Sunday, October 25, 2009

Death of Dia de los Muertos


Two years ago, on October 27th, I had my first date with Jessica. We had planned on going to the Blanton art museum, on the University of Texas campus. But the Fates had other plans: there was a football game going on, and we could not get anywhere near the musuem. Our plans of a simple, quick meeting dashed, we ended up at an old miniature golf course, then onto the Tavern for burgers. Eventually, we ended up downtown on 5th and Congress, near the Mexic-Arte art gallery. Oh, how magical life can be when you least expect it. Little did we realize, but the Dia de los Muertos festival was going on. It was a small event back then, hidden in a little corner of downtown, where the tall banks and investment firms of Austin tower overhead, as silent sentinels of corporate America. They watched from above, waiting... It was an amazing evening, pure magic. The Dead Players played their music... old world Mexico as the procession moved about us... painted faces of the dead, paper mache skulls... a celebration of those who came before us, and all of us that will follow. It is not morbid at all: it is a celebration of life. Our simple 2 hour date turned into a 7 hour dream that was blessed and wonderful. Move forward now, two years, and Jessica and I went to the Dia de los Muertos last night. What was once a small, perfectly 'Austin-like' event, completely focused on the Dia de los Muertos, is now a typical street fair, with corporate sponsors, vendors, food, and a stage with a myriad of entertainment not related to the dead. We spent 15 minutes there before leaving. The memories of what once was are still with us, but the reality of what now is has left the Dia de los Muertos on 5th and Congress dead forever. Rest, my sweet love: my festival of the dead... your passing is a sadness, and you lived too short a life, killed by the same skyscrappers who once looked over you from above.

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