In honor of Dia de los Muertos last weekend, an intrepid friend and I visited the Mexican Bicentennial exposition at the Palacio Nacional. Dubbed the “Patria en Construción” expo, it reminded me of a sign I saw on the Viaducto on the way over.
In addition to the fascinating retelling of Mexico’s history, the highlight of the exhibit for me was the Mausoleo de los Héroes de la Patria, where the mortal remains of the heroes of Mexican independence are displayed in gilded boxes for all to see.
Observe the six most relevant skulls of Mexican Independence:
(I won’t explore the question here of whether the mentioned figures are, in actuality, the most important heroes in Mexican history. They certainly aren’t the only ones, but the fact remains they are the ones who are most remembered and venerated in the collective consciousness, and in public schools. I know many people are opposed to the bicentennial celebrations in the first place, in part because of their unilateral view of the country’s history. Point taken. But I still liked this expo!)
Seeing the bones of some of Mexico’s national founders and heroes made me wonder where we keep the remains of our important historical figures in the US? Some digging around (heh) revealed that the bones of Washington, Jefferson, Adams, Lincoln and the like are not at risk of being displayed in public anytime soon. They each remain buried near their respective hometowns, and in the case of Washington his bones were locked up and they threw the key in the Potomac. Sheesh.
Last year I visited the D.F. cemetery where many illustrated figures are buried, including Mariano Escobedo, Diego Rivera, and many military heroes, politicians and celebrities. It was from this very cemetery that the remains of some of those on display for this expo were removed.
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Diego Rivera:
My only fellow visitor that day:
Even if there were not many people visiting the Illustrated people’s area, the rest of the cemetery was packed with family members tending to graves of all kinds. Vendors had set up shop to sell flowers and gifts, and ten feet outside the front gate the traffic of Avenida Constituyentes was bumper to bumper.
What do we make of this close contact with heroes’ remains? Or frequent visits to the cemetery? It has long been said that Mexico has a special cultural reverence for Death. Carlos Fuentes wrote, “El llamado gusto mexicano por la muerte es un doble recurso de la vida… la muerte también es el recurso de la transfiguración. Es la salida de la vida…”
If death gives us transfiguration, an exit from life, maybe we should be visiting cemeteries more often. And stop making Halloween so fluffy! It’s supposed to be about death!
