@sarahcalavera
Chicana. Author of WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT DEATH 📚 Helping people live & die better at orderofthegooddeath.com, Ask a Mortician, & radicaldeathstudies.com 💀 Death + food, ritual, folklore, horror, film, culture & society 🔸 https://msha.ke/sarahcalavera
Scoop: As redevelopment begins at the Rancho Los Amigos Poor Farm Cemetery, a ground penetrating radar survey shows regular rows consistent with burials. LA County falsely claims there are no burial records. Rev. Dylan reads the names of the dead out loud. esotouric.substack.com/names
graphic featuring a painting of a woman holding a duster reading a book in a library
graphic featuring book covers for over 35 books included in the giveaway
Win an entire library on death, grief, and what it means to be human. Which book are you reading first?
Enter today by becoming a Tier 2 Order Member by December 19th: www.orderofthegooddeath.com/membership
*Must have a U.S. mailing address.
Graphic black background with artwork of st Lucy at the center
1/7 December 13th is St. Lucy’s feast day, who, according to legend, brought food and aid to Christians hiding in catacombs wearing a candle-lit wreath to light her way and leave her hands free to carry as much food as possible
#GothicAdvent #Folklore #Witchsky
Graphic for day of the dead national days of action blue background with illustrations of cempasuchil
👉 www.disappearedinamerica.us
Flyer for Inviting Death to Dinner event featuring image of the cover of Rosie Grant’s book To Die For
Flyer with off white background photo of female figure at center holding a human skull. Text in orange reads the women, the witch, & the dead, with the order of the good death logo at top in black
It’s Halloween season and people want to talk about death, so I’m booked and busy like Lizzie
www.eventbrite.com/e/inviting-d...
Newspaper headline reads Don't You Be Afraid Of Ghosts! They're Your Best Friends, Says Woman
Don't You Be Afraid Of Ghosts! They're Your Best Friends, Says Woman
Freeport Journal-Standard, Illinois, 1923
The high, sustained heat levels naturally generated during the body composting process inactivates chemo, pharmaceuticals, antibiotics to well below safe levels—so yes, still an option!
The terror is not new. These events are connected to a longer and wider global agenda of power and oppression. But LA also has a long history of resistance, of taking care of & protecting each other—we’re determined to continue that legacy now.
Resources: docs.google.com/spreadsheets...
Over the next several days, members of the U.S. military & police terrorized LA communities, & hunted Chicano, Black, & Filipino men lataco.com/renunciation...
Photo of 2 young boys who were stripped in front of the Orpheum theatre
The following day over 200 sailors descended on dtla & predominantly Chicano neighborhoods on the east side. Their 1st victims were children-12 & 13 year old boys who the sailors beat with clubs, stripped, & burned their clothing.
This is a part of my family’s history, LA history & our legacy of resilience & resistance.
If you aren’t familiar, on June 3, 1943 eleven sailors got off of a bus in dtla & claimed they were attacked by Chicanos wearing Zoot Suits, a style of clothing that originated within Black communities.
Black and white photograph from the zoot suit riots in La in 1943. A large group of white men some wearing sailor suits and other military uniforms, many of them holding clubs in the streets of dtla
With all eyes on LA the past few days I can’t help but note the eerie similarities in events that played out here over 80 years ago from June 3rd to 8th—the Zoot Suit Riots. A time when Chicanos & other poc were targeted, their communities terrorized & subjected to violent attacks.
Ghost bike memorials make a site of death visible, but they can also reveal the social and economic vulnerabilities of those who died
#WorldBicycleDay
www.bicycling.com/culture/a347...
🫶🏼
In today’s What the Helly?
An AI generated video of a man killed in a road rage incident was allowed to “talk” to the courtroom & provide the victim’s own impact statement at killer’s sentencing hearing.
Family said judge was “moved” by video & gave max sentence
www.10news.com/science-and-...
Vintage illustration of a trio of brown toned mushrooms that resemble trumpets
Craterellus cornucopioides were referred to as "The Trumpet of the Dead," as it was believed the dead buried beneath played them
*doot doot* #FolkloreThursday
And finally, here’s a playlist for your Walpurgisnacht revelries! open.spotify.com/playlist/1gZ...
#WyrdWednesday #Witch #Walpurgisnacht #Folklore
Vintage photo of train decorated for walpurgisnacht. Many people stand nearby
To this day you can attend Walpurgisnacht festivities in German towns in the the Hartz mountain region.
1932 photo black and white of people standing in two rows holding up broomsticks for people to walk under. There seems to be smoke and a bonfire in the background
Brooms and children were hidden away on Walpurgisnacht to prevent witches from taking them up to the Brocken to possibly be eaten (the children, not the brooms)
Gif of a bonfire
Bonfires were built with the hope that the flames would rise high enough to burn any witches who were flying overhead
Photo of church bells
Noisemaking, such as ringing bells, (especially church bells) was often employed to scare away evil spirits
Photo of hanging herbs
Photo of cow wearing a flower crown and side eyeing the photographer
Doorways & livestock were painted with crosses & adorned with bouquets of herbs in hopes of repelling mischievous beings & witches who would often enchant the beasts & fly on their backs to the Brocken
Image of a devil or evil spirit by William Mortenson
Extra care and precautions were necessary for mortals on Walpurgisnacht. There were numerous rules and rituals that were believed to safeguard people from supernatural harm.
Art from Disney’s Fantasia depicting a tall mountain with a village at the foot. The scene is awash in dark blues and greens to depict night
The Devil from Disney’s Fantasia
You may remember the Night on Bald Mountain segment from #Disney ‘s 1940 film Fantasia, which depicted a witches’ night in progress (watch here: youtu.be/b756FPiLlp8)
Image of a witch flying on a broom by William Mortenson
Witches celebrated Walpurgisnacht with lavish feasting, orgies, and general merrymaking, with the Devil himself presiding over the festivities
Vintage postcard illustration of walpurgisnacht at the Brocken. The devil stands with a pitchfork looking out over the many witches and spirits arriving
Illustration of spirits emerging from graves in a cemetery at night
Many of them will be on their way to the Brocken, the highest peak in Germany’s Harz Mountain range, surrounded by a deep forest which is often shrouded in thick mists, and believed to be inhabited by strange, supernatural beings.
Gif of a cloud of smoke with a cat head flying across the screen
It’s believed that on these two nights the veil between the worlds separating the living and the dead, the seen and the unseen thins; allowing otherworldly beings to mingle openly among us
Gif from Over the Garden Wall of a Jack o lantern carving a Jack o lantern
Walpurgisnacht falls exactly 6 months after Samhain/Halloween, which means we’re halfway to Halloween!
Black and white artwork of a group with witches in brooms
April 30th, is Walpurgisnacht (Witches’ Night), also known as the ‘other Halloween’ — a night that belongs to WITCHES
