Figure 1 – La Mort, (c) DE Wolf 2013

We must now put Halloween behind us.  You have Halloween (October 31), or “All Hallows Eve,”  followed by “All Saints Day” (November 1), followed in turn by “All Souls Day” or as it is referred to in Mexico and the Spanish Speaking World “Día de Muertos:”  The day is meant to honor and revere all who ever were but are now no more. Scholars and archaeologists believe that Día de Muertos traces its origins to Mexico and the Aztec goddess Mictecacihuatl who rules the underworld, Mictlan, along with her husband god Mictlantecuhtli. 

Traditions include building home altars to the deceased using sugar skulls and marigolds, and bringing the favorite foods and drinks that the departed loved to their gravesides. I suspect that you have seen the wonderful figures made to celebrate Día de Muertos.  My favorites are the brides and grooms skeletons whose beginning of life seems to contrast so deeply with death itself.  Death itself, however, is meant to only be a transition to an eternal life.  I suppose that there is also a reference here to the parable of the ten brides in Mathew 25.

With all of this in mind, we stopped last Saturday in West Hartford, CT at J. Rene’ Coffee Roasters.  Here coffee is a wonderful art form.  You can have it brewed in a number of very entertaining ways – all worthy of the taste test.  And to add to this particular day’s flavor, my barista was none other than that most dreaded of tarot cards shown in Figure 1, La Mort himself.