Art Teaches Us What as Americans, We Easily Forget
I promise you I haven't had a sip of my cocktail yet, and already I can tell you I'm going to ramble even more than usual. Now, I can have the first sip of my cocktail. Well, not a cocktail, but rather, because of the subject we and our good neighbors will be discussing, little "copitas" or little glasses, of marvelously good Patrón Tequila Reposado.

Art, who comes from Mexico, is a wealth of information for us on another culture, and together with his wife Terry, is the owner of the important organic produce farm and dairy goat farm down the road, from which we get delectable produce and some of the finest artisanal goat cheese.

With all of us gathered in the great room sipping our delicious little copitas of tequila, with a small but wonderful fire going, Art reminded us of something very important. He said that last night kids everywhere had a howling good time, with Halloween, but, he said, today and tomorrow are really much more important than Jack-o'-Lanterns and gobs of candy: the two days are really about death; about honoring your dead; about not forgetting them. Art told us that Donald Rumsfeld would say: "Death happens." George Bush would cry the crocodile tears, but that it was up to us to never forget: by midnight tonight, we're already on our way to counting way over the 2,000 dead figure of just a few days ago. Also, Art told us, he and Terry, as good, practicing Catholics, had gone to Mass today because today is All Saint's Day. In France, today was a national holiday, so Max and Charlotte also went to church, and Jeremy and Beatrix attended the closest Episcopal Church, an hour and a half away.

Art wanted us, in this time of a war of whim and personal vanity, to remember the men and women who are dying daily. He explained that in Mexico, there are many rituals relating to the dead, and one, applicable to today, All Saint's Day, and tomorrow, All Soul's Day, has to do with Ancient Mexicans' belief that there are three deaths we each must go through: the first, when our bodies no longer function, and when our hearts no longer beat of their own accord and when our gaze is no longer of this earth. Second, when our bodies are lowered into the ground, returned to Mother Earth, and last, the Third Death, and the worst: when there is no one left alive to remember us.

The Third Death Bush, Rumsfeld, Meyers, Rove, Miers and Rice Wish For
The Bush Cabal, with the surreptitious arrival of each body bag, wishes the public were not aware of that arrival, but more heinous, wishes the day after We The People would forget. If they had souls, they would grieve today: yesterday, All Saint's Day, normally is reserved to remember the children, but today, All Soul's Day, is traditionally reserved for remembering adults, and in our case, our dead military, who died because swine took over the White House.

Please, Art said, don't forget them, not for one minute. Instead, Art pleaded, do as we do: lay out an offering of food and drink for each departed soldier at an altar of some kind at your home. Remember them, and provide them love and sustenance as they pass on, and Art said, for each one of them, send a photograph to your government representative, to your local paper, and to the important newspapers from coast to coast.

Ancient Mexican Customs and An Episcopalian Prayer
Beatrix and Jeremy wanted to share this from their House of Worship:

And Art wanted us to join him tonight at the only cemetary we have anywhere around our farms and ranches. A cemetary that probably began resting its dead over one hundred years ago, and that tonight, All Soul's Day, will see enacted among its ancient trees an even more ancient Mexican ritual, a tribute to the dead.

After dinner, and after most of our neighbors have gone home, a few of us will join Art and Terry at the cemetary, to honor not only our dead, but every soldier who has died in this war that should never have taken place.
We will light a candle, and lay out water to quench the thirst and for purification; salt, to season the food and for purification; and bread, to represent the food needed for survival.

Art explained that flowers represent the brevity of life, but that cempasuchil, the marigold, at this time of year is the most representative flower of the season. In Aztec times, the cempasuchil was called the flower of 400 lives. We will lay out marigolds, and pray.

A Simple, Tributary Dinner
After explaining to our neighbors how today is a very special day for some of us, nobody minded that dinner was going to be a bit simpler than usual. Simple, of course, is relative, when you have about 40 people over for dinner. Nevertheless, we held it in tribute to our soldiers.

Shelley and Cathy, because the weather cooperated, were able to barbecue some excellent shrimp for us. What made the shrimp so different, was the guava paste they used. The results were excellent, and paired with an Alsatian white wine, a Pinot Auxerrois, we were delighted. The beautiful, fluffy white rice they served with the shrimp was all the dish needed.

Barry and Kim prepared one of our favorite dishes, beautifully cooked Coq au Vin. The mushrooms and pearl onions they prepared with the dish were plump and excellent, and with some simple, baked fingerling potatoes, we didn't need anything further, except for the pefect wine match they presented us with, a Loire Valley Chenin Blanc, Domaine du Closel.

A wonderful Beaumes de Venise white dessert wine was paired perfectly to our simple Sicilian Marzipan and Candied Fruit Tartelets. Then, we went back to the great room to join the teenagers for a while and sip our after-dinner coffee. Knowing that some of us were off to a special tribute to our military dead, the gang disbanded quietly right after finishing our coffee.

Summary:
Día de los Muertos: Day of the Dead
No matter how you pay tribute to those who give their lives, even for an invasion that should never have taken place, pay tribute to them. Honor them by raising your voices to bring this government to heel. Honor them with flowers, but also by sending pictures of the dead to your representatives and to all the newspapers you can. We have to hold this "government" accountable for the unforgivable deaths they have cowardly caused. Don't let "TheThird Death" occur on your watch.