Saturday, November 7, 2015

Dia de los Muertos

      


            I am not so sure if this is normal grief behaviour, but I really like going to my mother's new gravesite.  I go about two times a week, I change up the flowers, rinse out the water, and put fresh ti leaves. I was looking around my yard for some flowers or foliage and I saw the little hawaiian hot chili peppers, I thought, "these look pretty" so I cut a branch for the arrangement. I can never use them all anyway.
        This day I was setting up the ti leaves and chili peppers and over walked two nene geese to visit, I took pictures. I talked to them in nene goose language, which sounds like the sounds that they make at me, hooonnn, hooonnn, hooonnn. When I make those sounds I think of what I mean to say, so I was trying to say hello, how are they? I ask them permission to be there, as that was looking like their territory, and say thank you for letting me, etc. They came so close, looked at me, then went on their way down the hill.
          Now for the curious part of this story, when I went back three days later, the chili peppers were all gone! Even the ones that had fallen on the ground (notice in the picture). I'm like, "whaaaaat?!? Who took the chili peppers? It couldn't be chickens, because they don't eat them in my yard. Perhaps live humans, (which would be fine because I have too many for me to use). Perhaps the nene geese ate them, (which would be so odd to me, because those little hawaiian hot chili peppers are very, very hot!) And they would have eaten all of them! Wow!
         Let's see, another possibility could be that the spirits enjoy hot chili peppers, as it was during the time period of the celebration of "Dia de los Muertos". It does seem to me that they are getting more familiar with me, and even that they are starting to like me, (I always ask permission to enter the graveyard, please, and I say "excuse me" to all the graves as I walk by them.)
        Well, whatever the conclusion is, I plan to take another branch of peppers, in part as an experiment, and part as an offering. Mainly because I am glad someone is liking my Hawaiian hot chili peppers!