Recently some newbie (at least I hope he was a newbie) stopped in at a local business and complained that the neighbors had apparently had a big party last night because they still had the streets blocked off with chairs and such. As a result he couldn’t drive through the street. He also mentioned that there were still people sitting around.

This bombastic rant was swiftly answered: “Those people’s daughter died last night and in most villages it’s customary to set up the wake outside the home of the deceased. It’s called a velorio.”

“That’s even worse,” said the foreigner. “They should go to a funeral parlor like decent people do.”

Don’t worry, Mr. Smarty Pants, when you croak we surely won’t bother with a wake (or a funeral parlor).