There are
traditions that transcend cultures. There are traditions that are adopted.
There are traditions that get recycled through time.
The ancient
Celtic New Year used to fall on November the first. There are ancient Celtic
customs related to the harvest and coinciding with this date.
A Celtic
celebration called Samhain used to center around the building of a bonfire on
the Celtic New Year’s Eve on October 31. The people of a village would
extinguish all fires in the village and take fire from the community bonfire to
bring a new light from fire into the new year.
With the
Celtic or Irish disaspora to America in the middle of the nineteenth century
came the tradition of dressing up on Halloween first in religious costumes and
later in monster chic.
The Brits,
who have been greatly Americanized in these past decades, have found and
adopted the “American” (Irish American) custom of Halloween and trick or treat.
Many purists over there are disturbed that their traditional harvest festival
bonfire thing on November 5 of Guy Fawkes Day has somehow been corrupted by yet
another thing American.
Which came
first? The religious holidays of All Saints day on November 1st and All Souls
day on November 2 or the ancient pagan rituals associated with the Celtic New
Year.
As in a
grinding merger of cultures, it is hard to tell the truth of any given custom
or tradition. In a way, globalization and driving toward a global culture have
been ongoing for millennium.
I think we
have the Celts first and then the Christian era trying to dominate and own
dates on a calendar.
People of
the Meso-American cultures of Mexico and Central America have their Dia de los
Muertos – Day of the Dead customs around November 1 and 2. November 1 is for
memory of babies and small children – angels – saints. November 2 is for memory
of dead adult relatives - souls.
While the
symbols of this holiday and its festivities are far from the Victorian or
Puritanical customs of mourning, Meso-American culture treats respect and
memory of the dead along with the needs and celebrations of the living.
Families meet, clean up a relative’s gravesite, have a picnic there, tell
family stories or even keep vigil through the night with candles and musica.
The human
skull as symbol of death is not a feared symbol but a reminder of death which
is part of a cycle of life perspective. The skull in Meso-American culture had
been around for centuries before the Spanish and their imposed religion. In
many ways I think that western culture and or Christian culture is a culture
that greatly fears death and has great self-doubts about its mission statement.
The conquered give lip service to their new masters and ancient customs such as
Dia de los Muertos and Halloween go on and on.
I have spent
the last thirty odd years practicing my own form of pagan respect, not ancestor
worship. I light a candle before sunset on Halloween in honor of the Samhain
custom and help the New Year in with new light. I also light a candle in my
home on November 2 to remember long gone friends and relatives. I also in true
Irish tradition and variation thereof have a shot or two of tequila in their
honor.
(October 30,
2009)
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