Why Celebrating Halloween Is So Important?
Halloween came from a holiday on October 31 was called All Hallow's Eve that was the day before All Saint's Day which was a day that everyone celebrated all the saints of the church who went to Heaven as a Christian holiday which last 3 days and was not religious. It was on November 1 that a new year has started in old Britain and Ireland many, many, many years ago in a festival of Samhain where souls of the dead were believed to rise and walk home while those who had died during the year made their way to the underworld.
It has been said to keep evil spirits away people wore masks and set bonfires but this was also a great time to seek spiritual help in personal matters like health and marriage. Curiously, All Saint's Day was moved to November 1 after Pope Boniface IV in the 7th century moved the holiday from May 13th so that it may coexist as a pagan holiday making it secular again. Being a secular holiday, Halloween is filled with the traditional Trick or Treat which is thought to be from Britain where the poor was allowed to beg for food or people would go home to home asking for candy or they will pull a trick.
The Day of the Dead is a Mexican holiday that is celebrated throughout Latin America and is also aligned with All Hallow's Day which is celebrated with family gatherings and praying for those who have died from October 31 till November 2. It is their belief that has evolved from Mesoamerican and Christian beliefs that the dead rise up and travel to Mictian to rest in peace.
The National Commission for the Development of Indigenous People has said that the offers to the Dead are meant for the dead souls who will rise to see their living loved ones and the alter themselves are the reflections of the world both old and new where different parts of the world would do different things to honor the Dead.
The Europeans would put flowers and lit candles whereas Indians would put incense with both food and water. There are however certain items that are needed into the offerings of the Dead that are along the path to from or to the underworld like water is given to the souls if they are thirsty and to make sure that they can return for the next year. Salt is given as well and the light from the lit candle will give them hope and faith to guide them to their home with their living relatives. The number of relatives that you wish to see is the number of candles that you light for every candle represents a dead soul. If children have died, try leaving a toy that will make them very happy when they see the offerings for the Dead and help them complete the last step to the underworld.
Because the whole wide world has been devastated by the Coronavirus people are more excited than ever to connect with each other and celebrate Halloween and the other upcoming holidays with those who they can not see during the lockdown and certainly for those who could not be here because of Covid -19. Parents with small children are feeling impassioned to decorate more fiercely than ever and stores are already stocked up for Halloween trick or treaters.
Thousands of people had died in the past couple of years, if anyone who celebrates Halloween truly believes in the afterlife, how many ghostly sightings will we hear about? This year, Halloween is going to be extra special because we have so much life and life after death to celebrate because as we learn to mourn our dead at a funeral or respect them in a moment of silence, lighting a candle of a dead loved one and leaving an offering of food or drink, I would imagine, would be very beneficial to any ghost who may be passing through who may not know they are dead or wish to visit a living loved one.
According to Max D. Gray's article, Traditional Day of Offerings of the Dead, the altars that you can place the offerings of the Dead souls do depend on where it is being celebrated. The bae of the altar is the basic element of your Day of the Dead offering but still, you can create any space for the Day of the Dead offering if you do not have an altar. Since most altars have 3 levels that show the different paths that the Dead souls take to walk among the living are heaven, earth, and the underworld. Take the time to cover your altar, white cloths with pretty designs can be served as a basic covering while other color cloths can overlap each other like pink, yellow and purple. In Mexico confetti is used to represent air an important part of the offerings of the Dead souls. Flowers such as marigolds are extremely important because they guide the dead souls to the offerings and photos, candles, food, and special bread, Pan de Muerto is a meal that is used in Mexico alongside sugar skulls.
And for anyone who believes in the afterlife but will not aid the ghostly passings of the dead, I think a little humility would be appropriate in this situation seeing as so many people have died in such a short matter of time rather consistently as no one is immortal although reincarnation is extremely rare. Death does come to all and it would be just as nice to light a candle for the dead on Halloween night as it is to help a sick or homeless person.
I hope to wear a new Halloween costume, give a trick or treater a piece of candy and say a prayer that will let the celebrations go on peacefully into the night.