Part 2: In Celebration of Halloween and the Day of the Dead… Redefining Good and Evil, Male and Female: A Gendered Analysis of Shen Te, Lilith and La Llorona

What if we acknowledged the intertwining of female and male aspects within each of us, rather than seeing these elements as separate and distinct? Shen Te is forced to become a man in order to be valued by her community. Why does her society (and ours) value aggression and devalue compassion? Why is maleness connected to hostility and femaleness with care? What if we changed the way we thought about gender so that a person could have the freedom to incorporate multiple ways of being into their spirits and would not have to fit into constricting categories like male or female, aggressive or submissive? Shen Te could not integrate all the pieces of her self because in her society (and ours) being female means being accommodating and being male means being assertive and confident. She had to become male in order to act out the assertive parts of herself.

The theme of dressing up, playing a role, or putting on a mask coincides with the celebration of Halloween this Friday. This festival was originally called Samhain (Sow-in) and began 2000 years ago, when the Celts (also pronounced Kelts), who lived in the area that is now Ireland, the United Kingdom and France, celebrated their new year. November 1 marked the end of summer and the harvest and the beginning of the dark, cold winter, a time of year that was often associated with human death. The Celts (Kelts) believed that on the night before the new year (October 31), the boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead became blurred and the ghosts of the dead returned to earth. People thought they would encounter these ghosts if they left their homes. To avoid being recognized, people wore masks when they left their homes after dark so that the ghosts would mistake them for fellow spirits.

In the seventh century, the Pope designated November 1 All Saints' Day, a time to honor saints and martyrs. It is widely believed that the pope was attempting to replace the Celtic (Keltic) festival of the dead with a related, but church-sanctioned holiday. The celebration was also called All-hallows or All-hallowmas (from Middle English Alholowmesse meaning All Saints' Day) and the night before it, the night of Samhain (sow-in), began to be called All-hallows Eve and, eventually, Halloween.[1]

El Dia de los Muertos, or the Day of the Dead is a unique Mexican tradition that is a mixture of Christian devotion and indigenous traditions and beliefs. Altars and offerings are dedicated to the dead.[2] Skeletons decorate bakery windows.[3] People wear skull masks called calacas and dance in honor of dead relatives.[4] It is a day to remember those who have crossed the river separating life from death.[5] Death is seen as a transition, and the Day of the Dead embraces, rather than fears, death. The Aztecs and other Meso-American civilizations believed the dead came back to visit during what was once a month-long ritual in August. The Spanish colonizers thought the ritual was barbaric, pagan and sacrilegious and tried to eliminate it, but they were unsuccessful. To make the ritual more Christian they moved it to coincide with All Saints’ Day (November 1) and All Souls’ Day (November 2), [6] holidays that honor and remember all the saints, as well as friends and loved ones who have died.

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[1] “Halloween: Ancient Origins” on History.com

[2] “Michoacan: The Altar” on dayofthedead.com, Mary J. Andrade

[3] “Mexico City: The Rowdy Skeletons in Mexico City” on dayofthedead.com, Mary J. Andrade

[4] “Day of the Dead History: Indigenous People Wouldn’t Let ‘Day of the Dead’ Die” by Carlos Miller on azcentral.com

[5] “Mexico City: The Rowdy Skeletons in Mexico City”

[6] “Day of the Dead History”