"Among the tombs in Santiago's General Cemetery, the appearance of bouquets of flowers, some of them dry, others fresh and vibrant, indicate the amount of time that has passed since someone visited the deceased. Near the entryway on Recoleta Avenue, the least touristy section that does not feature the imposing mausoleums of yesteryear, 72-year-old Ana Munoz cleans and sometimes decorates her section of tombs. Before she did this work, her mother was in charge of the same patch of earth, and before her, her grandmother."
"Munoz's ancestors has cared for this place of rest, for the same families, generation after generation. The cemetery and the majority of those who work in it are under the purview of the Recoleta municipal government. But caretakers like Ana belong to another tradition, one that links the dead and their families to those who maintain the resting place for their remains."
Bouquets of fresh and dry flowers mark how recently graves in Santiago's General Cemetery have been visited. The least touristy Recoleta Avenue section features small, cared-for plots rather than grand mausoleums. Seventy-two-year-old Ana Munoz cleans and decorates a patch of tombs that her mother and grandmother tended before her. The maternal line began work in the 1930s and passed the role down through generations. Families pay caretakers to maintain specific graves. The cemetery operates under municipal authority, while these caretaking roles follow a separate familial, vocational tradition linking living relatives to the deceased.
Read at english.elpais.com
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