Conscious Remembrance – The Spiritual Lessons of Ancestor Veneration

The ancient people who inhabited France and the British Isles observed a calendar that began on November first marking the death of the old year and the beginning of the new. At sundown on the last day of the year, October 31st, it was believed that the veil between the worlds of the living and the dead grew thin allowing for those who had died to pass through and those who were lonely to visit the families they had left behind.

Indeed honoring the dead with the last harvest of the year has been celebrated around the world under many different names. In Japan, during the festival of Obon, the souls of the departed return to the world of the living to visit their relatives. As the sun goes down families light paper lanterns and leave offerings of food for the spirits. South Koreans give thanks to their ancestors during a three-day celebration known as Chuseok. While in Nepal we find a festival of cows, or Gaijatra, commemorating those who had died during the year. In Belgium, Halloween was the night to light candles in memory of family members who had died. In Czechoslovakia, chairs were placed by the fireside on Halloween night for the dead to warm themselves.

Ceremonial breads were baked. In Scotland, cakes made of oat flour and known as soul cakes or Dirge Loaves where given to children who went door to door signing souling songs. In Italy, a cookie called bones of the dead or ‘Ossi di Morto’ is eaten to celebrate the dead.