Last night my neighbor passed away. She was a sweet (and very old) lady with a pleasant, toothless smile, who perpetually carried a walking stick and often fell asleep in the middle of conversations. She lived next door to me, and when I stopped by to visit she would say she always knew when I wasn´t home because there was no music coming from my house. I told her I was sorry and I would turn it down, but she smiled and said she didn´t want that. She said the music made her happy and she was always glad to hear it. She was a kind woman and she will be missed.
Part of the cultural tradition here is that when a person passes away the family holds an all-night vigil in the person´s home. So, last night I was lying in bed just drifting off to sleep when there was a knock at my door. It was my host brother, Jairo, coming to tell me that his great-aunt passed away and the family was preparing the house for the vigil. So, at 9:45, I got up, got dressed in the freezing cold and walked over to the house in the dark for my first El Salvador vigil. There were 50 people milling about in hats and scarves just chatting away. It was nothing like the funerals in the United States I have been to. There were no crying relatives, no somber mood. There were only children running around chasing each other with flashlights to keep warm, family members bustling about preparing the decorations and coffee, and guests chatting and laughing. It was more like a party. So I huddled in a chair and joked with the women for about 2 hours. Then around midnight, the pastor arrived and everyone sang for about an hour. Then, I decided that it would be rude to fall asleep during the ceremony, so I quietly snuck back to house, hoping to get a few hours in before I had to get up and go to the mayor´s office in the morning. However, when I was back in my warm pjs and back in my bed I still could not fall asleep, because the loud, off-pitch singing next door was keeping me awake. Ugh! I think I finally passed out around 2 then woke up to get ready at 5. It has been a long and rough morning. I passed through my host family´s house this morning and my host mom was certainly not her usual active self…she looked exhausted.
The ceremony for the burial is this afternoon, and as I understand it, the coffin is placed in a glass case on the back of a truck and driven slowly through town as mourners walk behind. I believe we are walking from my town to Juayua (about an hour and a half walk) behind the coffin. After that I am not sure what happens, but I bet I will be tired for it.
