|
Costa del Sol |
![]() |
|
|
'November mourning'
• 31 Oct 2007 •
 IN MEXICO they call it The Day of the Dead, or Los Dias de los Muertos. In Spain it's All Saints Day. For pagans it is All Hallows. Whatever you choose to call it, November 1 is an important day on the world calendar. Whatever your religion, whatever your beliefs, November 1 has become a universal date for the remembrance of the dead.
Call it what you will but this is a day to celebrate the lives of those who are no longer with us, to remember their achievements and the impact that they had on you. This is a celebration in the truest sense of the word, and that is the main reason why the world now celebrates and remembers.
So what do you do on All Saints Day?
Traditionally it's a day to visit the graves of loved ones, to lay flowers and to clean gravestones. It's a time to respect the dead, to give them a time of the year when you can remember them without mourning. It's no coincidence that this fiesta takes place at the beginning of autumn, as the cycle of the seasons brings gradual change to the weather and the end of one year starts to drift into the beginning of the new one.
November 2 is traditionally All Souls Day, but there is something a lot more interesting that occurs on this auspicious date. It keeps with the theme of the preceding two days, and it can be a way of affirming your intention to never shuffle off that mortal coil.
It's Plan Your Epitaph Day!
Although seen by many as a bit of a joke, planning what is to be written on your gravestone is probably something that you'd like some say over. Do you really want the archaeologists of the future to groan as they see another of the same tired slogans and dates? Or do you want to make them laugh, make them cry, or even just confuse them?
If you hate your wife, what better place to put your feelings than on your gravestone? If your husband made your life a misery, tell him in a way that will never be forgotten. If your children are an embarrassment, let them know! And if you are one of those people who simply have to have the last word, you can't get more final than your headstone.
And you'll be part of great tradition as well. Some of the most significant characters in world history have opted for something different on their tombstones. Winston Churchill went for the classic “I am ready to meet my Maker. Whether my Maker is prepared for the great ordeal of meeting me is another matter.” That other great Brit, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, chose to go for an affirmation of the way he lived his life, “Steel true, blade straight.” Then there's the classic, “I told you I was ill” on Spike Milligan's grave or HG Wells' epitaph, “I told you so, you damned fools.” If you reach a particularly ripe old age, you could choose “Only the good die young.” Frank Sinatra had engraved on his headstone the immortal words “The best is yet to come” and they don't really get any better than that.
You could include
reference to your profession, like writer Hillaire Beloc, whose gravestone reads “When I am dead, I hope it will be said: His sins were scarlet but his books were read.” Or you could instead scare children with the epitaph, “Be right back” or even worse, “I'm coming back to get you.”
So with Day of the Dead and Plan your Epitaph Day following so quickly on from Halloween, it's going to be a long week.
Hopefully. |  Return to Top
Home Page
Send by Email |
|
Share on Facebook
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
![]()
| Birthdays |
| |
Cyril Neville (The Neville Brothers) - 60 - American percussionist/vocalist,
Slick Rick - 43 - British rapper,
Emily Watson - 41 - British Actress, |
|
| |
more... |
|
 |
|
