Death’s trick and treat

Abstract

This paper aims to comment on the phenomenon of death with a social and cultural prism through the study of celebrations in which death is a central element: the festivals of October 31st called Gau Beltza, Arimen Gaua or Halloween in the Basque Country. We immersed ourselves in these festivals using ethnographic techniques and we saw that darkness, fear and death are very present in these celebrations. These elements are very attractive for children and adolescents and we think that these parties could create a new collective and shared experience of death and fear, since the relationship that in today’s society we have (or do not have) with the fact of death, can be part of the current necro-neoliberal politics. Rethinking and re-creating these festivals and rituals could be a way to confront these policies.