When one mentions the images of skeletal bones, it is not improbable that the suggestion is immediately associated with Halloween. After all, when else do we most interact with skeleton props like Halloween skulls and skeleton decorations?
Skeletons are presented to us so often on this holiday that we often forget that they were originally meant to scare people, to remind them of the end we all have to face. Sure, the idea of walking human bones without flesh is easy to understand about how it became a popular decoration on the day we dedicate ourselves to the dead - Halloween.
Halloween Skeleton
However, when it comes to death, many other cultures around the world believe that paying tribute to or celebrating the dead is not sad or scary. Instead, it is for many of them to recognize the ancestors of the past as a positive and glorious celebration of their once lived life and influence.
In the Brittany region of France, All Souls Day is a day when people go to the cemeteries to pray for the souls of their ancestors. They do this in a place known as the "Place of Bones". Here are found the remains of people passed down many years ago, resting together in a single grave. The living who seek the place to visit wander past the entrance, reaching out their hands to the rows of skulls so that they can touch the bones. By doing this, they believe they are staying connected to their ancestors from so long ago.
In Mexico, a holiday similar to what we know as Christmas is called the Day of the Dead. If you're in Mexico right now, you won't see what we would normally think of as a Halloween skeleton, but you'll see a bevy of merry street vendors selling gleefully decorated and colorful toy skeletons adorned with outfits that you might otherwise would find on dolls. At first, they may seem rather morbid children's toys to an American. In Mexico, however, this is all done with great pleasure as a ritual used to honor their ancestors.
Likewise, in China, the Ghost Festival is held in anticipation of the ghosts and spirits of the dead who are said to emerge among the living. While it's highly unlikely that you'll see anything resembling a Halloween skeleton costume, you could come face to face with a real ghost, according to the Chinese! Something that was most likely considered far more chilling than a few plastic Halloween skulls lining someone's driveway.
The Native Americans celebrated death because of their deep conviction that death was only the beginning of the soul's entrance into the spirit world. After the person died, they would honor the deceased person's remains with gifts, food, and spices so that their spirits could take with them on their journey to the afterlife.
Now that you know a little more about symbolic bones, you have a little secret. The next time Halloween is running around and the little one in tow is frightened by a dusty Halloween gag of empty eyes, calmly tell them what a wonderful and positive symbol skeletons consider in so many cultures.
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