A Foreign Life

For the last two days our city has been celebrating an international holiday called the “Day of the Dead” (Dia de los Muertos). It is a holiday tied to the Catholic Church so it is celebrated in most, if not all, countries where Catholicism is the main religion. That would include nearly all of Central and South America.

The purpose of this holiday is to honor and remember those loved ones who have died. Each country has developed their own traditions. Here, they spend the day at the tomb or crypt of their loved one cleaning it up and bringing flowers and food to leave. It is a major holiday in the country and many schools give the week off to the kids. Ds had yesterday and today off. Here are some photos for you to see of people celebrating the Day of the Dead here in Ecuador. For picures and information on how one of my blog friends celebrated it, click here.

Because there are more people than space in our cemeteries many people are buried above ground. These “slots” (can't remember right off the correct word) can be bought or rented. It is not uncommon for the remains of someone buried in a rented space to be thrown away due to lack of payment. More than once we have attended a funeral where we had to wait for them to clean out the space before using it.