; we need oxygen and a candle to help. In this case, the oxygen, for example, would come from the breath of the person you love; the candle could be any kind of food, music, caress, word, or sound that engenders the explosion that lights one of the matches...”
“You must take care to light the matches one at a time. If a powerful emotion should ignite them all at once, they would produce a splendor so dazzling that it would illuminate far beyond what we can normally see; and then a brilliant tunnel would appear before our eyes, revealing the path we forgot the moment we were born, and summoning us to regain the divine origins we had lost. The soul ever longs to return to the place from which it came, leaving the body lifeless.” ― Laura Esquivel
“Everybody knew that being dead could put you in a terrible mood.” ― Luis Alberto Urrea, The Hummingbird's Daughter
With the exception of the occasional Calaveras Literarias, few altars for Dia de los Muertos, have written messages. They are mostly photos of the deceased, the strong, musky fragrance of the cempasuchil to guide the spirits of the dead back to their family's home, candles to light the way, and offerings of food and drink. The altar pictured below is unique. It contains a wonderful letter and a heartfelt remembrance from the dead, and to the dead. The translation follows.
_____________________________
November 2, 2021
Ajijic, Jalisco, Mexico
Photography by Bill Sheehan