Saw something a bit strange on the way home today. I was driving along the back route – I really love that road! Can’t wait to see what autumn does to all the the trees!
Anyway, driving along and as I came up over the little hill towards the cemetery nearest my house, I see this kid walking along the side of the road. He’s what? 15? 16? I dunno. Gangly, tall, Hispanic boy. He was obviously school age, at any rate. He was wearing a backpack and had earphones in – I could see the white cords across his black shirt. I could see him bopping along to whatever was playing.
At any rate, he gets to the edge of the graveyard entrance and then crosses the road. He goes for about fifteen feet – basically the length of the graveyard entrance – and crosses back across the road again. Ten more feet down the road and he swerves into a driveway.
Now….why in the hell would ANYone do that?
Probably some superstition thing, but I’ve never heard of anything like it before. I think I will bring it up this October in my class. Ooh, maybe I can create a writing assignment that the kids will actually enjoy!
The Process 
Growing up in New Mexico, this was a common practice. I do think it is a Hispanic superstition. I was a teenager before I would actually walk on the same side of the road as a cemetery or go into one for anything other than a funeral or Memorial Day. Also, my Hispanic friends in New Mexico FREAKED out when they saw an owl, as does my Native American Sister-in-Law. Owls being the Messengers of the West in Shamanism, and Harbingers of the Death tell.
When I was a kid, I would do the same thing. Graveyards and anything about death that wasn’t my own horrible poetry freaked me out.
If it’s a superstition that keeps teenagers from leaving beer cans all over the cemetery, is it all bad?
The cemetery nearest my house when I was in my teens saw a certain amount of “bored teenager” traffic. It was a decent makeout spot, apparently, and sometimes a small group would hang out and leave their beer cans. (At least they weren’t out tipping cows- unless that’s where they went to fortify themselves before disturbing innocent members of a dairy herd….)