Alamos Pantheon – Cemetery

13 … A place where the Living and Dead and Memories converge…

Crows and Crosses in Alamos, Sonora, Mexico.  Photo by Anders Tomlinson.

Can you find the black crows spending their morning perched on crosses?

Existence in the Pantheon, Cemetery, is a many layered thing. November 2, the
Day of the Dead, is one of these moments as relatives bearing flowers light
candles at their departed’s grave sites. Some of the surnames etched and
painted are Almada, Urrea, Salido, Salazar, Ortega, Lopez, Zayas, Ibarra,
Santoyo, Palomares, Lara, Acosta and…

Granite tombstone in Alamos, Sonora, Mexico.  Photo by Anders Tomlinson.

Touring the Graveyard is an art experience as a variety of religious icons are repeated in many variations and materials.

And the names keep coming: Rosas, Parra, Valenzuela, Esquer, Boors, Ramos,
Garcia, Robles, Campoy, Zavala… The earliest dated grave I found was
for Antonio Alamada – 8 de Octubre, 1786.

Tarnished metal Jesus, Alamos, Sonora, Mexico.  Photo by Anders Tomlinson.

This tarnished Jesus stands as a gatekeeper to the eternal blue skies above.

There was the day I listened from across the graveyard to the piercing
wails of a woman and sister who had lost their grown son and brother.
And there are the sounds of birds and dogs as countryside
meets town, past meets present and the future is there for all to see.

Graveyard shadows Álamos, Sonora, México.  photo by Anders Tomlinson.  1996

Shadows grow long as summer thunderheads build.


Here are the pasts, some distant some near. Here are the hopes and dreams
and pain and suffering. Here some have visitors and some have none.
This is life be it short or long. Here eveyone are equals.

Wedding party visit gravesite in  Álamos, Sonora, México. photo by Anders Tomlinson. 1996

They have come to seek silent permission on their day of joy.

Graveyards are communal. They are shared by all walks of life. Memorials
differ in size and matrials but they all mean the same thing – “here lies…”
And there are the visitors that come on calendar dates or wheb there
is a need for a cosmic connection. And graves will always listen.

Álamos Graveyard

It is another day in the graveyard. Not just another day… but
another day. It has been this way since 1794 when this plot of land was
deemed the municipal cemetery. Graveyards are a special place: they are
public art, they are public history and they are markers of their own
civilization. And another day begins… and somewhere out there someone
is dying and somewhere near here someone is being born. In the end it is
all about this precious balance we call life.
Photos and editing by Anders Tomlinson.
Music from “Camino Songs” by SonicAtomics.

A mourning mother’s deep wails, crows cawing – perched on white crosses…

It is a warm spring day as we explore the “Pantheon” – (Cemetery) on the
road to the Sierra Madres, minutes east of the Colonial Center. The ages
speak here. Be it ancient mountain sounds or human voices, mourning
and celebrating since 1794. All is timeless, and all thoughts are a
point on our circle of life.
Photos and editing by Anders Tomlinson.
Music from “Camino Songs” by SonicAtomics.

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