No Place to Die

The Poetics of Roadside Sacred Places in Mexico

The following pages briefly introduce dissertation research 
by Daniel R. Weir  
and the material in them are his exclusive copyright.                       
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Introduction

"Death is a mirror which reflects the vane gesticulations of life. The whole motley confusion
of acts, omissions, regrets and hopes which is the life of each one of us finds in death, not
meaning or explanation, but an end. Death defines life; a death depicts a life in immutable
forms; we do not change except to disappear. Our deaths illuminate our lives. If our deaths lack
meaning, our lives also lacked it." 

Octavio Paz

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Roadside death memorials are a special type of spontaneous memorialization. They are globally
recognized, locally important, and created by individuals. They are an inscribing upon the
landscape, an external display, an upfront, observable account of our current human condition.
As artifacts of our material culture they signify meaning by producing a cultural text that is
meant to be read and interpreted.  It is us, you and I, talking to ourselves, to each other, to
others in general; whether they are listening or not. This communicative effort resists the idea 
that our lives, and therefore our deaths, lack meaning; it speaks out, poetically, that we love, 
laugh, struggle, hurt, cry, and contribute to the stream of life--even in death.
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Mexico provides the interested observer fertile ground for seeing/reading/listening to roadside
death memorials. Here, these artifacts of material culture have developed over a five hundred
year period and are intimately connected with strongly held religious beliefs; beliefs which are
deeply rooted in a Medieval interpretation of how the world works, what life and death mean,
and the nature of reality. Roadside memorials in Mexico are a rich text to be read carefully and
cautiously, for their context is complex and profound; they are manifestations of the
spontaneous irruption of sacred places upon an otherwise secular landscape. Every cross or
shrine is a node where two radically different modes of reality intersect, each with a unique
geography.
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The memorials observed during field work are divided into two
categories which reflect their form and functional capabilities: 
- crosses and monuments outwardly display, but cannot shelter or conceal;
- Nichos and shrines outwardly display and have the capacity to shelter or provide private
space, they have an interior.

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Crosses and Monuments

Crosses and monuments are, respectively, the most and least common form of roadside memorialization in Mexico; their shared attribute is the totally public nature of their display. The major difference between them is that monuments do not have an associated cross form, nor any obvious intention for such an association. This does not, however, imply that monuments are strictly secular; secular monuments are, in fact, quite rare. What is most common is an alternative religious symbol; a statue of Christ, or an angel are typical examples. This category of open and public crosses and monuments constitutes 68% of all the artifacts observed (n = 9102) during the project's field work phase.

Here are a few examples of typical roadside crosses.

It is apparent from these examples, that they are intended to be permanent features of the cultural landscape. It is abnormal for a cross to not have a concrete footing or foundation. Construction workers who are engaged in subsequent road-widening projects are usually careful to move crosses to the new roadside, further assuring their permanence.

Although monuments are quite scarce by comparison, here are a few photos that are representative of this genre.

In both cases of a "secular" monument, the deceased was a Federal employee and the monument was erected by his co-workers. These two (the "Green Angel" and the highway policeman monuments) comply with long-standing strictures against public demonstration of religious beliefs (these laws were recently reversed). Ironically, while they hold to the letter of the law in one respect; they are (like all roadside memorials) situated on Federal property (the highway right-of-way) and are, technically, trespassing!

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