How the Dead Danced with the Living in Medieval Society | Hacker News Reader

How the Dead Danced with the Living in Medieval Society

scientificamerican.com

this article is written from an extremely anglo-centric, post-enlightenment reformation perspective.

plenty of people who are not 'antiquated' actively practice the same sorts of beliefs being presented here as 'historical', both in a christian context and otherwise (e.g. shinto, etc)

OK, then by all means, please write or post articles about those cultures and post them so we can read them.

Catholics and Orthodox Christians who practice the faith both have prayers for the dead and to the Saints. Much of the liturgical calendar is also focused on commemorating the Saints.

Catholics + Orthodox also make up the vast majority of Christians worldwide.

> this article is written from an extremely anglo-centric, post-enlightenment reformation perspective.

I don't think this is necessarily a bad thing?

Some people may not necessarily know about the history in post-enlightenment reformation era, or how it relates to current culture.

I for the most part have heard of this story (as presented in the article). Its part of growing up as a Catholic: where Halloween is the "Holy Eve" of All Saint's Day (Nov 1st), an important Holy Day of Obligation in the modern Catholic Church. Followed up by "All Souls Day" which touches upon the ancient "Purgatory" debate that is discussed in this article. And these religious debates have continued for hundreds of years (and likely will never be resolved)

The article is a historical look at these traditions, which isn't a bad thing. Its informative and secular, so that non-religious and religious can reflect upon the Halloween tradition.

Tonight, thousands of children will dress up as the dead (although more commonly they're going to dress up as comic book characters. Traditionally its ghosts / ghouls / skeletons however) and then roam the streets as they ask for candy from strangers.

Sometimes its nice to take a step back and remember how this all began. Some of it is religious tradition, some of it isn't ("Dance Macabre" isn't necessarily a religious concept). But the historical perspective always helps.

Trying to write a piece about Egyptian concepts of 'death' and weighing the soul through to the present day would be a huge book, not a short article about 'anglo-centric, post-enlightenment reformation perspectives'.

It's also interesting to read as today is Samhein/Halloween/Allsaints/Days of the Dead, and there are definite celtic origins to anglo religions...and eradications...

The original article has images and is easier to read

https://theconversation.com/how-the-dead-danced-with-the-liv...

Well, I guess its too ambitious to really start "where it all began". But for most people, where it was 500-years ago (1500s or so) is a good approximation. Even if this approximation is English / Protestant -centric

The article is concise enough to cover a few topics here and there as a reminder of history. I can't say that I necessarily "learned" anything new of the article, but it touches upon some concepts that I haven't heard for decades... since my grade-school education.

that's it.. its not history except when taking a limited philosophical bias as your perspective.. hence critique.

wouldn't have taken much to actually be accurate and still cover the same information and still maintain a us/anglo/post-reformation/enlightenment focus..

yes, but painting things as antiquated and past-tense when they are actively still practiced by literally millions in other, modern cultures, is a sign of a hugely flawed and self serving editorial bias.. hence critique.

Well it is "scientific American"...

Your post is written in an extremely anglo-centric manner and is only readable by English speakers.

As a francophone, this triggered a latent PTSD in me caused by the English winning the war in Quebec and taking over most of north America.[1]

In the interest of fairness and inclusivity, please translate your comment into every living language on earth, and for those languages lacking a writing system, please link to audio transcripts.

Thank you.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Plains_of_Abraha...

> plenty of people who are not 'antiquated' actively practice the same sorts of beliefs being presented here

plenty? In absolute numbers, or % of world population?

Hammer-and-anvil smithery is antiquated, yet still practised, just not in the same relative mount as it used to be.

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