FORGET importing Mexican Day of the Dead. Scotland should develop its very own Day of the Deid, full of colour and lights, to help us adopt a healthier attitude to bereavement and our own mortality.
The call comes from the organisers of the Absent Friends festival, which promotes events from street parties to reminiscence suppers that encourage people to remember and celebrate the lives of loved ones who have passed away.
It has been backed by those working with the bereaved who claim that it's time for Scotland to throw off it's stiff upper lip attitude to death, and fully embrace the universal experience of grief.
Suggestions for a Scottish version of the ancient Dia De Los Muertos (Day of the Dead), which sees people in many countries – most notably Mexico – celebrate for two days from November 1, include colourful street parties and processions with music. Local cemeteries could be decorated with candles, lights and art works and local streets with bunting celebrating lost loved ones.
Robert Peacock, development manager of Good Life, Good Death, Good Grief – the charity which co-ordinates the Absent Friends festival from November 1-7 – said the idea was to tap back into the Celtic traditions of All Souls Day to create a Scottish version of the Mexican holiday, which include tidying and decorating graves with marigolds, ornate sugar skulls, photos, food and drinks, preparing special meals and hosting remembrance parties.
"The British response to death is a stiff upper lip one," he said. "The traditions of Day of the Dead make it a more social thing. The festival is time for colours and for celebration of someone's life. That was present in Celtic traditions and is still more apparent in the Irish wake, but many of those traditions are gone."
This year's Absent Friends has tens of events including community meals (where "conversation menus" that help people talk about death), concerts and storytelling. Communities and individuals across Scotland are encouraged to host their event or light a candle privately to remember loved ones.
Stewart Wilson, chief executive of Cruse Bereavement Care, said: "There's a huge tendency not to talk about people who have died. We have a discomfort with death and dying and we are often uncomfortable with other people's distress.Yet it is a universal experience. We might chose to get married or have children or not but almost all of us will be bereaved at least once."
Kate Clark of Inverness organisation Pushing Up Daisies, which supports people to look after their loved ones at home between their death and their funeral, said a Scottish Day of the Dead could help make death more visible and reduce feelings of isolation experienced by those left behind.
"Because we don't talk about death, people are having to deal with it alone," she said. "By bringing people together it helps us realise death is a common experience we all share. By making an annual tradition we can get in the habit of honouring our dead. Don't we all want to be remembered when we are gone? Celebration, rather than fear, is a great way to bring old tradition to the present day."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel