Madagascar: Halloween Traditions and Culture
Halloween hasn’t always been known as a festive holiday for silly costumes and sweet treats. Two thousand years ago, the first of November signified the beginning of winter for the ancient Celts of Europe. On that day, they celebrated a festival called Samhain during which they “gathered to sacrifice animals, fruits, and vegetables” and “lit bonfires in honor of the dead, to aid them on their journey, and to keep them away from the living” (Santino). Later, with the influence of Christian missionaries who attempted but failed to convert and completely remove the Celtic beliefs of the supernatural and the deities, a new holiday came into being, a holiday known as All Saints Day or All Hallows Day. …show more content…
They have their own tradition, which revolves primarily around a festival called Famadihana, or ‘Turning of the Bones,’ which began in the seventeenth century around Southeast Asia where Madagascar was first colonized (Madagascar’s Dance with the Dead). During Famadihana, which takes place every four to five years around the months of June to October, families from across the region bringing money and alcohol reunite to celebrate Famadihana. They open up sepulchres, or tombs, take out the bodies of their loved ones and then unwrap the bodies and rewrap them in “new lambas of fine silk” (Stevens 77). Afterwards, they converse and dance around the sepulchres with the bodies. Some families sacrifice zebu or chickens and hold feasts if they can afford it. Romazava, pickled vegetable curry, and most importantly, rice are types of foods that the Malagasy eat. However, an important rule is that somber feelings are not allowed during the joyous reunion of both the living and the dead. For most families, Famadihana is considered so important to their identity and culture that they spend even more on the two-day celebration than the cost of their house. Later, if they are Christians, they bring the bodies to church for prayers and blessings before ending the celebration and placing the bodies back in the sepulchres before sunset. According to the Malagasy, the night brings “negative energy and evil power” unlike the sun which is “the source of their power” (Munnik and
Halloween hasn’t always been known as a festive holiday for silly costumes and sweet treats. Two thousand years ago, the first of November signified the beginning of winter for the ancient Celts of Europe. On that day, they celebrated a festival called Samhain during which they “gathered to sacrifice animals, fruits, and vegetables” and “lit bonfires in honor of the dead, to aid them on their journey, and to keep them away from the living” (Santino). Later, with the influence of Christian missionaries who attempted but failed to convert and completely remove the Celtic beliefs of the supernatural and the deities, a new holiday came into being, a holiday known as All Saints Day or All Hallows Day. …show more content…
They have their own tradition, which revolves primarily around a festival called Famadihana, or ‘Turning of the Bones,’ which began in the seventeenth century around Southeast Asia where Madagascar was first colonized (Madagascar’s Dance with the Dead). During Famadihana, which takes place every four to five years around the months of June to October, families from across the region bringing money and alcohol reunite to celebrate Famadihana. They open up sepulchres, or tombs, take out the bodies of their loved ones and then unwrap the bodies and rewrap them in “new lambas of fine silk” (Stevens 77). Afterwards, they converse and dance around the sepulchres with the bodies. Some families sacrifice zebu or chickens and hold feasts if they can afford it. Romazava, pickled vegetable curry, and most importantly, rice are types of foods that the Malagasy eat. However, an important rule is that somber feelings are not allowed during the joyous reunion of both the living and the dead. For most families, Famadihana is considered so important to their identity and culture that they spend even more on the two-day celebration than the cost of their house. Later, if they are Christians, they bring the bodies to church for prayers and blessings before ending the celebration and placing the bodies back in the sepulchres before sunset. According to the Malagasy, the night brings “negative energy and evil power” unlike the sun which is “the source of their power” (Munnik and