Memento Mori

It’s that time of year for the spooky yard displays that slow down traffic on Hillcrest. I love the creativity they show, and in a way it’s a means of turning what we fear into something we laugh at. I doubt that even kids think that plastic skeletons are going to chase after them.

And these days, as the hispanic population in Louisville increases it’s also more and more common to see Dia de los Muertes figures around. All kinds of skeletons, going about all kinds of things in life, getting married, playing music, having parties. In its own way it’s a celebration of life, even as it reminds us of death. All things in this world end, even our happiest times they say to us. But they say it in the midst of the celebration of a Christian feast that says that the ending of this world is not the end.

We remember those we love who have gone before us. We remember the love and the happy times we have shared. And we remember that one day we will join them. Memento mori, it is called in Latin, and it is something that spans all cultures. “A reminder of death.” And its purpose is to rob death of its power. Sugar skulls and plastic skeletons are worth a laugh, because they remind us that our human love lasts longer than death. And God’s divine love is stronger than all things, even, and especially, death.