Will Rogers, an American entertainer and social commentator (1879-1935) , said this – “If there are no dogs in heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went.” And apparently a lot of Mexicans agree with him because I saw proof of that in Tecate at this year’s Day of the Dead celebration. The whole central plaza / jardin and its surrounding streets were dedicated to the memory of lost loved ones, including beloved pets.
There were altars everywhere, with pictures of lost family members and friends, but also a separate 10 x 10′ plywood building on blocked-off Juarez Blvd. that you could walk through. Inside was an altar with dozens of photos of cats and dogs with their names written on the frames. Outside there were large plastic skeletons of animals that defined what the structure was for.
When I walked in the first time I started choking up. I love animals and don’t eat animal meat because of this. And I have fallen in love with other people’s dogs over the years. Johnson. Willy. Daikon. Foo-Foo. But I have lived with cats since I was a child. I adore them. My current one, Tila, is my eleventh cat as an adult so I’ve loved and lost ten cats since I moved out of my parents’ house. Seeing all those photos of loved pets hit me and I had to exit fast.
The Mexican people handle death differently than we do. They grieve as we do, of course, but they have a strong belief that they can communicate with the spirit world. They often have specific saints they pray to. Folk saints as well. And Day of the Dead provides rituals to reach out to the departed and invite them to visit you. I saw this twenty years ago when I went to Patzcuaro, Michoacan and now twice in Tecate. And don’t let anyone tell you otherwise, a small border town next to the American colossus is still Mexico.
I wandered around Tecate for many hours and visited dozens of altars. Yes, I’m sure there were some folks whose loss was recent and whose emotions were raw but the tone of the town was one of loud celebration with music both live and recorded. I saw more photos of dogs and cats plus some of birds and horses as well. So……I went back to that little structure on Juarez and looked at all the photos and read the names. (My God, dogs come in so many different shapes and sizes.) And a photo of an animal can show so much personality. I believe that animals have more in common with us than they have differences. That’s how we can so strongly connect with them and them with us. And our love for them can be very deep. Life changing. Can make us a better person. We Americans often kid those who show such love for a pet. What I’ve seen in Mexico tells me that such devotion is taken seriously.
Let’s finish with a laugh. Will Rogers also said “When I die, I want to die like my grandfather who died peacefully in his sleep. Not screaming like all the passengers in his car.”
