Day of the dead

If you have a French calendar, you'll see that today is marked 'Jour des Défunts' (Day of the Dead), rather than with a saint's name. Tonight I went to 'Martror', a theatrical piece played in the streets of old Pézenas, which dramatises the battle between Death and Life at this period of equinox.

Yes, I knew this drama should carry a health warning for me, but I had discovered a invitation to it in Teleri's email inbox, and I thought I should face up to it. It was brilliantly done, and very moving, culminating in a ceremony in the old castle (to which the public normally are denied access) when paper hot air balloons carrying our thoughts to our departed were released over the town, flickering and bobbing into the gentle night sky toward the stars. I have no more words for this.

The photo shows the earlier moment when Life makes a dramatic entrance on a balcony in one of the old town squares, to challenge the supremacy of Death and endeavour to release the souls of the dead. Life then marries Death in pursuit of this aim, and eventually succeeds in tricking him and achieving the goal. There was plenty of stark (and photogenic) funereal imagery throughout, but I'm going with this. In that sense it is, in part, a response to Kendall's blip here.