All Saints -- and all "spooks", witches, etc.

Today, the 31st day of October, presents a holiday that seemingly rages as popular as any other holiday on the American calendar. It's generally called "Halloween", which is Old English for "Day before (eve) All Saints (Day)". All Saints Day honored all the departed saints, when the medieval Church established it on 1 November. The day before, or 31 October, was its eve, just as 31 December is the eve of New Years Day.

Actually, the medieval Church started this holiday as an alternative to a pagan Celtic festival celebrated on 31 October, called Samhaim. (In the same way, Christmas began as an alternative to a pagan Roman festival for Sol Invictus, the "Unconquered Sun" god; nobody knows WHAT DAY Jesus really was born!) Most, if not all, of the trappings of Halloween, except for the very name, derive from Druid witchcraft. Even the jack-o-lanterns were originally turnips carved to house the malevolent spirits of the dead. When certain Irish whose Catholicism was only skin-deep and who retained some of their Druidic witchery, immigrated to America, they considered that pumpkins made a great alternative to turnips to carve into fearful faces for those malevolent dead!

But I digress. As you know from some of my earlier blogs, the dominant ethnic cultures here in San Antonio and south-central Texas are the German, the Anglo-Celtic and especially the Hispanic. Hispanic meaning of Spanish or Mexican mestizo origin. And in the cultural tradition of old Mexico even more important than Todos los Santos (All Saints)on 1 November is Día de los Muertos the next day. This "Day of the Dead" is the Catholic Church's "All Souls Day" and honors all the dead, sainted or not. In Mexico it's traditionally observed by taking food, flowers and candles to the cemeteries and keeping a kind of festive vigil at the graves of family members.

Here in these United States the Mexican-Americans, in their efforts to resemble other US citizens (the "melting-pot" syndrome) backed away from distinctively Mexican customs such as the 2 November Day of the Dead. But now again chicanos or Mexican-Americans are widely celebrating Dí­a de los Muertos, only (alas!) with Halloween additions. One element of Dí­a de los Muertos that does NOT derive from Halloween or its antecedent Samhaim of the druids, is use of skulls or skeletons, called calaveras. About a hundred years ago there came to be a whole genre of calavera artwork, showing skeletons dressed in sarapes and sombreros and engaging in various activities. In Mexico they even make candy skulls, which children eat on 2 November, just as Anglo children eat candy canes on Christmas. Another major element is the building of household altars, ofrendas, that in addition to Catholic souvenirs such as crucifixes and pictures or statuettes of Our Lady of Guadalupe, will have photos of deceased family members and favorite items of theirs that have been kept. They also will set out favorite foodstuffs of the dearly departed.

Now, all of this, and more, came to mind as I substituted for a Spanish teacher at Alamo Heights High School on Monday the 30th. Her lesson plan for two of the classes was to show a video produced right here in San Antonio, by the Institute of Texan Cultures, covering observation of Dí­a de los Muertos, S.A. style. Some aspects featured were already familiar to me, particularly the sight of Castroville Road across from San Fernando cemetery lined shoulder-to-shoulder with vendors of floral decorations to buy and take across the street to the graves. In this way 2 November for chicanos is much like Memorial Day in May for other Americans.

One of the persons featured in the video was Father Virgil Elizondo, who at the time of filming was rector of San Fernando Cathedral. (He now teaches at Notre dame University.) He is quite the author, and one of my favorite books of Elizondo's is The Future Is Mestizo. In it he describes growing up Mexican-American in the Westside barrio, and he celebrates the great contributions of the mestizo (mixed indigenous and Spanish ancestry) people. In this film he likewise celebrates what it means to be Mexican-American in the context of observation of Dí­a de los Muertos.

Someone in the video mentioned that customs for the holiday among San Antonio's chicanos differ from those of interior Mexico. The differences weren't really explained (at least not satisfactorily). But another person did mention that S.A. Mexican-Americans are now borrowing elements from Halloween. Now, to me that's not a good borrowing! Yes, I'm Celtic in my ancestry. But for that very reason I know well the pagan and occult origins of central aspects of the American observation. It's NOT a good thing to celebrate witches, or symbols of Druidism or the occult. When one researches the terrible and truly frightful practices of ancient Samhaim and one knows that there IS an evil in this creation that is more cosmic than merely the sum of individual human sin, it's no longer cute to think of costumed kids out begging for candy!

Calaveras or skeletons are different, since these occur in numerous cultures, including the Mesoamerican civilizations that Spaniards conquered in the Sixteenth Century. And the Latin-indigenous emphases on remembering deceased yet still beloved family members, and on not fearing death but rather viewing it as an aspect fo the progress of life, are good and healthy things our Spanish-heritage (mixed Latin with indigenous) neighbors can introduce to and share with us Anglos (and Germans, Afros, etc.)

So, I'd say let's forget the 31 October observation and its "spooks", witches, jack-o-lanterns, etc. Let's have a harvest festival instead. And let's remember and honor the sainted dead on 1 November and our departed relatives on the Second, that is, el Día de los Muertos.