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hat's with the memorials on the back windows of Mexican cars? Some days, driving through Santa Ana, I feel like I'm navigating a cemetery. — Muerte manDear Gabacho: Ruminating on the Mexican obsession with death is as hack as a reporter rolling with gangsters. Yes, Mexicans embrace death — we laud it in song, codify it with holidays, and, sí, plaster the names and dates of birth and death of our deceased beloveds on car windows, ornate back tattoos and even sweatshirts. "In Mexican homes across Aztlan, an altar is usually present," notes La Pocha, a SanTana artist who specializes in Day of the Dead lore. "In this modern age, spending more time in our cars than our homes, resourceful Mexicans have placed mini-mobile altares in their vehicles. Now you can honor your dead homies while cruisin' in your Chevy. That's progress!" 1 2 Next Page > Email Gustavo Arellano Recently in Arts & Culture AtticRep's 'Virginia Woolf' is side-splitting and soul-searching Families fare badly in Western drama. Oedipus kills his father, Lear's daughters connive against one another, and Ibsen's Nora walks out on her husband and their... | 8/22/2012 Live Active Cultures Urban ReThink's Collide*scope series presents an electric evening – and schemes a safe harbor for the homeless | 8/22/2012 Culture 2 Go Newly launched Orlando Design District keeps Orlando ODD; GOAT christens new permanent space; "Blood Sisters" goes to the DNC | 8/22/2012 We welcome user discussion on our site, under the following guidelines: To comment you must first create a profile and sign-in with a verified DISQUS account or social network ID. Sign up here. Comments in violation of the rules will be denied, and repeat violators will be banned. Please help police the community by flagging offensive comments for our moderators to review. By posting a comment, you agree to our full terms and conditions. Click here to read terms and conditions. Please enable JavaScript to view the <a href="http://disqus.com/?ref_noscript=sanantoniocurrent">comments powered by Disqus.</a> comments powered by Disqus

offerings come in many forms

spirit paper i

alter

A small bowl of rice. A small cup of water. Incense. A candle. Flowers and fruits.

A spirit tablet acts as an effigy of a specific deity or ancestor

Below is a picture of a typical Japanese “Butsudan”, a portable alter for the home to honor deceased relatives. This is all about traditional Japanese ancestral worship. The Butsudan below is set up for my wife’s late grandfather and grandmother. Every night my mother-in-law makes an offering. This has nothing to do with a belief in the afterlife as my in-laws are not religious folks at all; it’s about bringing memories of the deceased into this world. Mom continues to keep the tradition alive, evidence of the power of culture in driving behavior.