jody9
Dancer, Day of the Dead celebration
Some say the spirits return to us now, as the harvest winds down. The earth loosens its gentle embrace for a little while, and the veil grows thin.
On Dia de los Muertos, we carry our split-open selves out into the dark. In dancing lights and shadows we see our lost loves, and we hear their voices in our laughter and songs. For a little while we find safe passage between ecstasy and grief, dark and light, joy and sorrow.
I know so many who are grieving right now. So many of my own memories of the dead have begun to fade, as I carry them around like a packet of old letters. I unfold them for a look now and again, hesitant to expose them to the light too often, in some odd fear that they might crumble and be lost altogether. But this is why we tell the stories and paint our faces and sing the songs: this is where we infuse our tattered memories with color, with breath, with life.
Wherever you are now, whether your own memories are fresh and ragged or worn smooth like stones, may you find sweetness in the spaces between. May you chase the sun and feel it shining on your face.
May you find what makes you feel most alive.
Blog photograph copyrighted to the photographer and used with permission by utata.org. All photographs used on utata.org are stored on flickr.com and are obtained via the flickr API. Text is copyrighted to the author, Jenn Wilson and is used with permission by utata.org. Please see Show and Share Your Work
