Buddhist<\/a> festival of Obon which bears, of course, some resemblance to the Hungry Ghost Festival \u2013 but it also has its own unique practices and variations to make it noteworthy.<\/p>\nMost interesting, to me anyway, is how similar the Chinese Ghost Month is to the Month of Ghosts, or Ne Izi Gar, of some parts of ancient Mesopotamia.\u00a0 The month begins on the new moon after the summer solstice (so about July or August) and the gates to the Netherworld slowly begin to open \u2013 again, the dead begin to roam the world.\u00a0 It was on the full moon (so, like the Chinese beliefs, about the 15th of the lunar month) the gates would be fully open and people would do what they could to make this time easier.<\/p>\n
In Hellenism there is the festival of Anthesteria \u2013 though it doesn\u2019t focus entirely on the dead (it is actually a festival in honour of Dionysus) it too involves a similar thing.\u00a0 Over the three days of the festival the dead walk amongst the living and certain aspects of the festival are used to appease, honour and then send the dead on their way back to the Underworld \u2013 or wherever they may have been before.\u00a0 Anthesteria, unlike many other death-related festivals, happens to occur in the early months of our modern year \u2013 January or February, depending on the year.<\/p>\n
Offerings for the Dead<\/h2>\n
The offering of food and goods to the dead is apparent in almost all of the festivals I looked at, indeed all of them except the Abrahamic ones, and is done for any of three reasons.<\/p>\n
Appeasement<\/strong> \u2013 Food and goods are offered to the dead to convince them to not harm you.<\/p>\nGifting<\/strong> \u2013 Food and goods are offered to make their afterlife better.<\/p>\nReward<\/strong> \u2013 Food and goods are offered to make your life and afterlife better \u2013 whether for the Gods or ghosts to bless you, or simply to build up good karma or the equivalent for your next life or afterlife.<\/p>\nHaving a meal at the gravesite of the deceased and\/or leaving food on the persons grave, leaving food on an altar or shrine, or in a place in a temple and making a place at the dinner table for the departed to share your meal with you and your living family are just some of the ways the offering of food is given.\u00a0 Some festivals, such as the monthly Deipnon, may have the offering of food left (for both the dead and the Goddess Hekate) somewhere more specific, in this case a crossroads or other suitable liminal place.<\/p>\n
Offering of goods is much the same as the offering of food.\u00a0 Commonly things the person enjoyed most in life are what is offered, from cigarettes for the adults, to toys for the kids.\u00a0 It\u2019s not always the literal goods that are offered however, in some traditions, or during some festivals such as the Hungry Ghosts Festival, people will make tokens to represent the deceased\u2019s favourite goods.\u00a0 This includes fake or real money, and even paper TVs and houses \u2013 I would assume the possibilities of what can be offered are endless in this practice.<\/p>\n
Offerings to the Living<\/h2>\n
Much as people will offer food and goods to the spirits of the dead, so do certain religions and cultures require people to make such offerings and donations to the living.<\/p>\n
In the Levant region, Muslims observe\/d Thursday of the Dead the day before Good Friday (though some people suggest a different date).\u00a0 On Thursday of the Dead it is traditional for women to hand out bread cakes, dried fruits and various sweets to the poor, to relatives and of course to children.\u00a0 It was also the custom to hand out yellow painted eggs to children.<\/p>\n
The Hindu festival of Pitru Paksha, which occurs in or around August, observes the practice of offerings to the dead but also requires one to give to the living as well.\u00a0 This is in part to create kind of good karma, the more you give to your beloved dead and to the living, the more you are likely to have in your afterlife.<\/p>\n
Lights and Flames<\/h2>\n
Fire is a common element in most death festivals and observances.\u00a0 Candles are lit for the dead in pretty much every religion and culture, for many different reasons \u2013 for remembrance, to fill the darkness left behind when someone dies, to guide the beloved dead to their home and even to protect one from the dead that would harm them.\u00a0 The Mesopotamian people would use torches rather than candles.<\/p>\n
The Hungry Ghosts Festival and Obon take the candle lighting to another level with their iconic paper lanterns.\u00a0 In these the lights are used to guide the dead, but not to their living homes \u2013 instead they are used to guide them back to their afterlife.<\/p>\n
Fire plays another part in many death festivals of course, in the role of offerings.\u00a0 It is used to burn physical offerings, such as the paper ones made for Hungry Ghost festival or in Hellenism where we might burn our food offerings if we don\u2019t bury them.\u00a0 But it is also used to light incense which is another very common thing to do in many death festivals.\u00a0 Incense is used as an offerings itself in many religions and it is also used a method of communication in some, the smoke of it taking our prayers to the Gods and to the dead.<\/p>\n
Avoidance<\/h2>\n
An unsurprising one is the practice of avoiding certain things during the period of a death festival.\u00a0 Most common seems to be the avoidance of beginning new things, new projects and the like.\u00a0 But interestingly one of the things I noticed was in common between Judaism and Hinduism.\u00a0 During certain of the Jewish holy days that pertain to death (there are sadly many) and during the Hindu festival of Pitru Paksha, it is common practice for people, especially men, to avoid cutting their hair.\u00a0 Unfortunately I haven\u2019t actually looked into the why, but I do find it interesting nonetheless.<\/p>\n
Most commonly done in the Abrahamic traditions is the tradition of fasting for at least of the festival period, that is refraining from eating food.\u00a0 In Judaism this is usually in remembrance of those who couldn\u2019t eat during the holocaust or the fall of Jerusalem and other such times.\u00a0 But for some religions (and it\u2019s not just the Abrahamic ones) fasting is done simply to honour the dead, to show respect and love for them via a personal sacrifice.<\/p>\n
Music and Dancing<\/h2>\n
Though it seems odd at first, music and dancing really are more common in honouring the dead than it first seems.\u00a0 Just think about it for a moment and you might even see it yourself.\u00a0 In the modern western world we hold funerals that are followed by (or sometimes preceded by) wakes, where people will often drink, talk, listen to or make music and indeed dance.\u00a0 A good way to release the pent up emotions I think.<\/p>\n
In the Japanese festival of Obon, the people dance a specific dance called the Bon Odori.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know what it is exactly, except it comes from the story of Maudgaly\u0101yana and his quest to alleviate his late mothers suffering in the afterlife.\u00a0 When he succeeds he dances for joy and it is not custom for others to do the same on this day.<\/p>\n
Dancing can also be seen in Samhain itself, when groups gather to observe Samhain and light the bonfires \u2013 dancing is sure to happen.\u00a0 And of course, Dia de Muertos is one that certainly must come to mind for many people when we speak of dancing and music for the dead.\u00a0 Beyond the revelry, there is of course the custom of playing music that the dead used to enjoy, as a way to remember them, especially in a happy way.<\/p>\n
Revelry!<\/h2>\n
Our first thoughts of death festivals will often tend towards solemnity and seriousness, but when we think a little deeper about it, we begin to see something else that is common in many religions and cultures \u2013 that of revelry.\u00a0 As mentioned above, in modern western culture we tend have a wake which for many of us involves, well, drinking until we drop.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know how it is in all places, but with my family here in Aus wakes are full of stories, jokes and fun. This in itself is a festival for the dead, even if it isn\u2019t an annual one.<\/p>\n
But it is also seen in the annual festivals.\u00a0 Dia de Muertos is perhaps the best example of revelry and death \u2013 dancing, singing, feasting and partying to the extreme.\u00a0 Of course there is the more solemn and serious side, don\u2019t think otherwise.\u00a0 But the Mexican people are obviously one group who recognise the need for letting go of your pain through joy \u2013 at least that is one way to interpret revelry in death.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Samhain isn\u2019t, of course, the only festival that exists to honour the dead.\u00a0 I can\u2019t be entirely sure, by I think that nearly every religion out there has some kind of festival or day for celebrating and honouring those who are gone \u2013 and sometimes also the Gods who rule over death and the afterlife. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2764,"featured_media":1004,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[136,71,61,62],"tags":[79,128,33,41,32,29,25,23,58],"class_list":["post-1003","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-calendar-events-festivals","category-lore-myth","category-practice","category-ritual","tag-afterlife","tag-death","tag-festivals","tag-mythology","tag-paganism","tag-polytheism","tag-religion","tag-rituals","tag-sabbats"],"yoast_head":"\n
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