The modern Westerner is bad at death, especially so at the prospect of managing our own. The result is that it's treated glibly—like in slasher films—or pushed to the sidelines of our communities. Mourning, even within a family, is an isolated act, quarantined from the rest of our lives.
It's a bit melodramatic, frankly.
There's a holiday tradition in New Mexico, where businesses and homeowners line sidewalks and driveways with lit votive candles inside brown paper bags. These "luminarias" supposedly date back to Spaniard merchants, who, taken by Chinese paper lanterns, decided to create their own in New Spain. The act symbolizes the lighting of the Christ child's path on Christmas Eve.
It's a pretty story whose roots reach to our origins as a country. And in this campaign from French Funerals and Cremations, a luminaria may also light a path to where we're headed.