Q. Dear Rabbi; (Translated from Spanish). You may remember me. I'm a covert and my family originates from the State of Campeche, on the Yucatan Peninsula. In Mexico there is no Halloween celebration, rather as you well know, the Three Days of the Dead are kept.
One particularly unique celebration is known as Hanal Pixan tradition and it happens in Pomuch, a small town in the Campeche state. Here, people open the graves and clean the bones of their deceased and buried loved ones, which is an ancient Mayan tradition. This is how they pay homage to their deceased family and friends.
Once a person has been dead for three years, they keep their bones in a wooden box and clean them each year during Hanal Pixan. If they don’t, it’s believed that the spirits will be angry and act out on the streets.
You can observe this tradition taking place at the Cementerio de Pomuch, Cemetery in Campeche and it attracts many observers. Families start by cleaning the smaller bones and then move to the skull. Throughout the ritual, they’ll be praying, and talking to their loved ones.
I was invited by my (former) family to join them and watch this interesting tradition. Is it permitted for me to join them?
A. On question 2913 we wrote: "In Mexico instead of Halloween, people celebrate the next day the “Dia de los Muertos” or the Day of Dead, which is remarkably different. Often candles, flowers and the favorite foods of the deceased are placed on the grave and the family visits the cemetery, eats, sings and tells favorite stories about those who have passed.
Horav Shlomo Miller's Shlit'a opinion is that one should not take any part of such meetings and celebrations as they are tantamount to Avoda Zarah or serving strange deities
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See questions 824 and 1334 regarding the contact of a convert with his biological family.
Rabbi A. Bartfeld as revised by Horav Dovid Pam, Horav Aharon Miller and Horav Chanoch Ehrentreu Shlit'a.
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