Day of the Dead (Dia del Muerte)

Sounds better in Spanish doesn’t it?  Our warehouse neighbors Orphan Resource International invited us to go to a

Kites in the air

nearby community for one of the many festival days here in Guatemala.  They visit the graves of their loved ones and fly kites.  It is very Mayan and Catholic.  One of our party was pick pocketed but felt the hand go in and slapped the wallet out of the ladies hand and was able to retrieve it without loss.  Some of the kites are huge and there was not enough wind to get them off the ground.  One kite 15 to 20 foot across sailed successfully for a couple of minutes.  The launching requires a group of young Guatemalan men to run through the grave yard.  The sudden increase in yelling lets you know they are coming and GET OUT OF THE WAY!  You can buy ice cream and cotton candy while standing on the grave of your loved ones.  In one section their was a national music group (think Blue grass in Asheville NC). 

Apparently you can communicate with the dead by writing your message on a piece of cloth and tying it on a kite.  Of course local boys are glad to sell the cloth, tie it on a kite and find a friend to fly the kite, each step costing a little money.  I was amazed at the number of gringos that participated in that form of worship.  It reminded me of a recent show where the host was talking to a national Figian about how Europeans brought diseases that killed 90% of the population the “missionaries destroyed the rest.  At least the ones that escaped the soup pot… ha ha ha!”  It is so sad to hear and see these kind of things.  We are so blind to the truth.  So willing to accept the lie.

It was an enjoyable day.  I enjoy history and cultural learning.  But it points to the need to continue to strive to learn the language well enough that we can share Jesus not to destroy culture, but to save life for all eternity.  Check out my pictures on the Photo Eclectic tab in a day or two.  Also I have a link below (if it works) to a video on YouTube done a couple of years ago… not by any of ours.  I ended up turning the music off and just watching.  They had more wind for the kite action in the video done a couple of years ago.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rdpSELDxt8

In Christ

Dennis and Cindy McCutcheon