Like many other traditions, Basques used to celebrate Gau Beltza 'Black Night' or Arimen Gaua 'Souls Night' before globalization brought Halloween to us. 🎃
As I child, I had no idea. For me, it was an American celebration where I could dress gothicly without judgment, plus I would enjoy the American sweets and decorations Aita 'dad' brought from his yearly October fair in the USA. 🍬 There were also other celebrations involved, more associated with spirituality and death, but I was never participated. ✝️🪦
🕯In Gau Beltza, Basque people would celebrate the transition from Fall to Winter and would call their dead relatives so that they could find their way. As in many other Western European communities, it was believed that once the "gogoa" (=mind) left a body, it would find another one. Bees would guide the lost minds. Similar to the Celtic tradition (probably coming from there), villagers, on the other hand, would light up candels and cover themselves with bed sheets to mark the path and scare the bad spirits away. In the Basque tradition, other rituals can be found for this last objective (i.e., hanging a protection thistle flower). 🕯👻
This year, inspired by projects such as @_accion_anti_halloween_es and @gaubeltza <www.gaubeltza.eus>, both pages that aim to bring back old traditions, I decided to honor my aita in a little ritual. In the Catholic (?) tradition, families would go on November 1st, today, to the cementeries to bring flowers to their loved ones. I never participated in this, but being far away from home made me want to have my own event. I lighted two candels to the sides of the picture that is on the chimney, gathered some flowers from my plants, and left a chocolate trait and a present that remains me of him (some earrings him and ama 'mom' bought for me). The last two elements come from the Mexican tradition, by the way. 🍫🎁🖼🕯
I listened and sang to Judas Priest all evening, an iconic rock group that we enjoyed as a family. Aita was a huge fan 🎸
I don't know if what I did is Gau Beltza, Día de los difuntos, Samhain, or Halloween.
🎃 How do you celebrate this season in your culture? 🎃
I READ YOU BELOW ⬇️
Original post: https://www.instagram.com/p/CzH9FKNMkG4/?igsh=MWowaW9yNGdrMHllNA==
Comments
Post a Comment