Honor the Risen One

Yesterday was Day of the Dead or Dia de los Muertos.  It is like one of the biggest national holidays here in Mexico.  The focus of this special day (or actually two days) is on honoring and memoralizing the dead - relatives and/or friends that have died, with the belief being that in honoring them they are sustained and helped in passing along in their journey in the afterlife.  There are memorials set up at the cemetaries and in homes, amazing floral displays, sand art murals and candle lit vigils along with special meals and time with family.  There are also parades and costume fare reflecting the spirit world, skeletons walking about and such and I've been told the children participating in trick-or-treat activities has really just  been something that has come into part of the experience in the last 10 years or so.

So with all this activity along comes the tourist related activity - from trips to the cemetary, tours that will take you to a family's house to join with them in their special time of honoring their dead and share in the comida (meals) and then there are also large scale celebration festivities down in the town's square (typically called a Zocolo) - complete with venders sellng their wares, food and drink.  So when I was asked what I was going to do over the holiday - was I going to the cemetary, was I going on a tour to share a special time with a family as they "helped" their loved ones and kept their spirit alive and well, etc., my initial reaction was uh, no.  I say that was my initial reaction and it still is/was my general response to the holiday.  I did end up going over to the local cemetary to look at the beautiful displays.  It turned out not being awkward walking around with families spending time at their loved ones gravesite - first because there were so many people their, familes and touristas.  And second, it wasn't a time of mourning like a funeral - it was really a celebration of the life of the loved ones.  So I was glad I did that.

But the really glad thing I am glad I did was reflect on the holiday, the practice and the point. And in doing so, I thought about how Christ fits in.  I am not taking anything away from remembering and celebrating loved ones, but in the end I see this holiday as being a misguided effort to find peace.  The help needed for what comes after our time here in this life comes to an appointed end is only found in Christ.  It is in His life and death that one should seek peace.  It is His life that is to be celebrated, daily He is to be honored.  And we find hope in His death and more so in His ressurection.  He is Alive - He has paid the price to redeem us and has overcome death.  And in Him, I celebrated (and continue to.)