3 festivals around the world that celebrate the dead
Today, Halloween is more about trick and treating where children dressing up in ghoulish costumes and going from door to door asking for candy, and the grown-ups turning their house into a spooky den (with pumpkin shaped jack-o-lantern), looks straight out of horror movies. What we tend to forget is that Halloween is a lot more than that. It is about praying for the deceased, whose spirits come to visit the Earth for a short span. So, to simply put, it is about honouring the dead.
Well, you will be surprised to know that Halloween isn’t the only festival that does so. In fact, there are many around the world that celebrates the departed souls. Here’s a glance at three of them.
Chuseok
Deemed as Korea’s largest national holiday, Chuseok is widely celebrated across both North and South Koreas. During this festival, people honour their dead ancestors through dancing, music, folk games, and food. It is observed on the 15th day of the 8th lunar calendar month (falls somewhere in between mid-September and mid-October). What’s interesting is the three-day festival coincides with the fall harvest where the living people offer their gratitude to the deceased for blessing them with bountiful crops. In fact, Koreans come together to celebrate Chuseok and often prepare food from the fresh harvest. One of the most traditional dishes on their plates if of course the famous Korean rice cake that they begin their day with. People also visit the graves of their dead relatives, clean them and often decorate the site to make the dead spirits feel one with the living.
Gai Jatra
This Nepalese festival dates back to the 17th century when the then King Pratap Malla had invited all the citizens of the mountainous country to come together, dress up, perform plays and stunts in front of the royal palace. Why? Because the king had just lost his only son and wanted to make the Queen happy. While the Queen was indeed happy, it is believed that her spirits were not lifted by humans but by a cow who was part of the festivity. Apparently, the Queen believed the cow was a messenger from her deceased son. Since then, the celebration has been called Gai Jatra or the Festival of Cows.
Now held annually in between August and September, the most important part of the festival is decorating a cow and leading him down the streets in a procession. The Nepalese believe that the cow will help lead a recently deceased family member into the afterlife. Often, in case a cow can’t be procured, a child is dressed as a cow and is made to take its place. It is the innocence of the child or the animal that is believed to do the deed.
Pchum Ben
Every year, somewhere between mid-September and mid-October, life in Cambodia slow down. Why? Because for a span of 15 days, Cambodians believe that their dead ancestors come to visit them on Earth in the hope of retribution and atonement for their past sins. They also believe that during this time, there is a very fine line between the dead and the living. This is also the time when people visit pagodas dressed in complete white to mourn the passing of the departed souls, and in turn honour their forefathers. This observance is known as Pchum Ben. As part of the ritual, the Cambodians offer food and drinks to the deceased to relieve them of otherworldly suffering, something that the Chinese do during the Hungry Ghost Festival.