Halloween, su Mortu Mortu and the Day of the Dead

Halloween, su Mortu Mortu and the Day of the Dead

When I was a teenager, I discovered a tiny library just five minutes from home. 

I borrowed a book of Halloween stories. 

They were horror stories.

I got quite scared, but at the same time, at that age, that was the type of books I was attracted to, written by authors like Edgar Allan Poe and H.P. Lovecraft.

Still, Halloween was foreign, unfamiliar. 

Growing up in a city in the North of Italy, I would see Halloween only as a commercial burst of orange, black and purple, around the end of October.

One day I talked about Halloween with my grandmother. 

She told me that when she was a child in a village in Sardinia, she would have fun going door to door to ask for fruit and sweets, saying “su Mortu, Mortu” (literally “the dead, dead”). 

Oh my God! My grandma was trick-or-treating? Like, 80 years ago? Yes she was!

In Italy, and many other countries, the second of November is the Day of the Dead.

In some areas of Italy, a place at the family table is prepared for the loved ones who passed away, to have dinner with their family again, one night every year.

I love to hear about these traditions, but I was never close to them, and I never participated.

Recently I watched the movie “Coco”, animation by Pixar. 

It is about the Day of the Dead in Mexico, and I loved the story and how it is about remembering the dead of the family. 

It is something that is lost in many families in modern society. 

Remembering the stories of previous generations, looking at the pictures together. 

Indigenous cultures have an oral tradition that goes back many generations: they know where they are from. 

Personally, I don’t know my great-grandparents names. 

A story I really like is about the memories of the people in Hawaii, and how if you ask them “where they come from” they would answer “Lemuria”.

On the second of November many people in Italy go to the cemetery and bring flowers to their dead.

After my mum died, I went to the cemetery just a couple of times. 

Something inside tells me that my mum is not there, under that tomb stone. 

And I never found her there. 

I found her in my dreams. 

I had an idea to send a balloon up in the air with a written message for her. And when the balloon would pop, she would receive the message. 

When I discovered Psych-K©, I started to call her energy in. 

She was with me, wiping out all my guilt, when my son was ill and needed a calm mum.

She was, and is with me when a dragonfly flies near me, and I see her and talk to her in my meditations.

So, now that I realised that Halloween is about love and remembrance as well, I am ready to make some art with an Halloween theme (and my son is asking me to do it from last year…).

And here is the result: Mr Pumpkin :)

and of course it glows on UV light :)

Please show me your creations if you are inspired by Halloween, or the Day of the Dead, too.

 

 

Una Marzorati

unamarz Creations

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