The Mexican celebration of El día de los muertos honors loved ones who have died, not with black shrouds and mourning, but with a colorful celebration featuring bright orange marigolds, colorful paper cut-outs and sugar skulls that are meant to be eaten. Death brings painful loss, but when we accept it as a natural part of the cycle of life then it becomes easier to invite the ghosts and skeletons who surround us to the party.
Whose memory will you celebrate and welcome today?
“Cast a cold eye on life, on death. Horseman, pass by,” read the words on the tombstone of Irish poet William Butler Yeats. Most of us would cast a cold eye on death, but on life? Does a passionate love of life make it harder to let go at life’s end, or does it make it easier, knowing that you have fully embraced what was given to you, for however long it was given?
How do you live so that you can meet your eventual end with grace?
“One definition of eternity is that we are not alone on this planet, that there are those who’ve gone before and those who will come, and that there is a community of spirits.”
—Rita Dove
Who would you name as important members of your personal community of spirits?
