Festival of the Dead or Feast of Ancestors[1] is held by many cultures throughout the world in honor or recognition of deceased members of the community, generally occurring after the harvest in August, September, October, or November. As an example, the Ancient Egyptian Wag Festival took place in early August.[2]
In Japanese Buddhist custom the festival honoring the departed (deceased) spirits of one's ancestors is known as the Bon Festival and is held in July or August.[3]
For the Hindus the ritual done for the dead ancestors is called Pitru Paksha. It is based on the Hindu lunar calendar and the period lasts for 15 days, falling towards the end of September.
The Roman Catholic church celebrates three days of Allhallowtide from 31 October to 1 November, marking All Saints' Eve All Saints' Day and the second of November as All Souls' Day. The Mexican holiday celebrated at Hallowtide is called Dia de Los Muertos or Day of the Dead - prior to the Spanish colonisation and the conversion of local people to Christianity, this festival was celebrated in the summer time.[4]
In many cultures a single event, Festival of the Dead, lasting up to 3 days, was held at the end of October and beginning of November; examples include the Peruvians, the Pacific Islanders, the people of the Tonga Islands, the ancient Persians, ancient Romans, and the northern nations of Europe. [1]
In the Inca religion the entire month of November is 'Ayamarca', which translates to Festival of the Dead. The Chinese and Buddhist festival is called Ghost Festival.
In the 21st century, European traditions mark the celebrations of Halloween.
See also
External links
References
|
|
Main topics
|
|
|
Traditions
|
|
|
Events
|
|
|
Media
|
|
|
Related
events
|
|
|
Other events
|
|
|
This article was sourced from Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. World Heritage Encyclopedia content is assembled from numerous content providers, Open Access Publishing, and in compliance with The Fair Access to Science and Technology Research Act (FASTR), Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., Public Library of Science, The Encyclopedia of Life, Open Book Publishers (OBP), PubMed, U.S. National Library of Medicine, National Center for Biotechnology Information, U.S. National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health (NIH), U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, and USA.gov, which sources content from all federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial government publication portals (.gov, .mil, .edu). Funding for USA.gov and content contributors is made possible from the U.S. Congress, E-Government Act of 2002.
Crowd sourced content that is contributed to World Heritage Encyclopedia is peer reviewed and edited by our editorial staff to ensure quality scholarly research articles.
By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. World Heritage Encyclopedia™ is a registered trademark of the World Public Library Association, a non-profit organization.