Blog Archives
Crowded fences
I found these cast iron fences around graves in a crowded part of the town cemetery. I guess it’s like the high-density, urban section of the place…
Burnet Cemetery
Burnet, Texas
photographed 11.28.2014
Angel
That poor angel seems to have some sort of skin condition (or, stone condition?), doesn’t she? It looks itchy to me, and I hope it doesn’t distract her too much from her important job there at the cemetery.
Burnet Cemetery
Burnet, Texas
photographed 11.28.2014
Handmade marker
I’ve been to some fancy cemeteries – and have posted a lot of images from them – but the cemeteries I like the best are ones like these, in out-of-the-way towns that are mostly forgotten (the towns and the cemeteries, I mean.)
Last year, my friend Donna Catterick and I spent some time in Puerto de Luna, New Mexico, and of course the cemeteries were included in our itinerary. In El Calvario Cemetery, we spotted this tiny marker, clearly made by a family member and brought to the cemetery.
It reminds me of brown sugar that’s been pressed into a mold and then left in the elements to crumble away.
El Calvario Cemetery
Puerto de Luna, New Mexico
photographed 9.21.2014
Offerings
Today marks the beginning the Latin American celebration Día de Los Muertos, or Day of the Dead. It is a popular holiday in Mexico and is becoming increasingly popular in the American Southwest, too. (Here’s a good source of information on the tradition.)
Here in Lubbock, several art galleries participate in an event called Procesíon, with exhibits reflecting the cultural heritage and modern interpretations of the holiday. The Buddy Holly Center hosts workshops, and tomorrow my granddaughter and I are headed over to make sugar skulls, which is our traditional after-Halloween activity.
And, meanwhile, one winter day several months after the celebration, in a niche on the back of the cemetery gates in Terlingua, I spotted some relics of Day of the Dead.
Terlingua Cemetery
Terlingua, Texas
photographed 1.20.2013
(I am gone for a while, and will not be responding to comments right away. But make some anyway, if you feel inclined, and I’ll get back to you – it just won’t be right away.)
In a dry and barren place
Out here in the desert, cemeteries aren’t the pastoral sites they are in other parts of the country. There’s no grassy paths to soften the scene, no trees to provide shade to mourners.
But there are uneven piles of rocks, topped by simple crosses. And, way in the back, the Virgin stands in her tiny grotto.
Lajitas Cemetery
Lajitas, Texas
photographed 1.20.2013
(I am gone for a while, and will not be responding to comments right away. But make some anyway, if you feel inclined, and I’ll get back to you – it just won’t be right away.)
One Day | One Image 