Prayer, lights, food, and remembrancesCultural Celebrations Around the world for the departed.

MSSO 2010

Life, Death and Spirits

What happens after life, seems to be something that we are mystified with. Answers are found in many different ways

Ancient traditions

Religious believes

Popular celebrations

This presentation prompted by the Mexican Celebration of the Day of the Dead presented us with the opportunity to find great similarities among what seem very different cultures .

Celebrated by people of Mexican heritage .

The holiday focuses on gatherings of family and friends to pray for and remember friends and relatives who have died.

The celebration occurs on the 1st and 2nd of November, in connection with the Catholic holy days of All Saints Day and All Souls Day.

Traditions include building private altars honoring the deceased, using sugar skulls, marigolds, and the favorite foods and beverages of the departed, and visiting graves with these as gifts.

Scholars trace the origins of the modern holiday to indigenous observances dating back thousands of years, and to an Aztec festival dedicated to a goddess called Mitecacihuatl (known in English as "The Lady of the Dead").

MEXICODay of the Dead November 1st and 2nd

All Saints' Day

All Saints' Day (officially the Solemnity of All Saints and also called All Hallows or Hallowmas[), often shortened to All Saints, is a solemnity celebrated on 1 November in Western Christianity, and on the first Sunday after Pentecost in Eastern Christianity in honor of all the saints, known and unknown.

In terms of Western Christian theology, the day commemorates all those who have attained the beatific vision in Heave. Specifically, in the Catholic Church, the next day, All Soul’s Day commemorates the departed faithful who have not yet been purified and reached heaven.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_Saints_Day

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/be/All_Saints_Day_in_New_Orleans_--_Decorating_the_Tombs.jpg/800px-All_Saints_Day_in_New_Orleans_--_Decorating_the_Tombs.jpg

All Saints Day in New Orleans, Decorating the TumbesA tradition with stronger Catholic roots brought by the French colonizers.

USA All Saints Day

All Souls' Day, in France

Notre Dame Procession, France2007

Guatemala,

On the 24th of October the “Novena de Animas*” was started. ….. and as it was and has been a tradition within my family I also set up an altar full of food. Soon we will have ixpas, cigars and the well deserved guaranpazo (rum and beer) so my family and friends souls, along with any other souls who might pass by, can enjoy them and partake in the world that we are still enjoying. Novenas are celebrated in the Catholic Church as a devotion consisting of prayers said (most typically) on nine successive days, asking to obtain special graces.

Ixpasa' is a traditional drink in this feast.

Luis HernandezBCC alum

Some Haitian practice Vodou which is based upon a merging of the beliefs and practices of West African peoples, along with Roman Catholic Christianity. These two different practices were brought to Haiti in the 16th century by Eruropean colonizers and African slaves. Haitian Vodou is a combination of these two cultures as a consequence of slaves being forced to convert to the religion of their owners, none the less slaves found a way to preserve and followe their traditional African beliefs.

HAITIDay of the Dead November 1st and 2nd

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voodoo_in_Haiti

Ghana Despite the presence of Islam and Christianity, traditional religions in Ghana have retained their influence because of their intimate relation to family loyalties and local mores.

For all Ghanaian ethnic groups, the spirit world is considered to be as real as the world of the living.

Veneration of departed ancestors is a major characteristic of all traditional religions. The ancestors are believed to be the most immediate link with the spiritual world, and they are thought to be constantly near, observing every thought and action of the living. Some ancestors may even be reincarnated to replenish the lineage. Barrenness is, therefore, considered a great misfortune because it prevents ancestors from returning to life

music.calarts.edu/~aladzekp/religion.html

hubpages.com/hub/japanese-obon-festival-of-th

JAPAN,Obon “Festival of the Dead”15th day of the seventh month of the lunar calendar

Obon (お盆 ?) or just Bon (盆 ?) is a Japanese Buddhist custom to honor the departed (deceased) spirits of one's ancestors. This Buddhist custom has evolved into a family reunion holiday during which people return to ancestral family places and visit and clean their ancestors' graves, and when the spirits of ancestors are supposed to revisit the household altars. It has been celebrated in Japan for more than 500 years and traditionally includes a dance, known as Bon-Odori.

Cambodia Pchum Ben Festival also know as “Festival of the Dead”.

September 15 through the 25th

The fifteenth day, of the tenth month, of the Khmer calendar marks the Pchum Ben festival. This is a time when the spirits of the dead ancestors walk the Earth. And the living can ease their suffering by offering them food to eat. At four in the morning, nearly all of the residents of Phnom Penh gather at the temple with offerings of rice, which they toss on the ground, feeding the dead ancestors.

"Some of the ghosts have small mouths," "So we have to use special rice." Many of the people throw sticky rice, which, apparently is easier for the spirits to consume. people return to the temple, with offerings for the monks by giving food, money and other things as well. As a monk they looked forward to this period all year long, because they could get new clothing and good food.

UKRAINE

On the first week after Easter commences the festival of the Krasnaya Gorka (Red Hill) takes place . It is chiefly devoted to the memory of the dead. Women take food and drink to the cemeteries, and there mourn over the graves of their dead friends and relatives. Later they sit down and proceed to eat, drink, and be merry, deeming that the dead can “rejoice “with them. After their meal, the fragments which remain over are thrown to the evil spirits, in order to prevent them from troubling the repose of the dead, and with similar intent their drinking cups are emptied over the graves.

KRASNAYA GORKA

India

Diwali is a spectacular religious festival. It is held in late autumn, and on the evenings during this time, the windows of houses are illuminated by lamps and candles. From a distance and in the darkness, these hundreds of glowing lights are a wonderful sight.The word Diwali is a shortened version of Deepavali, which means "cluster of lights".The festival of lights is a universal Hindu festival. In India Diwali is seen as a renewal of life. On this day old lamps are thrown out and a new lamp are bought. New lamps are thought to help the souls of the dead find their way to heaven.

The festival also commemorates the coronation of God Rama. When Rama arrives at the end of 14 years of banishment, Hindus rejoice because Rama has conquered Ravana. He has conquered evil and good has triumphed. People show their happiness and joy by lighting lamps in praise of Rama.

http://www.sfindian.com/bay-area/eventDisplay.asp?id=20253

http://www.daijiworld.com/chan/exclusive_arch.asp?ex_id=458

http://www.mibazaar.com/2006/08/diwali-in-michigan-uttar-pradesh.html

USA HalloweenOctober 31Halloween, or Hallowe’en, is a holiday celebrated on the night of October 31.

Irish immigrants carried versions of the tradition to North America in the nineteenth century.

Other western countries embraced the holiday in the late twenty first century.

Halloween is celebrated in several countries of the Western world.

Halloween activities include trick-or-treating, ghost tours, bonfires, costume parties, visiting "haunted houses", carving Jack-o'-lanterns, reading scary stories and watching horror movies.

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