Little Egypt Heritage Articles eduda tsunogisdi © Bill Oliver 5 November 2006 Vol 5 Issue: #35 ISBN: pending Osiyo, Good Evening Ladies and Gentlemen of Little Egypt, More Traditions Well, I left off last with “The Night of the Dead” is approaching and now “Dia de los Muertos” has passed for another year. Though we celebrate Halloween in one night of “trick or treat”-ing for children and galla parties for adults for one evening, those who celebrate “Dia de los Muertos” [Night of the Dead] might do so for two or three days. When one culture attempts to or does replace another there usually is some blending of traditions and culture. In this case Christianity was replacing Mexico’s Aztec culture, where ancient beliefs hold that the dearly departed will return to visit those not yet departed. In this return the dearly departed eat, drink and enjoy music. Listening to the PBS radio last week I heard that, in the United States, Halloween has superceded Christmas in consumer spending. The more I thought about this, the more I thought, “I could believe this”. Dia de los Muertos is a celebration of the lives of departed loved ones and is observed in several countries, and is on the rise [increase] in the USA. Americans love parties and love to party – from “tail-gate” to Mardi Gras. Americans love Mardi Gras, French for Fat Tuesday, so much that in New Orleans, Louisiana, they extend the one day religious celebration into several days. Back to Dia de los Muertos ... “it all began” in the Lake Patzcuaro area in the Mexican state of Michoacan when the citizens clean the grave sites of family members. If the grave is an earth mound, marked with a wooden cross or not, it is reshaped and covered with carnation petals [orange color, I believe]. Many candles decorate the re-sculpted grave site and families make or purchase candies fashioned into skeletons and skulls along with specialty baked breads. When the sun sets the festivities begin with music and dance in the piazzas. Children go about the main roads scouting for “treats”. [Maybe this was the beginning of “trick or treat”!] At about the witching hour [midnight] the dead relatives are “brought” their favorite foods as an “ofrenda” [offering]. Following the ofrenda the candles are lit and folks settle down for a night long somber vigil and remembrance of those who have passed on before. When dawn breaks, often in the November fog, as part of the blended cultural celebration, prayers and Bible readings are made. The candy-decorated offerings and baskets of “dead-bread” are taken home and eaten. Tradition says that the breads have been rendered flavorless by the spirits consuming the flavor during the night. In our Halloween celebration streets fill with little ones [and some not so little] dressed in all kinds of ghosts, witches, goblins, fairies, demons, princesses, superheroes and “the walking dead”. We all eagerly await this stream of tykes who parade to our doors for candy, happily demanding “Trick or Treat?” Sadly, the Halloween night has lost some of its luster due to real demons lurking in our neighborhoods, thus “trick or treat” gets transformed into large controlled Halloween parties. Our Halloween was originally known as Samhain, which blended with the Christianized version known as All Saints Day, and later termed Halloween as a non-secular title. The Celtic festival began the new year. The end of summer was the 31st of October. Bonfires were set on the hillsides of Ancient Britain, Scotland and Ireland to keep out “evil” spirits, for all the souls of the dead, supposedly, revisited their homes. In Scotland they decorated turnips which translated into Jack-o-Lanterns in the United States. In Scotland children played games to get a hint of who would marry them. In the American tradition we played Spin-the-Bottle and bobbed for apples. Ah, yes, lots of teasing about couples in these games. The “mean” spirits, or as sometimes called, pranksters, have used Halloween as an excuse, err occasion, for tipping outhouses, or even to setting empty or abandoned structures a-fire. However, in Scotland, Samhain or Samhuinn is literaly translated as “summer’s end” or the beginning of a whole new cycle, for in the Celtic tradition day began at night. Listen in the darkness and you will understand that in the dark comes whisperings of new beginnings. The Celts would say, “... the stirring of the seed beneath the soil.” Thus, on November Eve, the night of the 31st of October, began Samhain. You can see how throughout the centuries pagan and Christian beliefs intertwined in a “gallimaufry” or hodgepodge of celebrations to bring us Halloween. Holidays have their representations – Christmas, of course, represents goodwill toward others, as well as, sharing; Thanksgiving, is a time of feasting and family and giving thanks, and, Halloween is a celebration of the coming of new life and hope and family and fun, as well as, raising awareness of death walking among us. Passing childhood and moving into youth, fall, Halloween and Thanksgiving was a time of hayrides and keeping warm with “special” friends; a time of bonfires with the roasting of hotdogs and marshmallows. It was the time of parties and games and haunted houses and fright. Then passing into adulthood the grotesqueness of Halloween becomes the focus. Folks wear masks and costumes, deformed and gory to portray death, symbolizing twisted conditions and fear. As a society we are less agrarian and lifestyles are different; thus during this time few of us think that the hard work of summer is done and the crops have been harvested and stored. Bonfires are not built to chase away specters of death. Yet, Halloween can still reflect things that were and the time for renewal for the future. e-la-Di-e-das-Di ha-wi nv-wa-do-hi-ya nv-wa-to-hi-ya-da. (May you walk in peace and harmony) Wado, Bill -=- 933 PostScript: