The Original Halloween

Halloween was the last day of the year for the old Europeans. As the year died, and the vegetation died, it was considered the day of the dead. The dead were honored by the firesides that night, where a chair was set aside for them, with some food nearby. Halloween has long since become a commericialized festival, gone the way Christmas is going and any other festival anyone can make a cent off. But in Spain it's still the eve of the day of the dead. 

Tomorrow the dead are honored here. Cemeteries are visited and flower arrangements are admired. Because that's how we honor our loved ones in Spain. The day before we take flower arrangements to the graves. And, according to local tradition, candles are lit at each tomb, or light bulbs are connected by an electrician with a waiting list of people in different parts of the cemetery. I don't buy a candle or pay for a lightbulb. I light a parrafin lamp at my mother's grave. The flowers used to be home-grown once. But now most of them are bought. There are two options. Order a made flower arrangement, or buy the flowers and do it yourself. I do both. My mother-in-law buys some and she has her own, as well. I go and make the arrangements for her. They don't look professional, but at least they look nice.

Before the flowers are taken, though, the graves are cleaned. They aren't graves like in the United States. There's not enough acreage in Europe to sustain green hills and fields with rows of headstones. The cemeteries here grow upwards and are like narrow apartment houses where the dead lie cheek by jowl, neighbors forever in death. The niches are covered with a marble or granite front with the name and date of the person's death. Some will have an image of a saint or a remembrance. Statues of saints are usually placed inside the little glass door. Sometimes, the departed will have been a fervent fan of a soccer club, so some memento is placed there, too. Cleaning takes the form of glass cleaner for the marble and the glass door and bleach for the surrounding stone. Lots of bleach. These days, as you approach the cemetery, you could do it blindfolded by following the stinging odor of bleach. 

On this night, the last niches are cleaned, and almost all the flowers are placed. Candles are lit and bulbs are connected. Tomorrow everyone will visit, remember their loved ones and people they have known, admire the flowers, and chat with people we sometimes haven't seen for a year. It's the day the living and the dead commingle in the place where we will all eventually occupy our narrow apartment.