From Narakasur, to Halloween to All Saints day to All Souls Day, this week was also witness to the three day triduum of the Roman Catholic Church. Yesterday was a day to visit the catholic cemeteries, anywhere in the world, just to see the kaleidoscopic beauty of each grave decorated with love, flowers and candles.
All souls day is observed on November 2 every year, except if it falls on a Sunday, it is commemorated on the next day.
In the villages of Goa, many years back the bhatkars or landlords would see that the coconut plucking was done by the end of October, as the night of the November 1 was seen as night when the spirits would pluck the coconuts.
Unlike today, most bhatkars depended on the fruits of their property, so every coconut was currency. In Assolna, many years ago, the board of a bank was put on the post office and that of the post office on the bank by the same two legged spirits.
All the vases were brought inside the house on November 1, or they would be found in the open fields the next day. There is also a true case of a son-in-law, who decided to teach his prospective father-in-law a lesson by breaking all the vases. It was easy to blame the angry spirits. Today’s spirits have stopped participating in these nocturnal activities as the present generation refuses to guide these spirits!
I recollect with fondness one of our Assolna Parish Priest, many years ago would narrate the same story every year forgetting that he had narrated it in the previous year.
He would begin with his stay in Chodan, where the cemetery was next to the Church and his visitors asking him if he was not frightened of this proximity.
The story ended with his advice, “We need to fear the living, not the dead”. The veneration of the dead, including one’s ancestors is based on love and respect for the deceased, this is different from ancestor worship. In some cultures, it is related to beliefs that the dead may possess the ability to influence the fortune of the living.
This day is dedicated to prayer and remembrance. In other cultures, the purpose of ancestor veneration is not to ask for favours but to do one’s family duty.
In Hinduism, praying for the dead is an important part of showing respect for the departed soul and helping it achieve peace in the afterlife. The ceremonies and prayers offered for the deceased can vary by region and community, but the essence is to ensure that the departed soul attains moksha (liberation) or peace.
The ritual is considered important because a person owes his physical birth to his lineage. When a person dies, the family observes a thirteen-day mourning period, generally called śrāddha.
A year thence, the ritual of tarpana is observed, in which the family makes offerings to the deceased. During these rituals, the family takes care to even buy the particular fish and the food items that the deceased liked.
Among my friends is a diehard atheist who proclaimed on Facebook, “No God is the master of my fate” but performed his father’s tith yesterday. That is the power of the departed!
Many cultures mark the All Souls Day differently. In North America, Americans may say extra prayers or light candles for the departed. In parts of Latin America, families visit the graves of their ancestors and sometimes leave food offerings for the dead.
In Madagascar, the practice of the famadihana is practiced whereby a deceased family member's remains may be exhumed to be periodically re-wrapped in fresh silk shrouds before being replaced in the tomb.
This is an occasion to reunite with family and community, and enjoy a festive atmosphere. Small, everyday gestures of respect include throwing the first capful of a newly opened bottle of rum into the northeast corner of the room to give the ancestors their share.
Just as it is the custom of French people, of all ranks and creeds, to decorate the graves of their dead on the jour des morts, so also German and Polish people stream to the graveyards with offerings of flowers and special grave lights.
The Czechs visit and tidy graves of relatives on the day. The origins of All Souls' Day in European folklore and folk belief are seen through events such as the Chinese Ghost Festival, the Japanese Bon Festival or the Mexican Day of the Dead.
In China, ancestor worship seeks to honour and recollect the actions of the deceased; they represent the ultimate homage to the dead. The importance of paying respect to parents (and elders) lies with the fact that all physical bodily aspects of one's being were created by one's parents.
Confucius stressed the cultivation of personal qualities such as benevolence, reciprocity and filial piety and believed that human relationships are important.
Most Buddhists say you cannot be truly Buddhist if you do not respect elders. In Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia and Vietnam, at least eight-in-ten Buddhists hold this view.
In the animistic indigenous religions of the precolonial Philippines, ancestor spirits were one of the two major types of spirits (anito) with whom shamans communicate. Ancestor spirits were known as umalagad (‘guardian’ or ‘caretaker’).
During Pchum Ben and the Cambodian New Year people make offerings to their ancestors. Our Cambodian guide informed us that this is a time when many Cambodians pay their respects to deceased relatives of up to seven generations. Monks chant the suttas in Pali language overnight (continuously, without sleeping). In Korea the ceremony held on the anniversary of a family member's death is called charye and is still practised today.
On my recent visit to Shivsagar, in Assam, capital of the Ahom dynasty, I learnt that the Ahom religion is based on ancestor-worship. The Ahoms believe that a person after his death remains as Dam (ancestor) only for a few days and soon he becomes Phi (God) and that the soul of a person always blesses the family.
So every Ahom family, in order to worship the dead establish a pillar on the opposite side of the kitchen (Barghar), which is called Damkhuta where they worship the dead with various offerings like homemade wine, rice with various items of meat and fish. Me-Dam-Me-Phi, a ritual centred on commemorating the dead, is celebrated by the Ahom people on 31 January every year.
In Indonesia ancestor worship has been a tradition of some of the indigenous people. Podom of the Toba Batak, Waruga of the Minahasans are a few examples of the forms the veneration takes.
In Vietnam, traditionally people did not celebrate birthdays, but the death anniversary of one's loved one was always an important occasion. Every Vietnamese home has an altar dedicated to their dead ancestors with photographs. Ashkenazi Jews commonly name children after dead relatives, and are hoped to embody those dead's positive traits.
In European, Asian, African and Afro-diasporic cultures, the goal of ancestor veneration is to ensure the ancestors' continued well-being and positive disposition towards the living, and sometimes to ask for special favours or assistance. The non-religious function of ancestor veneration is to develop kinship values, such as filial piety, family loyalty, and continuity of the unity of the family lineage. May the dead bless and protect the living always and everywhere!
(Dr Sushila Sawant Mendes is an author, Professor in History and an independent researcher)