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