descanso

n. a roadside marker or memorial to a victim of an automobile accident. Subjects: English, Spanish, United States, Religion

Etymological Note: From Spanish descanso ‘resting place (of a dead person),’ from the verb descansar ‘to (have a) rest.’

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Citations: 1994 Kelly Garbus Kansas City Star Magazine (Kan., Mo.) (Sept. 4) “Roadside reminders” p. 8: The practice of erecting memorials may have its origins in Mexico. Roadside memorials there are called descanso, which means resting place. 1999 Rod Allee Record (N.J.) (June 18) “Tenuous Bond Links Two Memorials”: Alongside Interstate 80 in Knowlton Township is something called a descanso, a Spanish word that means a roadside memorial. It is for state Trooper Philip Lamonaco. 2000 Steve Shoup Albuquerque Journal (N.M.) (Aug. 23) “Fiery Crash on I-25 Kills One” p. A1: Williams said one of the cars came to rest against a descanso, or roadside cross often put up by family and friends to mark where someone died, usually in a traffic accident. 2002 Elda Silva San Antonio Express-News (Texas) (Nov. 3) “Americans find room for descansos” p. 1J: While a gravesite marks the resting place of physical remains, a descanso is intended to mark the place where the spirit left the body. 2004 Forrest Valdiviez Island Packet (Bluffton, S.C.) (Oct. 17) “Signs of the cross”: In the Southwest, the markers are called descansos, which comes from the Spanish word for resting. The practice comes from a Spanish tradition of placing stones where pallbearers rested between the church and the cemetery. Later the stones became crosses.…Some states don’t think roadside memorials are sacred. 2005 Rachel Ray Albuquerque Journal (Ariz.) (June 12) “Historian, Photographer Track New Mexico’s Tradition of Roadside Crosses”: [Kathleen] McRee and oral historian Troy Fernandez, both Santa Feans, have spent years researching, photographing and interviewing people about the roadside crosses known variously around New Mexico as descansos, crucitas or memorias.

Posted 18 Oct 04 | Permalink | Tell a Friend