The Festival of the Dead
As the autumn winds turn crisp and the veil between worlds grows thin, cultures across the globe pause to honour those who have walked before us. Known by many names — Samhain, Día de los Muertos, Obon, Chuseok, or All Souls’ Day — the Festival of the Dead is a time to remember, celebrate, and commune with the ancestors whose lives continue to shape our own. Though traditions differ, the heart of the observance remains the same: love never dies, and the spirits of our departed are never far. The Ancient Roots of Remembering the Dead Long before modern religions codified beliefs about the afterlife, ancient peoples felt the changing of the seasons as a spiritual threshold. Autumn’s decline into winter symbolized death and rebirth — a time when the physical and spiritual realms intertwined. From the fires of Celtic Samhain to the Roman Lemuria and the Chinese Ghost Festival, humans have always sought to bridge that mysterious gap. The Festival of the D...