Frightening fiestas and sacred ceremonies

For people living in the British Isles during deep history, the changing seasons would likely be marked with feasts and large ritual celebrations. Midwinter, marking the return of the light and longer days, was celebrated at monuments like Stonehenge in Wiltshire and Newgrange in Ireland. Other times in the seasonal cycle are likely to also have been important for ancient communities. Samhain, a festival halfway between the autumn equinox and midwinter, marking the end of the harvest and the beginning of winter, has been recorded as a pre-Christian festival when fires were lit to mark the autumn full moon. It is thought to have been an in-between time when the boundary between this world and the world of the dead was thought to be permeable. The Christian calendar later linked All Hallows' Eve ('Hallowe'en') to 31 of October. Samhain may be the origin of modern-day Halloween, although whether this time of year was celebrated during deep history, when cauldrons like the one below were crafted, remains unknown.

This cauldron was found in the River Thames in London. Dating from around 3,000 years ago, it is made from several separate sheets of bronze skilfully riveted together. It was among the largest metal objects of its day, capable of holding around 70 litres: enough to stew meat or brew beverages for a mighty feast.

Cauldrons have long had magical associations: medieval writings from Ireland tell stories about a cauldron belonging to the protective god, Dagda. His cauldron overflowed with abundant food, could heal any wound, and even restore life to the dead: warriors killed in battle were lowered into the cauldron to be brought back to life. These stories are likely to echo much older beliefs about the power of cauldrons.

When archaeologists discover cauldrons, they are usually recovered from special places in the landscape, like bogs and rivers. These locations were often considered to be powerful, acting as boundaries between the realms of the living and the dead.

Neil Wilkin, Curator: Early Europe
Department of Britain, Europe and Prehistory

The memory of the dead was very important to the Romans: there were many rituals that made sure they were honoured and kept happy. Two Roman festivals were dedicated to the deceased. During the Parentalia in February, the Romans visited the graves of their family members with offerings such as oil or wine. Some tombs and funerary monuments like this one even had special holes in them, through which the dead could be 'fed'.

The second festival was a bit more unsettling. Spatially, the living and the dead were strictly separated, with burials always located outside towns. During the Lemuria, however, which took place on the 9, 11 and 13 May, it was believed that spirits (lemures) visited their former homes in the night. But fear not: the Roman poet Ovid explains how to avoid bumping into a grumpy former tenant. On 9 May, get up at midnight (bare feet) and wash your hands in spring water. Take black beans, throw them over your shoulder and repeat nine times: 'By throwing these beans I redeem myself and mine.' Strike a bronze bell, wash your hands again and ask the spirit to leave (nine times): it will make off with the beans­ – and you can go back to sleep!

Anna Willi, Curator: Ancient Mediterranean Life
Department of Greece and Rome

The closest parallel to Halloween in the Greek world is the Anthesteria, a three-day religious festival that took place in late February, celebrating the opening of the new jars of wine from last year's harvest. During the festival, the normal rules of life turned upside-down: enslaved people dined with their enslavers, young men insulted their elders, and the dead roamed freely through the cities. Ancient authors note that houses were coated with pitch (a kind of resin) and people chewed buckthorn for magical protection. Food offerings were also made to the god Hermes, as he was responsible for leading the ghosts back down to the Underworld.

The Greeks believed that sometimes the restless dead, angry because they died young or were murdered, might pursue the living. They could also send a supernatural agent (a 'fury') to inflict madness or other illnesses. These restless souls had to be pacified through sacrifices and food offerings. Hekate, the goddess of magic, liminal spaces and the night was believed to have the power to control the dangerous dead.

Hermes and Hekate are shown on this vessel accompanying the chariot of Hades, divine ruler of the Underworld. He has just abducted the young Persephone and is taking her to the Underworld to marry her. But Persephone's mother, Demeter, mourns for her daughter. As she is the goddess of plants and growth, all fertility on earth stops. Eventually Hades agrees that Persephone can spend half the year back on earth, in a myth that explains the cycle of seasons.

Alexandra Villing, Curator
Department of Greece and Rome

Masks representing human skulls are worn by Buddhist monks and lamas during dance ceremonies associated with the Smashana Adipati ('Lords of the Charnel Ground'), often performed at the end of the year to destroy the ill fortune of the previous year across Tibetan and Himalayan monasteries, including those in Sikkim and Bhutan.

The Smashana Adipati are protector deities that expel negative forces. They reflect the impermanence of all things, including the human body, encouraging freedom from attachment. This emphasis on mortality serves as a reminder not only to embrace all aspects of life but also that death itself is a state of transformative potential before the next rebirth according to the Buddhist belief in reincarnation.

The dances associated with the Smashana Adipati take place during public festivals and ceremonies, especially Tibetan masked dances (Cham) in which the performers meditate on and transform themselves into deities. Performed for lay audiences, Cham dances re-enact dramatic stories such as the arrival of Tantric Buddhism in Tibet from India and the defeat of demonic forces by deities and Tantric masters (Mahasiddhas). In the 17th century Ngagwang Lobzang Gyatso, the Fifth Dalai Lama and head of the Gelug order (1617–1682), had made Cham a regular public ritual. In his manual on the ritual dance, he described its power to generate merit for all those watching and, above all, to expel negative hindrances: 'by making just one step of this dance, the hordes of devils are cut to pieces.'

This mask was acquired by Laurence Augustine Waddell (1854–1938), a Scottish Indian Army surgeon who would later join the British military invasion of Tibet as a cultural consultant (1903–4). It was purchased by the British Museum in 1898. Tantric Buddhist belief in Tibet was often misunderstood by the British to be associated with black magic, fuelled by seeing monks dressed as the Smashana Adipati, which inspired morbid fascination. Many British 19th- and early 20th-century descriptions of the performance often referred to it as 'devil-dancing'.

Imma Ramos, Curator: South Asia
Department of Asia

The Día de Muertos festival is celebrated on 1 and 2 November and is a way for people to reflect on the lives of deceased loved ones and celebrate those lives in a joyful way.

Día de Muertos has its origins in earlier pagan festivals for honouring the dead, which later merged with the Christian feasts of 'All Saints' and 'All Souls' in the 7th century AD. When the Spanish arrived in the Americas in the 1500s, their Christian religious customs were combined with the death-related traditions of Mexico's Indigenous population. This fusion gave rise to the uniquely Mexican festival we know today.

For most Mexicans, the festival has both public and private aspects. Families and communities gather to visit, pray at and tend to the graves of their deceased relatives. More recently, larger urban centres celebrate the festival with elaborate commercial parades, which are popular with tourists.

In their homes, families will construct altars for the deceased which they will adorn with ofrendas. These offerings can include flowers and foodstuffs, as well as photographs of their dead relatives and a range of goods and trinkets with allusions to death, such as sugar skulls, paper banners and papier-mâché figures in skeletal form.

This figure is a life-sized papier-mâché skeleton covered with flora and fauna. Although not produced for use in the festival, its decorative style is like the smaller scale offerings. It was made by the Mexican artist Felipe Linares after being commissioned by the Museum for a Day of the Dead exhibition called Skeleton at the Feast in 1990.

James Hamill, Curator
Department of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas

Ancient Egypt's 'Beautiful Feast of the Valley' was a festival celebrating death, renewal and rebirth. It began on the first day of the summer month to coincide with the full moon and lasted two days. It was held in Thebes, the political and religious capital of New Kingdom Egypt (1550–1069 BC), though it originated much earlier in the reign of Mentuhotep II (2055–2004 BC) and continued to the Ptolemaic Period (332–30 BC). The festival was one of the most significant celebrations in the city, and its events were recorded in private tombs and temples.

The festival included a procession, feasting and celebration. The reigning king participated in the procession, during which a statue of the king of the gods, Amun, was carried from Karnak temple on the east bank of the Nile River to visit the King's temple on the west bank. This journey from east to west symbolised the transition from life to the afterlife, reflecting the daily journey of the sun. This journey was believed to revitalise the spirit of Egypt's ruler. The procession also passed through the necropolis, where the populace and the sound of musicians would awaken the deceased. During the night, they believed that Amun would rest at the sanctuary of the goddess Hathor, which symbolised renewal.

People visited ancestors' tombs, and 'shared meals' with their deceased loved ones whose presence was sometimes represented by statues. The festival's sensory elements were believed to help bridge the worlds of the living and the dead: the sound of music, the smells of cooking food, the intoxicating feeling of drinking wine and beer, and the heady smell of incense were all believed to bring revellers closer to the ancestors.

The objects above were part of New Kingdom burial assemblages, but offerings made to the deceased during the festival will have also looked like this. The bouquet of fresh flowers symbolised new life and vitality, while the offering table filled with bread, fruit and dried meat would have been given to provide sustenance for the deceased in the afterlife. The customs of visiting ancestors' tombs to eat and distribute food survived into modern Egypt, where both Muslims and Christians continue this tradition.

Christina Geisen, Curator: Egyptian Written Culture
Department of Ancient Egypt and Sudan