The Start of Little Death for a Purpose of Renewal
By ivan88
@ivan88 (193)
Canada
December 29, 2012 9:41pm CST
In Slavic mythology, this is an interesting period. The fall, as it is believed in their astrological cycle was the start of the process of "Little Death" for the whole nature. Nature dies down a little as all leafs would fall down and it start going towards the renewal process.
As it is believed, there is a celebration time for the equivalent of Western Halloween, but very differently. In Slavic mythology, as the process of nature's little death has started, it is believed that this is the time of all the darker forces and spirits to prevail. Therefore, they would create certain "gifts of labour" and give them to those spirits, so that they would get tamed for a while and not go so hard on regular folks.
Therefore, the meaning of their celebration would also be a Remembrance Day of all fallen relatives, as their spirits are also believed to visit us temporarily. Candies, sweets, honey-goods - all of those would be laid out, so that kids would feast on them. As children were the continuation of all, it was believed that they carry the legacy of the fallen ancestors. The spirits of those ancestors would dwell in kids for a while during that celebration, so that they also could participate in the feast of the fall, the pacifying of all spirits and the respect of ancestors.
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