The dregs of dreams, 3
Weathered wooden cross stuck in hard ground, sad offerings beneath them.
Most of the graves are unmarked. Many of the dead buried here were victims of accidents in the nearby mercury mines, which were active in the early 1900s. Others were victims of the 1918-1919 flu epidemic.
Many of the graves have offerings – a vase, a candle, a flag, a letter, a handful of coins – which only amplify the mysteries.
Terlingua, Texas
photographed 1.20.2013
Posted on October 25, 2013, in architecture, Cemetery, Photography and tagged 365 photo project, cemetery, melinda green harvey, one day one image, photo a day, photography, terlingua, terlingua cemetery, terlingua texas, texas. Bookmark the permalink. 11 Comments.
One Day | One Image 
I love the green shadow cast by the vase. I don’t think this would be as effective in black and white. But these are not sad. They were placed there out of kindness or a loving memory.
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This didn’t work at all in b&w – even I could tell that color was the way to go.
Thanks for the reminder that these items were placed out of love, a fact which I overlooked. This cemetery, for some reason, had more items on graves than is typical. There were a lot of candles that had melted into the marker, or the ground, leaving stains behind. Coins. Beer cans, Golf balls. Wind chimes. Stones (other than the ones that are there anyway). It’s an interesting place, and I hope to be able to go back sometime, during a full moon, to see everything in moonlight so bright that it casts shadows.
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I’ve walked through this cemetery and found it so thought provoking.
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When I come to Alpine the next time, maybe we can go to Terlingua…
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Reading about the cemetery (yeah, caught out, doing research on a weekend), it seems it is still in use for burial, which would help explain the more modern grave offerings. I was wondering why a 90 year old cemetery would be still be visited very much.
I think you should head up there on November 2nd, the Day of the Dead celebration. Sounds like it it could be an interesting experience. Or, November 3rd when the flowers and so on are still fresh and the dead are once again alone.
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It is still used – here’s a recent one (http://bit.ly/1a7jyE3) – but the other thing about Terlingua is that the town has a certain following. There’s a famous chili cookoff there, for one thing. And people just GO there anyway; it’s a thing. And from what I could tell, part of The Thing of going there seems to be putting candles on graves, even unmarked ones, even ones the visitor has no particular connection to. The cemetery had a amount of stuff-on-graves that’s hard to explain otherwise.
Good catch re. the Day of the Dead. It’s becoming a popular event around Texas. Lubbock has a celebracíon, which includes many galleries that have Dia de los Muertos exhibits, crafts for children (sugar skulls, for example), and other things. But it’s an art event here, not like in Mexico, where people go to the cemeteries and decorate the graves, and have picnics and hang out. My parents were in Mexico in the early 1950s; their visit coincided with November 2, and I think they were a little shocked by the events.
(Since you didn’t ask, I will go ahead and mention that I have a piece in one of the Dia de los Muertos shows – http://bit.ly/1augVQX.)
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That is interesting, that a thing can include leaving candles on any old grave. In one cemetery near to me, which is pretty much not used except for a few family plots that are not full yet, there are quite a few graves with offerings. But they all seem directed to the individuals, not to an idea. However, one is the grave of Emily Carr, a famous Canadian artist and local icon. Her grave has all kinds of stuff on it, all of the time. We don’t however have day of the dead celebrations, least not that you can notice.
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Buddy Holly’s grave, at the City of Lubbock Cemetery, is usually decorated with guitar picks, left by fans.
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I think it’s sad. But sweet too.
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It is sweet but it makes me sad to think about whoever it is that left these things, and I wonder if they’ve ever come back……
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