Every culture has created some form of ritual observance. Focused on what happens to people when they die, where they go, and how the living should best honor those who have passed or respond to the dead who seem unwilling or unable to move on.
Mexico’s Day of the Dead, Celtic’s and even the ancient Egyptian, spent a lot of time preparing people for the afterlife.
The Celts believed that the veil between the worlds of the living and the dead was thinnest at this time and so the dead could return and walk where they had before. Further, those who had died in the past year and who, for one reason or another, had not yet moved on, could do so at this time and might interact with the living in saying goodbye.
Jack-O’Lantern
The Jack O’Lantern is associated with the Irish folktale of Stingy Jack, a clever drunk and con man who fooled the devil into banning him from hell but, because of his sinful life, could not enter heaven. After his death, he roamed the world carrying a small lantern made of a turnip with a red-hot ember from hell inside to light his way. On All Hallows’ Eve, the Irish hollowed out turnips and carved them with faces, placing a candle inside, as they went about “souling.” The night when the veil between life and death was thinnest, they would be protected from spirits like Stingy Jack.
Salem Witch Trials
The Salem Witch Trials were a series of legal proceedings in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692-1693 resulting in the deaths of 20 innocent women accused of witchcraft.
The Bible, in the Book of Exodus 22:18, states, “Thou shalt not suffer a witch live,” and this was adhered to as closely as any other biblical injunctions. The Bible was understood as the word of God and made clear that witches were as much of a reality as anything else; questioning the existence of witches meant questioning the divine authority of the Bible.
The bottom line is, good witches, like all of us, are doing good things in the world to promote the teachings of God–kindness, trust, truth and unconditional love.
