#75 All souls, i morti and other things to do with death

Making friends with death: part 3

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I'm exploring the theme of death and mortality in Sicily for a couple more posts, so be patient with me. It may be a little dark, but I promise it's fascinating. After all, we celebrated the Day of the Dead (la festa dei morti) on the second of November, so it is perfectly reasonable to take this month to commemorate the dearly departed.

On All Souls Day, the tombs at the cemetery are illuminated by small light globes put together to form hearts and crosses or lined up on special frames to line the edges of tombstones, glowing like the memories people hold for their late family.

Bulbs are put together one at a time by family and friends to light up each grave. Globes can be bought separately and screwed onto the mounted frames around each cemetery, especially for the occasion. Only for a few days, as the next day, they are all taken down and put away for the following year.

As the sun sets over the mausoleums, the lights create an extended halo around each of the departed's graves. The cemetery is aglow with the radiant gleam of artificial light, and burgeoning walls of fresh blossoms create an eerie and ephemeral sense of beauty…