descanso
n.— «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.» —“Signs of the cross” by Forrest Valdiviez Island Packet (Bluffton, S.C.) Oct. 17, 2004. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
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