Descansos– in New Mexico you see them everywhere – along major highways and narrow country roads, at the intersection of city streets and in lonely niches along dusty, unpaved lanes. They’re the roadside shrines marking the place where someone has died suddenly and violently, often a long way from home, and they serve as both a memorialization of the deceased and a warning to remember the fragility and impermanence of life.
In spanish, the word ‘descanso’ means respite or resting place. Years ago, when the coffin was often carried from the church to the graveyard, the bearers would have to set it down at some point and rest. The spot was then marked with a cross or ‘descanso’.
Many descansos consist of a cross with flowers, photographs, perhaps a stuffed animal of a statue of the deceased’s favorite saint. Some shrines are lovingly tended; others are neglected and overgrown with weeds.
To me, the descansos are poignant and haunting, a reminder that death can come at any hour, in the moment we least expect it. They’re the memento mori of the New Mexican roadside. Their presence carves out a sacred space and a pilgrimage site for families and friends of the departed.
Almost invariably, the descansos face the highway, so those speeding past can catch a glimpse of the spot where someone died. I always notice them,and I wonder about the person who died there, what happened, and who visits the descanso to mourn.
For a few miles at least, I drive a little slowler and appreciate my life a little bit more.