I arrive in Guatemala on Day of the Dead, November 1st. I’m curious about this holiday, so I to the cemetery to see what’s happening. What I find quite interesting.
The atmosphere is like a party. There are people everywhere. Families are sitting around the of their dead ancestors. They clean the graves and add fresh flowers. I walk through cemetery and admire the beauty of all the colorful flowers.
There is color in the sky, because many kids are flying kites. families are having a picnic next to the graves. They eat, drink, and chat together. People laugh smile.
In the Unites States, cemeteries are always somber. certainly never have festivals or parties next to graves. We don’t laugh play music or fly kites in cemeteries either.
I that I prefer the Guatemalan approach. I like the way they remember and celebrate who have passed away. I like that they acknowledge death, instead of it the way Americans do. I like that there is life, as well as death, their cemeteries.
Guatemalans call it “The Day of the Dead”, it is also a day to appreciate life.