What do Halloween, All Hallows Eve, All Soul’s Day, All Saint’s Day, and the Day of the Dead look like? We asked Beloit College students, faculty and staff.
Maria Elvira Lopez’21
My grandma drinking colada morada, which is made with various berries and spices. A traditional Ecuadorian beverage dating back to pre-hispanic times, it is enormously popular on All Soul’s Day, and is often brought to cemeteries to drink by families visiting the graves of their dead relatives.
Nicolette Meister, Logan Museum of Anthropology
Tau-tau, meaning “little person” or “person-like,” are funerary effigies from Sulawesi, Indonesia. The figures play an important role in traditional Toraja funerary rites acting as repositories for the spirit of the deceased and guardian of burial grounds. They are dressed and given offerings of food or money.
Tau-tau became coveted collector’s items as tourism in Sulawesi expanded during the 1980s and 1990s. Increasing instances of theft caused the Toraja to move the effigies from the entrances of burial grounds to balconies carved into cliffs where they were secured under lock and key at night.
Kathy Landon, International Education
Neighborhood haunts!
Eva Haykin’21
Me and my sister on Halloween with our cat Pookie!
Sarah Miller’23
Me as Hunny with my family.
Morgan Lippert’21
My sassy witch Halloween costume in elementary school.
Isaiah Wisdom’21
My siblings and me in our school costumes.
Matt Crandall’ 22
Me and my friends in our costumes.
Elizabeth Brewer, International Education
Credit: Getty Images/iStockphoto
All Saint’s (November 1) and All Soul’s (November 2) are so important in Slovakia that the country virtually shuts down so that everyone can travel home to light candles in their hometown cemeteries. By late afternoon, these are enveloped by darkness. Soon the cemeteries fill with streams of villagers and townspeople who have come to pay respect to the dead and to admire the flickering candlelight as it illuminates the darkness.
Maria Elvira Lopez ’21
This is guaguas de pan. Guagua means child in quechua. We eat them on the Ecuadorian Day of the Dead.