1. It’s Samhain (well, it began last night at sundown) in the Celtic tradition, which means we are at the midpoint between the Fall Equinox and the Winter Solstice. Six more weeks of the darkness.
2. It’s also Dia de los Muertos, which I had never really studied, assuming it was just a take on the Roman Catholic All Saints Day. Turns out it has its origins in Aztec culture–2,500-3,000 BCE–and the Catholic Church just put its veneer over it.
3. And, since we’re talking about death and gray hair this week, here’s another take on it from Long Reads: I’m 72. So What?
[…] The approach of death puts pressure on life, to extract as much juice from it as we can. But it’s a different kind of pressure than the one I felt when I was younger—the social pressure to conform, to hit the required milestones, meet the right man, get pregnant, have a family, succeed in your career. Rather, it’s a new awareness of time being finite, the focus sharper, the purpose clearer. Simplifying, pruning, keeping only the essential. There’s a huge relief in attending to your core needs and goals, getting closer to the bone, a deeper spirituality.
Dia de los Muertos is a Mexican tradition. It might have Catholocism in there, but it is primarily Mexican people created out of the horror of colonization to honor their lost ones. It is something real humans use to mourn, in the United States among Chicanos and in Mexico.
Thank you for the info!