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Minister's Musings
Allhallowtide
The period between October 31st and November 2nd is known as Allhallowtide. It is comprised of a triduum of special days. The first is All Hallow’s Eve (Halloween). “Hallow” is Old English for “saint” or holy one. Eve is the night before. The ancient Christian calendar celebrates All Saints Day on November 1st, so in modern English, October 31st has been changed from All Hallow’s Eve to Halloween. November 1st is when we commemorate all those who are part of the mystical Body of Christ, all the “holy” ones. And November 2nd is All Souls Day, where we honor all those who have died, even those outside of Christ.
This time of year marks a transition in seasons that modern westerners recognize because it matches the end of daylight savings time. The darkness in lengthening, but it is not yet winter. Many cultures have celebrated this sacred time for similar reasons. The Day of the Dead is a festival out of indigenous Mexico honoring the ties of family beyond death. Ben Thom in Cambodia, Pitru Pashka in India, and Velu Laiks in the Baltics, are all similar in theme.
The current celebration most of us recognize at Halloween has been developing over hundreds of years. Many of our traditions have grown from an amalgamation of Roman, Celtic, and Catholic practices. All of these share a recognition that something about this time of year ushers in an awareness of the spiritual realm, the thinning of the veil that separates what we can see from what we cannot, and the reality of the endurance of the spirit beyond the confines of the body. Perhaps you didn’t know, but dressing up in costumes began because people wanted to trick malevolent spirits (who had come through the thinning veil) into misrecognition. And the treat component came from people in need of food who would travel from home to home asking for meals in exchange for prayers for the dead.
I am not a big Halloween person. I love Fall, pumpkins, and treats, but the ghoulish parts of modern décor are just not my thing. That said, everyone knows Allhallowtide is my favorite time of year! I am a person who seeks out “thin places”. Give me a graveyard, flickering candles, incense, mystery, and mist. And I love the communion table as a thin place where we encounter God and remember the whole assembly of the unseen realm worshiping with us! So, whether you dress up and collect candy, light a bonfire, or step into a church, I pray that you feel the thinning of the veil, honor those who no longer live in flesh, and allow your imagination to linger with the intangible mysteries our forbearers have long memorialized.
-Rev. Becki
A Collect for the Triduum of Allhallowtide
Almighty God, whose love is stronger than death and whose light no darkness can overcome: As we keep these holy days, when we remember the mystery of our mortality, give thanks for the witness of your saints, and commend to your mercy all who have died, draw us into the communion of your whole Church, visible and invisible. Grant us courage to face the things we fear, faith to trust your promises, and love to honor the lives of those who have gone before us; that, in life and in death, we may rest in Christ, who died and rose again for us, and who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
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