A crisp chill in the air. The changing of leaves from lively green to the colors of burning fire, only for them to fall as ash, withered and brown. The aroma of sweet spices, pumpkins, and apples at every time you breathe. It is no wonder that Halloween complements the time of year so well.
I was once told that Halloween wasn’t a real holiday. That it was a festival and deserved no recognition. That never sat well with me, nor would it for anyone that would call themselves a demon. Modern Halloween is very different than what it was originally. Now it is a time of dressing in costumes, trick or treating, decorations, and finding out what your fears are. Halloween originally called All Hallow’s Eve, was a time that was widely believed to be when the barrier between mortal existence and the existence of the beyond was the thinnest. What the Beyond could mean varieties. It could be what people believe is heaven, hell, or the place of monsters. Because so many mortals consider death to be taboo any form of the afterlife might be a world of monsters to them. Either way, All Hallow’s Eve is a Festival of the Dead.
Festivals of the Dead might seem like something that is trite or nothing worth mentioning, but they are just as impacting as Festivals of Light, or Christmas-like holidays. In the current corner of the world, we are in, Halloween and Dias de la Muerte are the more common know festivals. However, there are many more.
| Name | Translation | Locations | Dates | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Halloween/All Soul’s Day | “All Hollows’ Eve” | America, Australia, and parts of Asia and Europe | Sundown October 31 – Midnight | 1 night |
| Dia De Los Muertos | “Day of the Dead” | Latin America | November 1 – 2 | 2 days |
| Obon | | Japan | Day 15, Month 9, Lunar calendar | 3 days |
| Chuseok | “Autumn Evening” | Korea | Day 15, Month 8, Lunar calendar | 3 days |
| Zhongyuan | “Ghost day” | China | Day 15, Month 7 Lunar calendar | |
| Shraddha/Pitru Paksha | “Fortnight of the Ancestors” | Hindu faiths | Pratipada (1st day fortnight) ending with the no moon day | 16 days |
| Samhain | | Celtic | October 31 – November 1 | 3 days |
| Fiesta de las Ñatitas | Festival of skulls | Bolivia | November 8 | |
| Gai Jatra | “Festival of cows” | Nepal | 1st day of the dark fortnight of the Gunla – Nepal Samabat calendar | 8 days |
| Qingming | “Ancestors’ Day” | China | Day 15 after the Spring Equinox, either 4, 5, or 6 April | 3 days |
| Pchum Ben | “Gather food” | Cambodia | 15th day of the 10th Khmer month | 15 days |
| Radonitsa | “Day of rejoicing” | Russia & Belarus | 2nd Monday or Tuesday of Pascha (Easter) | |
| Totensonntag | “Sunday of the dead” | Germany | Last Sunday in November | |
| Tiwah | “Second funeral” | Indonesia | A ceremony held a year after the person’s death | |
| Maundry Thursday | “Holy Thursday” | The Levant | Thursday before Easter | |
| Wafaa Al Nil | “Fidelity of the Nile” | Ancient Egypt | Mid Agust | 14 days |
| St Martin’s Day | | Germany | November 11 | |
| Los Agüizotes | “Horrors by the water” | Nicaragua | 1st Friday of October | |
| El Día de las Bruja | “Witches Day” | Peru | October 31 – November 2 | 3 days |
| Undás | | Philippines | November 1 | |
| Todos Los Santos | “All Saints Day” | Spain | November 1 | |
| Dia das Bruxas | “Day of witches” | Brazil | October 31 | |
As we continue our journies we look forward to experiencing these different festivals in their locations of origin. These aren’t even all the Festivals of the Dead out there. Most of them are in October, but others are in August, and November, with others scattered throughout the year. Something to remember next time someone claims the “haunt/spooky season” is one night of the year. Many places celebrate their Festivals of the Dead for several days. In some places, it is a National Holiday and people get those days off.
These festivals are times of dressing up, feasting, remembering the dead, parades, and testing fears. These festivals are celebrated in customs and cultures worldwide. It is marketed and is a multi-billion dollar industry. Death is so universal it spans religions, cultures, and people. Death is no respecter of persons. Death is not taboo. Death is not insignificant. To consider Festivals of the Dead, any of the festivals, to be meaningless is harmful to humanity.
Bard Note 
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