From Samhain to Día de los Muertos, Obon to Hungry Ghosts, this episode explores how cultures around the world feed the dead and remember the living. A journey through ritual, food, memory, and what it means to belong across time and beyond the veil.
Kirk Sandvig explores global traditions that connect the living and the dead through ritual, memory, and, yes, food. From Celtic Samhain and soul cakes to Día de los Muertos, Buddhist ghost festivals, Japanese Obon, and Korean Young San Jae, we dive into how different cultures honor their ancestors through multisensory practices. Drawing on stories, scholarship, and the theology of Alfred North Whitehead, this episode asks: what does it mean to feed the dead, and what does that say about the living?