"Hola mis muertitos!
Just a reminder that el Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) is coming soon. November 2nd is the official drs holiday and some of us have made a tradition of dedicating the Nov. 2 run to our dear departed. Some of us run in a cemetery. We all try to include a quiet thought on drs and what it means to our running and to our lives.
As usual, I will be busy putting up an Altar de los Muertos. and as usual I will not be able to run in a cemetery, since they are quite crowded that day, which is a *big* holiday here in Mexico."
Then he added:
"Hola mis muertitos,
The other day I was talking with my brother Pepe, a painter, about drs and how great it would be to design a t-shirt with a mexican Dia de los Muertos motif.
The other day, he faxed me a line drawing of a running skeleton with the initials s.c.m. in the bottom(s.c.m. is short for La Sociedad de los Corredores Muertos or Dead Runners Society).
I can scan the drawing and send it to the proper ftp god/godess so that it can be downloaded by those interested."
- and here it is:
To get the full picture, click on this thumbnail. Using anonymous
ftp you can also download this graphic in a range of formats from
my server at caspar.bgsu.edu. It is in the directory /muertoHere he explains some more on the way the holiday is celebrated:
"El Dia de los Muertos, contrary to superficial beliefs, is a complex celebration where death is seen as life under different assumptions :-) You gather at a relative`s house, you put up an altar, you decorate it with flores de muerto (marigold), you add the photos of your dear departed and you put some foodstuffs and beverages that the dead used to like. The children take the petals out of some flores de muerto and they trace a trail from the door of the house to the sidewalk so that the souls of your dead can find their way to the altar (and the food, and the booze), so they can have a party in the night between Nov. 1 and Nov. 2. On Nov 2 proper, the family (the living that is), have big meal with what is left of the food (and the booze). Everyone comments that flavor has been lost because of the virtual feast of the dead (The substance is gone, we say). The whole affair is festive, and everyone speaks of the dead as if they were still alive. You remember, you re-live, you enjoy. I love the proceedings.
Well, must go now. Un abrazo, Francisco"
Annie C. Wynn explains more on what we deads do on Day of the Dead
A few years ago, a couple of our Mexican dead runners told us of the El Dia de los Muertos ("Day of the Dead") celebrations in Mexico. On that day, families gather to decorate the graves of their beloved and, in homes, they set up altars with pictures of deceased family and friends. This is their way both remembering and celebrating their lives and keeping their memories and their stories alive for another year.
Each year since then, more than a few dead runners have celebrated their own Day of the Dead by running through (or near, if the authorities object) cemetaries and posting their thoughts to the list.
This year, I'm proposing a new wrinkle to our virtual celebration of a day most suited to us, the Dead Runners Society. From now until the actual Day of the Dead, November 2, please take a few minutes to share your memories of a loved one you will be keeping in your thoughts on that day. I know from reading posts that this has been a hard year for some of us on the list, and I daresay there are few to none of us who won't have someone we will remember on the Day of the Dead.
On the Day of the Dead, each of us will run at different times, different distances, on different continents, but in our hearts we will all be running together, keeping in our hearts the names and the stories we have shared this week.
On the same thread Jim Pucket sez:
"Yeah, we're Dead Runners - and that has nothing more to do with the Day of the Dead than a chance similarity of names. Our whole attitude and outlook is a very LIVING thing - the phrase that comes to mind is one from the movie, from which we DO take our name -
"To suck the marrow from the bones of life."
But now I live near a cemetary, and I've decided to do the DdlM Cemetary Run, as a Dead Runner.
NOT because being Dead has anything to do with being "dead", but because being Dead has something to do with being ALIVE, and it pays to reflect on that.
I heard someone this morning say "I always had a fear of death, and then somebody pointed out that even if I was immortal, I'd be miserable." I understand that thought. At the same time, it sometimes seems that I need to realize that things will go in order to appreciate them.
In order to wholly grasp Life, I have to be ready to accept its termination.
And so I prepare to run through the cemetary - like any 20th century middle aged male, I am aware that the frost is on the pumpkin. I've seen the wrinkles and the gray hair showing up, and I think it's time to stand on a mountain and proclaim my life. To make my decisions, dream my dreams - and to see, in the rows of white stone testaments, that all of this will pass and be as nothing.
"Only in a hut built for the moment can one live without fear." The cemetary reminds me that my body is a hut built for the moment. All that I can do to extend that moment can be shot down in a single car wreck, a dreaded diagnosis, an angry gunshot.
Carpe viam. Carpe diem.
Carpe the eternal Instant, by meditating on Eternity.
just one more mile,
jim p."
More on day of the dead from the net.
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last modified: 9/15/98