Spirits Of The Dead Ancestors? | Halloween Edition

May tonight be the darkest, scariest night of the year …

But not so fast. There's a catch. Before the fun stuff let me tell you about the following..

I come from a country where Halloween celebration was not always celebrated so I can’t tell you much naughty Halloween stories but I can tell you about a similar celebration called Stilts. Latvians celebrate Stilts each year on November 10th by similarly dress up in scary (like REAL real scary not just cutsy) costumes to proceed by walking from house to house with a big bang (made with various boiler caps, pans, spoons, iron and wood tools, bells and drums). If the owner of the house did not want to invite Stilters indoors to enjoying autumn seasonal foods the Stilters sang songs or even yet - barricaded their home doors with something heavy! (Yaicks, right?)

And here we are, the basis by dressing up for Stilters is the spirits of the dead ancestors who return through the masks to see their loved ones. The main task of the dressed up is to ensure that he can not be recognized either by appearance or by voice - only in this instance it is a blessed Stilting. It is also believed that you should put fortune telling cards during this time because ancient Latvians (and pagans too) believe this is the most powerful time in prophecies.

So lets thank God it is illegal to barricade each others doors at this day and age ... And Happy Halloween!

Trick or treat! X