ARTLAND

The last day of October is All Hallows Eve and some days later All Saints’ Day, Dia de lot Muertos and Zaduszki turn up when dusk sets in. In this twilight zone the dead people come to meet us. During Halloween we should get scared by monsters, witches and the living dead. During All Saints’ Day we remember and honour the dead in another way.

In Sweden we bring the Nordic design to our graveyards. Distinct dark wreaths made by pine-tree twigs and perhaps a pine-cone as decoration for it. A white candle-light. Solemn, but also a reminder about how short life is.

When living in Poland I followed the stream of people to the nearest graveyard on Zaduszki afternoon. Families and relatives get together and bring not only candle-lights in different forms and sizes, but also lots of flowers in warm colours to the graves. People meet and talk, many have travelled far to spend time with their relatives. In the evening it’s an orchestra of silent candle-lights from every graveyard. Next day on the same places a grey and dark November is almost like a surreal blooming paradise.

In Mexico the day of the dead is celebrated with a party for relatives, where skeletons can be seen dancing and the children can eat candy in forms of skulls. In the homes an altar is built and decorated with flowers, food and drinks and things to remember the dead. Maybe a saint or a pumpkin. Cultures and traditions blend. You stay all night at the graveyard.

In old times Samhain was celebrated by the Celts. Summer was over, a dividing line in the seasons. At these times many thought that evil powers were especially active. To guide the dead who might be on their way back home this evening and to scare of the witches they lit bonfires. “Trick or treat” was a joke during night time. So Halloween is actually a Celtic tradition from the beginning. (I got the information about Samhain in Martin Modéus book on traditions and life).

I met the living dead during a warm summer’s day, in daylight. During the culture festival in Stockholm this summer bleeding youngsters and scary figures with torn clothes shuffled along the streets in a Zombie-walk. Zombie walks can for instance be annual or created like flash-mobs, the figures grunt and groan in a form of role-play when moving around a city. You can meet special zombie pub crawls or political zombie-actions like a hunger charity event.  Here I got a distinct feeling of the zombies having fun, but also a protest about not feeling at home in public space.

I read in the news that one’s computer can be abused by a zombie-network. How do you know this? You don’t. But if your computer is slower than usual, it might be a sign…

Since winter and autumn-festivals are scarcer in Sweden, many happenings jostle during our short summer period. When the living dead entered streets of a Stockholm filled with tourist groups from China, beer-drinking Scotsmen in skirts and stilt-walking teenagers it’s a festive atmosphere.

A carnival is what I would need in dark drowsy November. Memento mori, but don’t forget that we are alive and kicking.