The days are cool and the nights frigid, the leaves have abandoned their trees, and the landscape looks bleak. The harvests are in and stored for the long winter months. You spend time thinking of those who have passed on.
Though the majority of modern pagans believe in reincarnation rather than an afterlife, we have all, at some time in our lives, attended a "traditional" funeral. They may be closer to what our ancestors did than you'd expect. Embalming, the preserving of the body, was perfected by the ancient Egyptians. So well preserved are the bodies that x-rays have been done to determine causes of death.
Before a funeral there is normally a wake, a tradition filled with pagan roots. A wake is, itself, a tradition started by pagans. It involved three nights of staying awake with the corpse. Irish wakes are three days of feasting before the funeral. People today gather to "morn" their loved ones passing where our ancestors gathered to celebrate their life. Before funeral homes, wakes were held in the home. Many older homes have two front doors, the first, and more regularly used, enters in to kitchen. The second enters into the parlor, a room reserved for special holidays, weddings, and funerals. This second door is often referred to as the "coffin door". You would see everyone dressed in black; a color that today symbolizes death and evil but to pagans symbolizes spirit. Flowers are placed on the body, an ancient custom dating back to the Neanderthals.
Though the funeral itself is different for every tradition, the standard is burial. Egyptians buried their dead in caves and later, if you were a pharaoh, in pyramids. Others created burial mounts, great hills of land. Vikings sent their dead to sea in fiery funeral boats loaded with weapons and wealth. The Celts set their dead on great priors and burnt them. Many Native-American tribes set their dead on priors so the flesh may be removed by nature somehow. Then the bones were collected and buried or kept.
As stated earlier, many of our ancient pagan ancestors believed in an afterlife. The Norse had Hel, or, if you were a warrior who died in battle where was Valhalla. The English tribes have Annwyn or Avalon. They also had Caer Arrianrhod, the Castle of the Silver Wheel, which was ruled by Arrianrhod, the Goddess of Death. In Greece you had Ariadne, Arrianrhod counterpart, who lived on the Isle of Naxos with the God of Resurrection, Dionysus. There was also Hades, ruled by Hades, the God of Death. In Rome it was Pluto who ruled the underworld. Manannan ruled the "Land Beyond the Sea" in Ireland. And Osiris ruled the underworld in Egypt. All of these lands of death were only accessible by water; they were all located across a river or ocean. Even the Christian Hell is located on the other side of a river, the river Styx.
Nearly every country and culture in the world celebrates death in one-way or another. In Egypt, candles are lit to guide spirits home. Japan has a complex ceremony that takes all day. They begin by lighting a paper lantern and hanging it on their gate. Then they spend the day at the cemetery cleaning the graves of their loved ones, spending time with the spirits, and picnicking. In the evening they return home and send the lantern down river. If you lived in Tahiti you would spend the day giving you relations a fresh coat of white sand. Mexico has a three-day celebration. America's Halloween is based on the Celtic Samhain.
There are some signs to when death is coming to you or those you love. A type that happens quite frequently is known as knocking. Whether it's on a door or just loud banging noises from unknown places. In Ireland there are Banshees and Pookas, both are related to the faerie. There are strange glowing objects, known as fetch lights that come into a room to signify death has come to someone. A clock that has stopped at the exact moment of someone's death or the howl of a dog whose master has just passed on are other signs.
The last sign is one that is very familiar to everyone. Hollywood has been using its mythology for years. It is the bird. Here are some of the omens that surround them:
