El Paso: A Dead Day at the Library

Day of the Dead, Dorris van Doren Library, El Paso, Texas. October 2016.

October 2016

The Dorris van Doren branch of the El Paso Library did up the Day of the Dead in right literary style, honoring authors who'd died in 2016 thus far.

There was also a whimsical art exhibit of ghoulish fashion dolls.

Ghoulish fashion doll art, Dorris van Doren Library, El Paso, Texas. October 2016.

Ghoulish fashion doll art, Dorris van Doren Library, El Paso, Texas. October 2016.

Ghoulish fashion doll art, Dorris van Doren Library, El Paso, Texas. October 2016.

Maya Angelou, one of my heroes, is in this library altar to the year's dead.

An excerpt from her poem, Woman Work: 

Shine on me, sunshine
Rain on me, rain
Fall softly, dewdrops
And cool my brow again.

Storm, blow me from here
With your fiercest wind
Let me float across the sky
'Til I can rest again.

Fall gently, snowflakes
Cover me with white
Cold icy kisses and
Let me rest tonight.

Sun, rain, curving sky
Mountain, oceans, leaf and stone
Star shine, moon glow
You're all that I can call my own.


You can listen to Ms. Angelou's lush voice reading this and another poem here.

El Paso: A Walk Among the Dead

La Llorona, Day of the Dead, Concordia Cemetery, El Paso, Texas. October 2016.

October 2016


What better way to spend a sparkling Saturday afternoon than walking among the dead, the undead, and the living?

Day of the Dead, Concordia Cemetery, El Paso, Texas. October 2016.

Well, I could have done without these. They are veritable demons when dead.

But otherwise, it was a day of beauty, both somber and playful.

Day of the Dead, Concordia Cemetery, El Paso, Texas. October 2016.

Day of the Dead, Concordia Cemetery, El Paso, Texas. October 2016.

Giant puppets danced through cemetery lanes:

A mariachi band serenaded; La Llorona made a cameo appearance. On the other side of the stone wall is the Chinese section of the cemetery:

Concordia Cemetery honors the Buffalo Soldiers.

Day of the Dead, Concordia Cemetery, El Paso, Texas. October 2016.

Chinese residents of El Paso made their final homes here.

Day of the Dead, Concordia Cemetery, El Paso, Texas. October 2016.

The Franklin Mountains give the cemetery a sense of place and of calm reserve.

Day of the Dead, Concordia Cemetery, El Paso, Texas. October 2016.

Natural flags paid their respects.

Day of the Dead, Concordia Cemetery, El Paso, Texas. October 2016.

Drummers drummed -- Echoes in the Park -- who you can find and join - at Upper Tom Lea Park on Friday evenings from May through October.

Day of the Dead, Concordia Cemetery, El Paso, Texas. October 2016.

The Paso del Norte Paranormal Society hosts the annual Day of the Dead event at Concordia Cemetery.


One of Benjamin Alire Saenz' characters resides at Concordia Cemetery. From Carry Me Like Water (1995), about Diego's friend, Mary, who met a violent death:

“[Mary’s] going to be buried at Concordia. That’s where they bury them, the people who don’t have anybody get buried at a section of Concordia. At least they’re still saving spaces in the ground for the Marys of the world.”

… Concordia was filled with weeds and trash delivered there by the El Paso wind. It looked more like a dump than a cemetery. It was only cleaned once a year when the prisoners from the county jail were let out to clean it, but that wasn’t until the summer, and it had been almost a year since its last cleaning, a year’s worth of old newspapers lying up against the gravestones.

For a moment, Concordia Cemetery distracted another character in the same book:

Driving down Interstate 10, Jake took the Juarez exit. He took his eyes off the road for a moment and stared down at Concordia Cemetery, the dead disturbed now by a freeway the locals called the spaghetti bowl. As the freeway curbed around, Juarez was straight ahead. It was so easy to get there, just get in the car, take an exit – Mexico – so easy, he thought.

A slide show below:

Alamogordo: The Wine and Beer Aisle

Wine and beer for the dead. Eh?

Wine for the dead, Alamogordo, New Mexico

Beer for the dead, Alamogordo, New Mexico

And not to forget New Mexico's famous chiles for those of us who are undead .... 

Chile wine for the not-yet-dead, Alamogordo, New Mexico

Mesilla, New Mexico: Dia de los Muertos

El Dia de los Muertos, Mesilla, New Mexico

Mesilla is a town just outside of Las Cruces, New Mexico.

On Saturday, I turned to Mesilla for celebrating El Dia de los Muertos, held in the old plaza. Technically, it was the "weekend" of the dead; the actual day was on the 2nd.


A funeral, for real

When I arrived at the historic plaza, it was just in time to see motorcyclists outside the Basilica of San Albino, where they awaited the end of a funeral, when they would escort the honored deceased to the cemetery.

El Dia de los Muertos, Mesilla, New Mexico. Basilica of San Albino.

 
Many years ago, when my father's brother-in-law died, the Chattanooga branch of the Bikers for Christ escorted his body to the cemetery.


About El Dia de Los Muertos

El Dia de los Muertos (the Day of the Dead) is a Mexican tradition, if you define Mexican to include its Aztec antecedents.  Over the years, its observance has spread throughout the world.

It'd be easy to confuse it with All Saints Day and All Souls Day, liturgical events for some Christian denominations, but the Day of the Dead stands on its own as a uniquely Mexican tradition.

There is both a somber dimension to the observance and a festival dimension.

I experienced both at the El Dia de Los Muertos in Mesilla.


The altars

Even though the plaza was set up with many vendors selling arts and crafts related to the day of the dead, there were also altars set up, honoring real family, friends (and even beloved pets).

El Dia de los Muertos, Mesilla, New Mexico

El Dia de los Muertos, Mesilla, New Mexico

El Dia de los Muertos, Mesilla, New Mexico

El Dia de los Muertos, Mesilla, New Mexico

El Dia de los Muertos, Mesilla, New Mexico

An especially touching altar was the one made in honor of the women killed in Juarez (population 1.3 million) since the early 1990s. Juarez is in the state of Chihuahua, and in 2010 alone, more than 300 women were killed in Chihuahua (population of 3.2 million). As a point of comparison: in New York City in 2011, there were 515 murders of both men and women. NYC has 8.2 million residents. In 2011, there were up to 2000 homicides in the state of Chihuahua, both men and women.

El Dia de los Muertos, Mesilla, New Mexico

Even though Juarez seems like a world away to most Americans, it's not, really. It's only about an hour and a half away. I'm willing to bet there are Mesilla residents who have lost loved ones by way of these killings. 

Artwork

New Mexico has a real appreciation for creative, beautiful jewelry. Ah, if I had the budget - so many fine earrings, bracelets, rings, and necklaces done up in the skeleton or skull ("calavera") motif, using stones or glass or beads or wood ... I selected a modestly-priced pair of colorful, dangly earrings topped by skulls.

If I had a permanent house, I would have definitely bought one of the tin luminary "bags." And maybe an ornament or two.

El Dia de los Muertos, Mesilla, New Mexico

El Dia de los Muertos, Mesilla, New Mexico

El Dia de los Muertos, Mesilla, New Mexico

The clothing mannequins, cool.

El Dia de los Muertos, Mesilla, New Mexico

There were painted faces.

El Dia de los Muertos, Mesilla, New Mexico

The area around Mesilla's historic plaza has a lot of charm.

Mesilla, New Mexico

Mesilla, New Mexico

Mesilla, New Mexico

Mesilla, New Mexico

Mesilla, New Mexico

Mesilla, New Mexico

Mesilla, New Mexico

As you might guess, I was entranced by the curb appeal of the building with the blue door.

I had lunch at La Posta Restaurant, which I learned later is a locally-famous landmark. You can read my review of the place here.  

El Dia de los Muertos. I like it.
 

A lagniappe: Mesilla Valley Bosque State Park

Before I headed back to Alamogordo (well ...), I checked out Mesilla Valley Bosque State Park. A pretty garden; some pretty facilities.

Mesilla Vally Bosque State Park, Mesilla, New Mexico

I liked the river of grass below.

Mesilla Valley Bosque State Park, Mesilla, New Mexico