Hurricane Sandy and The Day of the Dead

Hurricane Sandy closes in on the Mid-Atlantic states on October 29, 2012.

We’re recovering from Hurricane Sandy. Power went back on last night, after only 48 hours without electricity and heat. I say only because there are a lot of people who will be without power for much longer than that. And the temperatures are dropping. We live about an hour inland from where Sandy completely devastated the Jersey shore. The images of the destroyed coastline are heartrending. I grew up going to the Jersey shore every summer and continued to go with my own family. That geography has been irrevocably altered by nature. Memories have become history. While my family and I spent a good 18-hour cycle in the sump pump pit bailing out water that was overflowing into our basement, we’re grateful that the damage we experienced wasn’t worse.

I’ve always been awed– and a little frightened– by the raw force of nature. Sometimes we forget just how raw it can be because we have roofs over our heads, heat in our houses, storm doors and strong walls. But it’s important, I think, to remember that not everybody has shelter today, especially after a force like Sandy hits. And to reach out somehow and help. The Red Cross is one way to do that with a donation of money or time.

Nature can be more frightening than fiction. Here, the Atlantic Ocean submerges the Jersey shore.

Today, I had planned to post a scene from a short story I wrote several years ago called The Balance of Power. In the story, a hurricane hits Miami on November 1st, The Day of the Dead (Dia de los Muertos). Within the storm lurk elemental creatures who wreak specific havoc on the characters. Dia de los Muertos originated in South America as a celebration to remember family and friends who have died over the course of the year. This holiday parallels the Feasts of All Saints Day on November 1st and All Souls Day on November 2 in the Catholic Church. But in the rich and textured tradition of South American myth, there is also a belief that spirits cavort and frighten on these two days. Among these spirits are jimaniños, fairies of the wind who resemble pudgy children with wings and are responsible for turning the Wheel of the Year. I put  jimaniños in my story because it was a way to lull the main character into a sense of a benign appeal in nature. He watches the wind whipping up on the other side of his window and thinks he is safe. Within the wind are these tiny figures who resemble children and he still thinks he is invulnerable. But  jimaniños are as relentless as a hurricane.

We’re always trying to process and understand forces over which we have no power. Dia de los Muertos evolved as one way to do that. And to honor our dead. We create stories to deal with our fears or to explain things we don’t understand. Sometimes, though, there is no fiction that can rival nature itself.

I’ll post the scene tomorrow.

 Best Wishes,

Kellyann

THE GENIE IGNITES, Book One in The Zubis Chronicles