Also, the upland peoples of Madagascar observe a ritual every five to seven years called "Famadihana," or "turning of the bones." They will exhume their ancestors, provide them with fresh shrouds, and celebrate with them in a lively party. It kinda rhymes with Dia de los Muertos.
Oh wow! Thank you for sharing this, it's exactly the kind of reverence for the dead and direct engagement with mortality that I'm theorizing American culture (at least) broadly lacks today. Great example of how such a ritual would put you in a very specific, mortality-aware headspace.
If you haven't read Bulgakov's brilliant "Master and Margarita," you will greatly enjoy it. Satan engages a couple of Soviet intellectuals on a park bench in a philosophical discussion of life and death (Moscow in the late 1920s) and rather forcefully demonstrates that man does not plan his own life because life can end--quite suddenly. The rest of the tale of the visit of Satan and his coterie to Soviet Moscow flows from that initial, grounding dialogue. BTW, the book inspired the Stones' "Sympathy for the Devil."
That sounds like a fascinating read! Not familiar with it, but definitely familiar with "Sympathy for the Devil" haha. I can absolutely see the connection.
From Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar": "Cowards die many times before their deaths; the valiant never taste of death but once."
Such a good one.
Also, the upland peoples of Madagascar observe a ritual every five to seven years called "Famadihana," or "turning of the bones." They will exhume their ancestors, provide them with fresh shrouds, and celebrate with them in a lively party. It kinda rhymes with Dia de los Muertos.
Oh wow! Thank you for sharing this, it's exactly the kind of reverence for the dead and direct engagement with mortality that I'm theorizing American culture (at least) broadly lacks today. Great example of how such a ritual would put you in a very specific, mortality-aware headspace.
If you like Ray Bradbury, he wrote five stories that center on Mexico and Dia de los Muertos. https://nighttidemag.com/2024/11/01/stranger-than-fiction-ray-bradbury-dia-de-los-muertos/
Oh cool, I had no idea! I do like Bradbury, thanks for this recommendation.
If you haven't read Bulgakov's brilliant "Master and Margarita," you will greatly enjoy it. Satan engages a couple of Soviet intellectuals on a park bench in a philosophical discussion of life and death (Moscow in the late 1920s) and rather forcefully demonstrates that man does not plan his own life because life can end--quite suddenly. The rest of the tale of the visit of Satan and his coterie to Soviet Moscow flows from that initial, grounding dialogue. BTW, the book inspired the Stones' "Sympathy for the Devil."
That sounds like a fascinating read! Not familiar with it, but definitely familiar with "Sympathy for the Devil" haha. I can absolutely see the connection.