Honouring our Ancestors
Samhain is the next point on the Celtic wheel of the year. This is now celebrated as Halloween or All Hallows Eve on 31st October.
Traditionally the beginning of the Celtic New Year it is said to be the most obvious thinning of the veils between worlds, hence the many stories of ghosts and ghouls at this time.
Our ancients in Europe gathered to celebrate this time around bonfires, dancing and feasting.
The light is ever waning and the cold creeping up (in the Northern hemisphere anyways), and we find a sense of eeriness in nature as death and decay is ever present.
It is a time for honouring those that have gone before us, our ancestors.
In the Northern Hemisphere the month of November, deep in Autumn, is all about shedding. Just like the trees we remember to release what no longer serves. This process can sometimes feel hard but the kinder we are to ourselves and slower and quieter we can take the tempo the gentler it should be. We are also in Scorpio season, an extremely emotional sign, seen as the underworld and perfect for delving into shadow work.
On the 2nd November it is Dia de los Muertos, Day of the Dead.
Traditionally celebrated in Mexico this festival honours the ancestors as families welcome back the souls of their relatives who have passed for a reunion that includes food, drink and celebration. It is a combination of Mesoamerican ritual, European religion and Spanish culture. The holiday is celebrated each year from October 31- November 2. While October 31 is Halloween, November 1 is “el Dia de los Inocentes,” or the day of the children, and All Saints Day. November 2 is All Souls Day or the “Day of the Dead.”
This celebration is said to go back “3,000 years, to the rituals honoring the dead in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica. The Aztecs and other Nahua people living in what is now central Mexico held a cyclical view of the universe, and saw death as an integral, ever-present part of life.”
https://www.history.com/topics/halloween/day-of-the-dead
In the Northern Hemisphere the month of November, deep in Autumn, is all about shedding. Just like the trees we remember to release what no longer serves. This process can sometimes feel hard but the kinder we are to ourselves and slower and quieter we can take the tempo the gentler it should be. We are also in Scorpio season, an extremely emotional sign, seen as the underworld and perfect for delving into shadow work.
Death, in our culture, is often feared and very much ignored, in fact it’s still a taboo subject, despite the fact it happens to all of us. This lack of attention creates fear around it. I think we can learn a lot from other traditions about honouring those that have gone before us, and in turn, create a more accepting view on the natural cycle of life.
Our ancestors have gone before us, going all the way back until the beginning of human civilisation.
There is a lot of new research appearing on epigenetics and intergenerational trauma.
This is the study and belief that trauma can be passed down through our DNA. See below article for some context:
“What happens when we lose an essential part of ourselves — a sense of safety, of trust or security? Canadian psychiatrist Gabor Maté defines this as trauma. Trauma ultimately has the ability to define our behaviors, actions and sense of self. More and more research is showing the destructive effects of trauma being passed down from generation to generation in our DNA and cultural nurturing.
By looking at these past issues from a healing perspective we can learn “how to heal and grow from generational trauma, we can become a more connected and empathetic society. This is where we break the cycles that hold us back from truly living.”
So contemplating and honouring our ancestry can allow us to recognise traits that may have been passed down to us that we can acknowledge and accept, and perhaps do some clearing around. We have the opportunity to release these burdens and old beliefs, helping us to stop the lineage of that trauma and create a brighter future for our children.