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Spiritual connections between the living and the dead
When asked what Halloween, All Saints Day, and Day of the
Dead have in common, AI tells me this:
Halloween, All Saints Day, and Day
of the Dead are all observances that occur around the same time of year (late
October/early November) and are connected to traditions of honoring the
dead, with roots in pre-Christian beliefs about spirits returning to Earth.
While they are distinct holidays with different cultural meanings, their shared
history lies in the transition of the seasons, the cycle of life and death, and
the idea of spiritual connections between the living and the deceased.
“The transition of the seasons, the cycle of life and death,
and the idea of spiritual connections between the living and the deceased.”
We in Pennsylvania are at the time of year when autumn is
anticipating its relationship with winter by bringing us cold nights, colorful
leaves, and the end of life for many leaves, plants, and insects. Some animals are feasting to prepare for
lengthy hibernations, while others are storing food and sharpening the weapons
they have for the hunt. Birds have
started their journeys to the south. All
of this is informed by the tilt of the earth so we are further from the sun
with shorter days and longer nights.
These events are signs of the cycle of life and death, while,
in actuality, under the ground new life is preparing its return from roots,
bulbs, seeds, and spores. There is more
of a continuance than there is death, a fact that lies behind the ideas of
connections between the living and the dead.
At least in biology and botonny, there is a sense that interdependence
between life and death is ongoing. And
where physical facts open the way, spirit follows.
I’m trying to stay away from religious ideas of heaven,
hell, and an afterlife or lack of one when describing the spiritual connection
between the living and the dead. I use
the words “resonances” or “essences” as well as spirit to describe the land of
the living and the land of the dead as neighborhoods entangled with each
other. All lives are entangled or
contingent, containing resonances of others, echoing each other’s essence. When I think of it that way, I’m surprised
that more of us aren’t aware of the spirits of the dead in our normal
lives. Some especially deep memories of
individuals may be seen as experiencing the spirit, but that isn’t enough to
explain the connection between the living and the dead.
Many strands of pagan belief point to a time of the year
when the boundary between life and death is thinnest so that even a small
amount of effort allows essences of the dead to revisit. Few stories exist of travel in the opposite
direction. In Celtic and Gaelic
traditions, that time of year is the end of October and beginning of November, approximate
halfway between the autumnal equinox (September 22) and the winter solstice
(December 21), a point known as Samhain. Samhain is the origin of Halloween, a time
between the last of the harvest and the beginning of winter.
According to AI
Samhain rituals
include building an ancestral altar with photos and offerings, lighting
bonfires, and creating a special feast. Other rituals involve divination,
wearing costumes to ward off spirits, and a "dumb supper" or silent
meal to honor the dead. People also practice "releasing rituals,"
like burning a piece of paper with something they want to let go of.
Halloween dress-up was originally the “wearing of costumes”
to disguise the children from spirits and keep them safe. Bonfires also helped to block spirits. The
opposite of this is the Mexican Day of the Dead, where spirits are welcomed
back to the family with feasting and gifts.
Christianity added All Soul’s day to honor Saints and changed the name
of Samhain to All Hallow’s Eve.
I believe I have been visited by the spirits of beloved
deceased, not only human, and not only around Halloween. My grandmother also spoke of one visit from
the dead in particular, one that I immortalized in a poem:
The Life of Ghosts: a sonnet
(original April 2014)
Grandmother held no
opinions of death.
She had stories instead,
and the best was
her driving on 9-W Highway
from Albany to home when
her eyes closed
And her deceased husband
called Maria!
She heard My
little Maria, wake, wake!
and she did. She
experienced real truths.
I won’t be cremated, she insisted,
and you yourself should
not! The cremated
do. not. have.
visiting. power. She knew.
I have no doubt.
Hadn't she been once a
Queen of a Castle, charged
with rule while King
was out?
Didn’t she know how to find wild
mushrooms that could
beguile a hungry child?
[The other
cross-quarter days are Imbolc (winter/spring), Beltane (spring/summer), and
Lughnasadh or Lammas (summer/autumn).]
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