Carla Valentine

Carla Valentine Instagram – Something to think about when having a cocktail at the Halloween party… This is a lovely example of the top of a skull (the calvarium) carved decoratively to be used as a cup known as a Kapala. This one is from Tibet, photographed by Shizhao, and uploaded to Wikicommons. In Tibetan monasteries these were used to hold wine or bread for ceremonial purposes rather than everyday eating & drinking, so they were elaborately prepared and consecrated before use. The skull usually came from a deceased person who’d had a Sky Burial, still practiced today, which involves the dismembering and scattering of the remains to “give alms to the birds”, then retrieving the bones. (See my post on vultures for more about Sky Burial).
It’s nearly Halloween but of course that holiday originated as a Pagan holiday, Samhain (pronounced sow-EN), and – during all pagan rituals – cakes and ale are part of the process, so a vessel like this would be apt for Samhain. Ritual tools like this have long been used for worship all over the world.
#humanremains #halloweencountdown #carlaween #carlaweencountdown #remains2beseen #tibet #skyburial #kapala #halloween #samhain #skull #cakesandale | Posted on 29/Oct/2024 00:38:59