halloween

Halloween

Has the boundary between this and the other world thinned yet?

According to wikipedia, my conjecture that other

root vegetables than the pumpkin were formerly used as jack o lanterns, 

seems to be agreed. The mummers would travel the streets with a hollowed out 

turnip or wurzel to announce their coming.

Maybe they themselves were meant to be the returned spirits of the dead

begging to return to human life to join in

the festivities.People would always make sure that a place was left

vacant in case such a visitor dropped in.

A little like the leaving of food and drink on the doorstep, to keep

ghosts away. Another way of appeasing them is to invite

 them in under the rules of the special time, 

to befriend them just enough before the dark sets in.

After all, the following day is All Saints Day, and they could be driven out

should they stay. As I understsnd it Pope Gregory IV  changed the day 

set aside for All Saints Day so that it would coincide with Halloween. 

Halloween celebrations Dorothea Lange, 1938

Associations with the Latin American version: The Day of the Dead.

Mexico -- El Día de Muertos

    Yo, Netzahualcóyotl, lo pregunto.
    ¿Acaso de veras se vive con raíz en la tierra?
    No para siempre en la tierra.
    Aunque sea jade se quiebra,
    aunque sea de oro se rompe,
    aunque sea plumaje de quetzal se desgarra.
    No para siempre en la tierra:
    Sólo un poco aquí.

    I, Netzahulacóyotl, ask this.
    Do we really live with roots on earth?
    Only for an instant do we endure.
    Even jade will shatter,
    even gold will crush,
    even quetzal plumes will tear.
    One does not live forever on this earth:
    only for an instant do we endure.

    —Netzahualcóyotl, Aztec warrior, architect, poet and ruler of Texcoco (1402-1472)

More to come........