Sicily, Ireland and Ancient Greece
Bru na Bionne
The oldest known evidence of human burial is from the middle paleolithic period, also known as the old stone age, beginning 2.6 million years ago and ending approximately 10,000 years ago. These early ancestors lived primarily in huts, caves and rudimentary shelters and often were nomadic, but they also cared for and buried their dead. Evidence found in caves and burial mounds throughout Europe show that early people revered their dead by honoring them in ritualistic manners. One of the most common methods in disposing of the dead was to burn their bones, except for the skull. Rooms filled with skulls and plaster castings to mimic a face have been found, as well as burial mounds filled with bone fragments and ash, some etched with carvings and markings, particularly on the long bones. In other areas of early Europe, they buried their dead intact with personal belongings, such as stone axes, food, clothing and other personal items, indicating that perhaps they considered an afterlife. Most discoveries are smaller in nature, but some archaeologist finds showcase massive tombs with celestial connections to the cycle of the year, astrological calendars and burial chambers within massive earthen mounds. One such place in Ireland is called Bru na Bionne or newgrange. Spanning almost 2000 acres, this multi-structural discovery has over 40 burial chambers within the mound complex. Smaller mounds, known as cairns, dot the landscape throughout Ireland, but none so fantastically built and maintained as those found in the complex in the Boyne Valley, all well before the pyramids of Egypt were built. The sophistication and precision in stone work, celestial accuracy and reverence for the dead, are some of the most fantastic death chambers known to us. We can only imagine the funeral rites, songs, and practices, long forgotten, but still held by the Earth.
Thanatos (death)
In Ancient Greece, before Hades took over rule of the underworld, there was Thanatos. This god was believed to be the spirit who carried your soul to the underworld when you died of a natural death (not in war or violence). Interestingly, Thanatos was the son of Nyx (the Night) and Erebus (the Darkness), while his twin brother was Hypnos (the Sleep). Other siblings included Geras (old age), Eris (strife), Nemesis (retribution), Apate (deception) and Charon (the boatman that led the souls to the Underworld). He was daemonic in nature, and thought to be benevolent and good natured, and considered to be a spirit of nature.
Sicily
In Sicily, small villages still hold home funeral rites that have been practiced for centuries. When someone dies away from home, their body is to be brought back to their home immediately, where a space is cleared for them to be put on display. Religious relics are placed around the head, and the coffin surrounded by candles, and the family may not eat, or sleep during this time. The coffin is to remain open with a veil covering the body, while the hands may or may not be accessible to those who come to pay respects. Some villages need to kiss the hands of the deceased as a show of respect, while others tap on the coffin. For the first 24 hours, it is believed the soul must have access to leave, so all windows and doors are left open for visitors to come in and for the soul to take its leave. The family of the deceased are not permitted to do any housework for 10 days or it will bring bad luck, so friends and family must come to cook and clean for them. Wearing all black and no jewelry (to not invite back luck), funerals are short, with only a priest speaking, then the party follows on foot to the cemetery, usually on the 2nd or 3rd day after dying. The family will also hold a series of funerals after the initial ceremony, at one month, 6 months and 1 year. Word of mouth is usually the preferred method to spread the news when someone dies, along with notices posted called manifesti funebri announcing deaths and funerals. The entire village pays their respect and supports one another, making death in Sicily a true community event.
The Sicilian Day of The Dead or in Sicilian, ‘U Juornu re Muorti’ is celebrated on the 2nd November.
Persephone and Demeter
On January 4th ( Gregorian Calendar), honored the ancient Greek festival of Haloa, honoring the mother goddess Demeter’s grief for the loss of her daughter Persephone, also known as Kore, the maiden. Lured away by the god of the underworld, Hades. During this time, her mother, in intense sorrow, withheld fruits and grains of the harvest.
Haloa, an exclusively women only ritual, involved pits, snakes, pigs and clay penises; men were excluded. It is thought that during the autumn festival of Thesmophoria, women would be the initiator of a pig sacrifice in a pit, left for many months to decompose. The remains would then be collected in Haloa, which would be the blood sacrifice to call back Persephone to the above, by scattering the bones and remains out in the fields.
A sexually charged festival, it has been recorded that The High Priestess of the temple would whisper into the ears of the women, words that were elicit and enticing, sexually charging the women.m The women would also have the safety of the temple and ritual to speak out loud to each other their secrets, desires, and fantasies, without repercussion.
When grief strikes a mother,
There is no end to it.
The earth parches, its glittering waters gone.
Everything is barren. Cattles starve for lack of grain.
Nothing grows. Even the Gods are destitute, even the altar flames
Blow out. Such is a mother’s grief, bitter
And endless, for her lost child.
-Homeric hymn to Demeter
Resources:
https://www.history.com/news/prehistoric-ages-timeline
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Br%C3%BA_na_B%C3%B3inne
Source: https://www.greekmythology.com/Other_Gods/Thanatos/thanatos.html
Journey OM 
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