"October 31: Samhain, this last day of October is a major "crack between the worlds", for it marks the end of the Celtic Old Year and the beginning of the New. As Time crosses the threshold between one year and another, it belongs to neither but stands in some space outside itself, beyond the confines of normal reality--and it is then that humankind has a peephole into eternity, and comes face to face with the cosmic realities, with life and death, with Fate."
"...Samhain is a time of closing in, when the earth takes back into herself what she has given, Consequently, it is a time to reflect on the journey of death and to remember those that have made the journey. It is only natural therefore that the dead should choose Samhain as the crack through which to return to visit the living..."
As a believer in ritual and ancestor reverence, I can work with that. Its not my cultural practice, however neither are goblins and ghouls. I flat out refused to buy into kids visiting strangers, begging for candy and the impending dental issues along with the sugar highs(and lows). I have to be creative with my daughter when it comes to these so-called traditional holidays. I also had to recall that her first real Halloween was spent with her Auntie Denene, who doesn't pull any stops for the holidays. While I was in Dallas with Giwayen Mata that year, she shared, "the best Halloween ever!" with the Chiles fam. She was Pinkalicious and lovin it. I can't deny that kid had a good time!
As Halloween neared she revelled on about who she was going to be, each time I cringed at the thought. During one of these fantasy conversations, she asked about the Day of the Dead. My heart lept! Yes! This was my opportunity to do something else or at least I could put the emphasis on something a little closer to home. We talked about the type of crafts we could do for Dia de los Muertos and then I suggested that we do something special for our Ancestors at home, too.
Frankly, I haven't been as attentive to our Ancestor shrine as I should be. This was a perfect opportunity to clean up the shrine and replenish foodstuffs and drinks and spruce it up. I also thought it was an excellent time to put my daughter back in touch with the shrine. You see as a toddler, her timeout was with Egun, she had to take her issues to them and then come back with a viable solution for Mommy. It worked, her job has always been to feed them at every meal. Plus she always has to share her candy booty with Egun. This morning she removed all the old candy from the shrine, in preparation for replacing it with more this evening. I swept, put fresh water, coffee, wine, vodka and brandy down. In the evening I did the cigar and food. Plus she decided that she wanted to write letters to two of her uncles that she never met and burn them so the smoke "could go up and reach them in heaven". We talked about her idea, and decided we would place them on the shrine instead and let her continue to communicate with them there.
We talked about Ancestors Day before, we just hadn't set the ritual in motion. I was elated when she said (again) that she wanted to be Harriet Tubman for Ancestor's Day and Halloween! Cool! So Mommy starts to put together this simple outfit in her mind...long skirt, jacket, gun(cardboard), headscarf and shawl. and here's what we got! She added that face to it and her saying, "I'll shoot you dead".
All in all, I think this activity will have an indelible affect on my daughter. By attaching a tangible, real connection to the ritual then we get the desired outcome. I want my children to see that we have an exciting cultural practice in ancestral reverence, rooted in a simple and practical belief system. And that familial connection brings us closer to our god-source. Now it seems unnecessary and silly to follow the crowd.
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