Most everyone who reads this blog will know about ancestor veneration and probably each of you have a graveyard that you especially like. But for newcomers and a few folks, ancestor veneration might be something that you have "heard" of but never seen in actual practice. In my experience many of the academic descriptions of ancestor veneration do not convey the playful, sometimes haphazard, and always warm relationship that the living have with their dead. Having lived in Northern New Mexico, Northern California, and being a Native Texan I have spent most of my life around various Hispanic/Mexican/Latina/Tejano cultures and ethnic groups. I have been heavily influenced by the religious devotion, language, food, colors, and music, and I have a soft spot for the cemeteries as well. While I was out in West Texas last week my family and I stopped in the little ghost town of Terlingua, Texas, now most famously known as the site of the annual international chili cook off. Terlingua is right outside of Big Bend national park very close to the border of Mexico. It started its life as a mercury mining town, and for all of you who like the idea of having a drilled nutmeg pod for mercury, please note that the first graves in the historic cemetery were the victims of mercury poisoning. While we were in Terlingua the historic graveyard caught my eyes and we went in to pay our respects and visit. What I found was a riot of color and lots of activity and commerce between the living and the dead. While I was walking around, talking to the spirits and snapping photos an older gentleman approached me and asked if I knew why there was money on so many of the graves. I explained to him that making payments and offerings to ancestral spirits for work that they do and blessings that they send is a very common practice in certain places. Fascinated, he thanked me and moved on, peering down at a particularly shiny pile of quarters placed at the top of a grave every now and then. Hope you enjoy the pics and much as I enjoyed the visit!
A nicho in the stone entry gate to the cemetery, complete with Lady of Guadalupe vigil light and payment for the spirits.
Grave site: most of the graves were piled high with rocks, some were then decorated with head boards, foot boards or nothing at all. Glass jars that held candles (probably from last Nov. 2nd if not more recently), money, and paper flowers were common.
Historical marker detailing the history and modern day use of the cemetery by the locals.
And then there are the un-traditional but enthusiastically remembered graves :-)
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