I just heard the CBC's Stuart MacLean declare that Halloween is his favourite holiday, and it set me thinking. The old "All Hallowed [Souls'] Eve" is so much more than the candy and princess or Spiderman costumes of today, and my goal in our Religious Education times at UCM is to go more deeply into its meaning. We are, after all, coming into the colder, darker weather of the year's cycle, when all the green growing plant world dies back. Long before Christianity this season was most significant to our Celtic ancestors. To them, October 31st was pivotal, the cross-quarter day between the sun's autumnal equinox and its winter solstice, or shortest day.
For the Celts, the date was their New Year's Eve, called "Samhain," presided over by Lord Samhain, the Lord of the Dead. They believed that the spirits of all the humans and animals that had died in the past year were being summoned to a Feast of the Dead, and it was important to ensure no passing spirits would treat them badly. And so as the the year turned, and they believed the veil between the world of the living and the dead was most thin, they left out food for any wandering spirits. If people went out on these dark nights, they wore disguises -- simpler in days before commercialism! -- so that possibly malevolent spirits couldn't recognize them. Here are the roots of our "Trick or Treat, smell my feet!"
Btw, the Celts held apple trees as one of their seven sacred trees, and so regarded the fruit as a food to give them long life. Reminds me of "An apple a day keeps the doctor away"! Of course apples are prevalent at this time of year, and a natural gift before the days of buying huge bags of Halloween candies to give out --and maybe the apples help our teeth, still! For our October 27th treat we had apples plus a tray of Yorkshire parkin, or crumbly gingerbread, traditionally given out on Guy Fawkes Day, November 5th (a kind of historical anniversary but infused with fire celebrations, befitting the season).
I see a connection, too, to the Hispanic celebration of Dia de Los Muertos, or All Souls Day (properly November 2nd). In Mexico and nowadays throughout the US Southwest, it's the time when families feast by the gravesides of their dear departed, especially enjoying their loved ones' favorite treats. They also create altars to celebrate those they have died, and for both last and this year in RE we did something similar in the Children's Chapel.
We began with the classic picture book by Judith Viorst, called "The Tenth Good Thing About Barney" a cat who had died and whose young owner was sad. Then we gave everyone simple cards on which to write the name of someone or a pet they wanted to remember, and with the lines below printed up to glue inside. This led to a simple ritual around our Altar of Remembrance. When ready,
each child placed their card and read the name on it aloud, and after each one, we all repeated
"We live in all things
All things live in us"
Once everyone had spoken, we all said the final lines,
"We are full of life
We are full of death
We are grateful for all beings and companions. "
We sang "Spirit of Life" and finished with a quiet time for remembering -- during which I realized we had forgotten one aspect of our ceremony, which was to also place an apple for "longevity" on the altar with each card -- DARN! But the apples got eaten later and the younger children enjoyed playing the old singing game of "Old Roger is Dead,"
involving a corpse/ghost, an apple tree and an old woman who wants those apples to keep her alive. We acted it out in one big circle, then in groups of three, with lots of laughter, and afterwards the children took home their cards and apples. I hope they also took a broader perspective on death, having seen it all morning as a part of the cycle of life.
