At the San Ysidro border crossing in San Diego, two members of a Mexican-American family nervously wait to re-enter the U.S. Packed in their car is a small bag containing a substance that is illegal to import into the U.S. – soil from Mexico. Border officials confiscate the soil and the travelers are allowed to continue to their home.
The family’s name is not important – their attempt and failure to bring soil from Mexico is a very common happening. It’s also very disappointing for these families as their mission is to bury their deceased family member with a tangible part of their homeland. The soil is sacred for these families but it has always been a big challenge to attain it for burials in the U.S. In a move that could be called revolutionary, a funeral chapel in the East Bay has removed the challenge.
After a lengthy and costly process, Chapel of the Chimes has made it possible for families to bury their loved ones here with soil from Mexico.
“We’ve accomplished something that many Mexican families attempt to do but are unable to do because the soil is confiscated at the border,” says Robin Russell of Chapel of the Chimes in Hayward. “We found a way to do it that the Department of Agriculture and Homeland Security are happy with – we’ve found a legal way to do this.”
With the proper permits, Chapel of the Chimes recently brought an amount of Mexican soil to its funeral chapels in Hayward and Oakland. The soil was blessed by a priest at a cathedral in Mexico and then transported across the border.
“We’ve brought it in legally so the families don’t have to worry about it,” adds Russell. “We know it’s important to them.” Though figures are not available, Russell notes that the most confiscated thing at the U.S. border is soil. “Everyone keeps trying to bring some soil in from their homeland,” he says.
Russell is referring to the fact that people from many countries try to bring soil from their ancestral country to the U.S. for different purposes. It is a sacred connection for many people.
Asked if this new service is unique in the U.S., Russell responds, “As far as I know, no-one has done it before.”
The initial amount of Mexican soil is in fifty small, sealed containers. Russell explains that every family that purchases burial property will receive the soil to scatter on the grave or put in the casket with the deceased.
“We keep the soil here and have a certificate of authenticity that is given to family,” he adds.
“It’s never been done before in this country,” says Dan Katz of LA ads in Los Angeles. Katz’s agency worked with Chapel of the Chimes to realize the unique solution.
“We have been working with cemeteries and funeral homes for many years and we see that people from Mexico choose to have their remains shipped back to Mexico, to their homeland,” says Katz. “The question came up, ‘What if we bring their homeland to them?”
Katz says that the important part is that a family that is together here can stay together here.
“It has both an ancestral component being from Mexico and very spiritual because it was blessed – it makes the soil very sacred.”
Having been blessed in Mexico, the soil will again be blessed at a public event that Chapel of the Chimes is hosting on May 31 in Hayward. A local priest will bless the soil and lead a prayer. A mariachi band and food will add to the homeland elements.
Chapel of the Chimes says the event will bring the community into awareness that something unique and important has been achieved for the Hispanic community. Something unique, sacred, and historic.