As we approach Halloween, or all Saints’ Eve- a time dedicated to remembering the dead, I was reminded of a section of votive offerings at The Pitt Rivers Museum.  During Halloween we repeat traditions through dress; pumpkin carving and apple bobbing; food and celebration.  The festival brings to mind autumnal colours of red and orange; and black, with its associations with darkness and death.  It can be typified by symbols of grinning pumpkins and leering skulls; and the silhouettes of flying bats and lean, crawling cats.  By the same principle votive offerings rely on symbology; but rather than celebrate death, they are all for promoting, or rather,prolonging life.  They are used in many religions around the world and are left by devotees at a place of worship.  Left as an offering to a God, they ask for a favour, and their form often represents the nature of this.  For example, if a worshipper is suffering from an illness relating to a specific part of the body, the votive would symbolise this.