2023/104: Cemetery Boys — Aiden Thomas

2023/104: Cemetery Boys — Aiden Thomas

His mom championed for Yadriel to be given a brujo’s [quinceañero], to be welcomed into the community as he was — a boy. She’d taken on the task of trying to explain to his dad that he was a brujo. He was a boy. ... It’s not a choice, his mother had said, her voice calm but firm. It’s who he is. [p. 32]

Yadriel's family are mostly unable to accept that he's a boy ('you'll always be my little girl') and, with the Día de Muertos approaching, Yadriel is desperate to prove himself worthy of becoming a brujo. The close-knit Latinx community in which he's grown up has gendered roles for brujo and bruja. The men can release the spirits of the dead to the hereafter: the women are primarily healers. Yadriel is not a good healer, but he's sure he can free a ghost.( Read more... )