I have to concede that it’s only fair if you begin to
refer to me as ADL&ADS – a day late and a dollar short. I admit to having
been overwhelmed lately, especially during the month of October. A quick trip
to La La Land, winter coming much too quickly to my part of the world, and then
Halloween was a bit much for me to keep up with. Yeah, I’m that kind of a
light-weight.
At any rate, I had promised myself to post each month for
the IWSG no matter what, so here I am even if a little less than timely. I know
I read what the ‘suggested’ question of the month was, but for the life of me, I
can’t remember. Since its November 1-2 I would like to talk about something
else.
Dia de los Muertos or Day of the Dead
Día de los Muertos — also known as “Día de
Muertos,” or “Day of the Dead” in English — is a holiday with Mexican origins
that is celebrated on November 1 - 2. While some imagery might be close to that
of Halloween, there are significant differences between the two. Día de los Muertos is a day to
celebrate death — or, more specifically, the deceased — while
on Halloween, death is seen as something to be feared. Día de los Muertos has
both indigenous origins from the Aztec festival for Mictecacihuatl, The Lady of
The Dead, and Catholic origins from the
Spanish conquistadors’ All Saints and All Souls Day.
In my
life celebrating the dead was not unusual although my family has neither
Mexican nor Aztec origins. When I was a young adult I remember my father asked
me if I knew who’s birthday it was on a given day, and then he would proceed to
tell it was my great-grandmothers or some other distant long-dead relative. As
a young adult I thought that was weird, but then a lot of things about my
family and my upbringing in general were kind of weird. Today, as a much older
person I find myself remembering my parents, and other close friends and
relative who have long left this world on their birthdays, death dates, and
other significant times. It seems only natural. Is that weird, or am I merely a
product of my environment.
Something
even weirder is that it seems in almost everything I write someone and often
multiple characters die or are dead. As writers we are told to ‘kill our
darlings’, but I’m pretty sure this is not meant literally. So, my question to
you today is…Is this too weird? Is it a complete downer if the MC dies at the
end of the story, even if that’s they was it was ‘meant to be’? Can you see the
possibility for romance, even if it is a tragic love story? I’m just not sure.
I hope
that I handle it delicately and my deaths are not gratitutious, but I have to
admit I can’t seem to help myself. Not every one of my characters are destined
to die, but many do.
This is
my IWSG Post for the month of November. If you want to know more and read
other, quite possibly more interesting posts please go HERE.
Please
take the time to thank Mr Alex J. Cavanaugh and those who help him continue
this blog hope each month. For this overwhelmed writer it at least, helps me
keep my head and hand in the blogging world.
