At Samhain, the Celts honored and feasted their ancestors, not as the dead but as the living spirits of loved ones, the long line of kin who guarded the root-wisdom of the tribe. Samhain’s Eve was the night to remember and toast these beloved ones, for the veil between the living and the dead was thought to be thin, and communication was possible. These Celtic celebrations in many ways resembled the Day of the Dead festivities celebrated by Mexican Americans and other Hispanic groups—not a somber festival but a celebration, a joyful acknowledgement that death is not the end of our family ties, that kinship survives even death. Our modern Halloween celebrations don’t offer us that same connection with our ancestors.
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