Their hope was the saints would take the offering and protect them from the evil spirits. Halloween today is community based with traditions to dress in costume and go trick-or-treating, while the Day of the Dead was and still is about honoring deceased friends and family. In order to honor the dead people create altars decorated with skulls made from wood or sugar, and favorite foods of the deceased. The two holidays are similar in that both are Catholic holidays, and involve spirits. The two holidays are different because one, people dress up and go trick-or-treating, and the other gathers with friends and family to honor the deceased.
Rituals and festivals played a crucial role in traditional European life throughout the modern period. Rituals, such as charivari (“riding the stang”) allowed for the community to join together and have fun, teach lessons, and even make political statements. Festivals such as carnival, and that on midsummer night’s eve allowed for the community to relax, release their burdens, join together, learn from one another and, to the dismay of some, also served as a medium of spreading vices. Despite their disorderly nature, these ritualized activities actually served to reinforce traditional social values by building a sense of community, by imposing mechanisms of social control, and providing outlets for political discontent. Many rituals and festivals built community spirit and unity.
This was the time of the year when Christians honored saints and prayed for the recently dead that were still traveling to heaven. The dead who were in purgatory were close enough to the physical world, so could get a last chance at vengeance. Christians would then dress up in masks and costumes to trick the dead. When Halloween became more pop-culture than folk-culture the traditions stopped having meanings. People to this day still dress up, but it's more just for the fun of it.
The law is also a way of thinking, behaving and being; therefore, it is considered to be an integral part of the development and civilisation of societies, communities and cultures. (Lecture). In the traditional Aboriginal culture, the law revolves around principles of behaviour, in particular respect for all things in the universe e.g. plants, animals, air and water (lecture). The traditional Aboriginal law never changes; it is a body of rules which does not differentiate between the spiritual and physical worlds.
Critical Thinking Australian Aborigines Cultural Anthropology Mrs. Barry April 16, 2012 The topic I chose to do my paper on is the Australian Aborigines. This society has a variety of interlinking meanings that includes; period of creation, moral order, ancestral beings, and the source of all spirits. The call this Dreamtime, which can also be referred to as a specific geographic or topographic point or totem spirit. This permeates all the aspects of aboriginal life. This society or group is associated with totem shares with a mystical connection.
Halloween started with the festival of Samhain. It was celebrated by the Celtics of Ireland on November 1st and was considered the end of summer; the date on which the herds were returned from pasture. It was also believed to be a time when the souls of those who had died would return to visit their homes. Villages lit bonfires on hilltops for the lighting of their hearth fires, which kept their houses warm in the winter, but also to frighten away evil spirits. They sometimes wore masks and other disguises to avoid being recognized by the ghosts thought to be present.
Bharata Natyam versus Yoruba Dance “Religion may exist without dance: but dance cannot exist without religion.” (La Meri) Kelley Sleiman Intro to World Dance and Culture Throughout history, dance has been a form of natural self-expression. It has become an unbroken line of human interaction. Dance has been used to define cultures, communicate emotion and bring people closer to the spiritual world. While Hindu dance is an important religious art form for the people of South India, it is just as versatile to the Yoruba people of Nigeria. Bharata Natyam of India has become the most common classical dance-drama of India.
Day of the Dead The celebrations of El Dia de los Muertos Day (Day of the Dead) dates back to the Aztecs. It is a celebration that allows deceased family members and friends know that they have not been forgotten by the living. The belief system behind the holiday is that after a person dies his or her spirit returns once a year to visit. The Days of the Dead is the chance for the living to show the spirits how much they meant to them when they return. The celebration is not meant to be scary, like the American holiday of Halloween, but rather a celebration of life itself.
For example, if the music is slow and uneventful, it could be a song of mourning for a loss of a loved one, while the faster music could suggest a celebration. I hope to see these types of music being manifested in the novel. Almost going hand in hand with the ceremonial music, the rituals regarding the welcoming of guests into the home was also very culturally enlightening. When guests arrive at a host’s home, the breaking of kola nuts takes place as a ceremonial welcoming to the guest. Usually the host does the breaking and it signifies the presence and opening up of the home to the guest.
In the beginning, Leon ties a feather in his grandfather’s hair, symbolizing the respect he has for him. The family’s neighbors also show respect by coming to see Teofilo’s family and leaving food for the gravediggers. Another character which emphasizes the theme of respect is Father Paul. When he is first introduced, he seems skeptical of the Indian ceremonies. “He looked at the red blanket, not sure that Teofilo was so small, wondering if it wasn’t some perverse Indian trick.” (Silko 34) But then, as he begins to sprinkle holy water on Teofilo, he seems to accept the Indian ways as he compares the falling holy water to an August rain.