The world is full of the most mysterious and mystical holidays
Day of the Dead, or Party with Ancestors
The Mexican equivalent of Halloween – Dia de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead – despite its frightening name and pagan origins, is a quite cheerful holiday. The tradition of honoring the dead passed from the Aztecs, who kept the skulls of ancestors in their homes and several times a year held feasts in honor of deceased relatives.
The Spanish conquerors could not completely eradicate the ancient beliefs and eventually allowed the local population to commemorate the dead in their own way, albeit one incomprehensible to Christians. The celebrations, previously held in the ninth month of the Aztec calendar (July 24 – August 12), were simply moved to November 1 and 2, coinciding with two Catholic holidays – All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day.
Every year in early November, Mexicans expect deceased relatives and friends to visit, and they prepare for their arrival in advance. On the eve of the 'official visits', stores and markets fill with miniature coffins, skulls, and skeletons made of chocolate, paper, cardboard, or clay. The main symbol of the festivities is the skull (calavera), whose image can be seen everywhere. Mexicans love masquerades no less than Americans: on the Day of the Dead, walking skeletons fill cities and villages.
To ensure that the souls of deceased ancestors do not get the wrong address, families hang wreaths (or set up flower altars) of yellow marigolds – funeral flowers in Latin America – on their doors. Sweets and corn tortillas are laid out at the doorstep. Essential attributes are water, because the spirits are thirsty after a long journey, and bread of the dead (pan de muertos). The bread is baked in round loaves with strips on top resembling bones. Women spend the whole day preparing the deceased's favorite food, and friends and relatives gather together to welcome the ghostly guests. Beds are made up in homes where the visitors can rest after their long journey.
The culmination of the holiday is a visit to the cemetery. Families tidy up graves, have picnics and dance to live mariachi music. Festive feasts take place right in the cemetery, which does not bother Mexicans at all: the dead on this day should have as much fun as the living.
Walpurgis Night, or All Witches Gather
If Halloween is a common holiday for all European evil spirits, then Walpurgis Night is a kind of International Women's Day for representatives of the fair half of the dark forces. No self-respecting witch will miss the annual witches' sabbath on the night of April 30 to May 1.
The first mentions of Walpurgis Night are found in medieval documents of the German Inquisition. According to legends, Saint Walpurga was the abbess of a monastery. During the reconstruction of the monastery, careless workers desecrated her ashes, after which her formidable and vengeful ghost began to appear to the locals. This gave rise to various rumors about the witch-like nature of the deceased. And since the day of remembrance of Walpurga falls on May 1, this date was made the day of all witches. More precisely, the night.
On this night, witches mount their brooms and fly to mountain peaks, among which the most popular is the barren Brocken mountain. Here the entire 'elite' gathers and celebrates their holiday with wild feasts, dances, and alleged copulations with demons and the devil.
'Servants of Satan,' of course, tried to hinder the smooth progress of spring, casting curses on people and livestock.
In villages on the eve of Walpurgis Night, a magical ceremony of exorcising witches was held: bonfires were lit (on which a witch effigy was burned), villagers walked around houses with torches, and church bells rang. It was believed that herbs on Walpurgis Night gained miraculous power, so many herbalist healers went out on this day to gather them.
Witch's Day is celebrated in almost all countries of Central and Northern Europe. In the Czech Republic, on the eve of Walpurgis Night, they pour sand or grass on the doorstep so that dark magicians cannot enter the house until they have counted every grain of sand or blade of grass. In Germany, jokers smear door handles with toothpaste and pull shoelaces out of boots, blaming all these pranks on the malevolent servants of Satan.
In the folk tales of Slavic peoples, there are also mentions of the night of witches and Bald Mountain. One such mountain is located near Kyiv. According to local legends, this mountain is cursed, as in pre-Christian times pagan rituals were held there, and the Magi performed human sacrifices.
Galungan, or Spirits Also Like to Party
Galungan – a festival of the victory of good spirits over evil – is celebrated in Bali every year from late October to early November. It is believed that during the ten festive days, all gods led by the supreme deity Sanghyang Widi descend to earth and join the people.
The spirits of deceased ancestors also take part in the festivities, and preparations are made for their arrival in advance. The main symbol of Galungan is the penjor – tall bamboo poles. They are decorated with fruits, coconut leaves, flowers, and planted in the ground to the right of the house entrance. The penjor serves as a kind of signpost for souls. Next to it, small altars with offerings to deceased relatives are always placed.
During the Galungan celebration, each village holds a mandatory ceremony of exorcising evil spirits. The priests are assisted in the ritual by the deity Barong in the form of a mythical beast resembling a tiger. The presence of Barong is intended to restore the balance of good and evil in the home.
Residents pray before the dancing god, after which they pull out a piece of fur from his hide as a souvenir.
The culmination of the ten-day celebration is Kuningan day. It is on this day that the supreme god Sanghyang Widi descends to earth to bless all people and rid the world of evil forces. And then the gods and ancestors, who have been celebrating with the living for ten whole days, leave the earth and return to the afterlife.
Kolyada, or Christmas Eve with the Devil
Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol, a great expert on Ukrainian beliefs and legends about unclean forces, dedicated one of his stories to Kolyada – "The Night Before Christmas". The plot of the story unfolds on a farmstead on Christmas Eve. Among the main characters are a witch and a devil.
Unclean forces on the eve of the main Christian holiday appeared in the story of the great writer not by chance. In pagan times, the Slavs celebrated the day of the winter solstice – Kolyada. Then Kolyada was replaced by Christian Christmas, but some ancient pagan customs survived.
Kolyada in many ways resembles the Celtic Halloween, which indicates a common origin of the holidays. This includes dressing up as representatives of dark forces, mandatory begging for sweets, and honoring the dead. A distinctive feature of the Slavic Halloween is nighttime fortune-telling. This tradition also passed into the Christian holiday: it is believed that predictions received on Christmas Eve will necessarily come true.
The favorite part of the holiday in villages has always been a costume carnival. Carolers dressed in "scary" clothes and, pretending to be spirits of ancestors and devils of all kinds, went around relatives with songs and dances, begging for various treats. It was believed that this brings good luck to the house, contributes to a good harvest and general prosperity. Refusing treats to the "devils" is a bad omen.
Another way to "party" on the pre-Christmas night was games and parties, accompanied by special obscene songs and performances of mummers. Young people, single guys and unmarried girls, gathered on the evening before Christmas in one of the houses to play dead and sell a stuffed goat (the goat is one of the symbols of the devil). At the end of the game, all present were supposed to kiss each other. Of course, the "devil's offspring" could not miss such a sabbath: Gogol's devil appears at Solokha's just in the midst of caroling.
Naturally, the Orthodox Church looked askance at all this flirting with unclean forces and tried to fight the pagan heritage – though mainly through exhortations and sermons. Unlike Western Europe, witch trials were not widespread in Russia, so ancient traditions were passed down from generation to generation without regard for the fires of the Inquisition. As a result, the Russian Orthodox Church resigned itself to the annual fraternizing with the unclean, allowing young people to let loose to their hearts' content.
Egungun, or Why You Should Not Offend the Dead
Another holiday in honor of the dead, the Nigerian Egungun, is celebrated in May. Egungun is not only a name but also a very important concept in the culture of the Yoruba tribe, literally meaning communication with ancestors. The Yoruba believe that egungun (ancestors) can in principle appear at any time, but once a year they visit the earth without fail – at this time the festival takes place.
The holiday begins around noon at the cemetery with drumming. Then dancers come out in costumes that cover them completely, from head to toe. The dancers portray the souls of ancestors.
In each locality, Egungun costumes have their own peculiarities. The main rule is that not only the body but also the face must be completely covered: with a mask made of fabric, wood, or even modern materials such as plastic, or fragments of various materials, including horns and skulls. Thus, the one who has the honor of being the embodiment of Egungun is completely depersonalized – so that no glitches occur.
By the way, originally the Yoruba custom prescribed the execution of the reincarnated person if any part of the face or body became visible to others. The death penalty also awaited anyone who, even accidentally, touched an Egungun. Today, disrespectful treatment of souls is not punished in such a radical way, but direct contact with the "ancestors" is still undesirable, so often during the ritual people with whips drive the gathered crowd away from the dancers.
As we can see, Halloween is far from the most exotic of the "devilishly fun" holidays, but rather simply the most reproduced. And what is your attitude towards such celebrations?
Daria KLIMOVA,
«Lenta.ru»