All Saints’ Day is a day to commemorate the saints. Traditionally, during the All Saints' Day service, names of those who have died within the past year are called out in anticipation of All Souls' Day on November 2. All Souls' Day has been set aside to remember our fellow pilgrims who have crossed over to that “undiscovered country, from whose bourn no traveller returns.”*
One could view
Halloween (All Hallow's Eve), All Saints Day, and All Souls Day as a three-day
period in which we can see a thinning of the veil to bring us closer to those
who have gone before us.
With
each passing year, there are significant sojourners who have parted from the
present company of friends and family; people who have heretofore shared an
earthly path. And thus we grieve, “but not as those who have no
hope.”
You
probably know of friends and colleagues who have died during the past year. You
can use this time to call them to mind and think of how your life was enriched
by their shared time in your world.
I
found a link from ABC news which has a slide show of notable people who died in
2022. You can visit that site here.
The Day of the Dead (El Día de los Muertos) is a custom that would have seemed strange or even offputting to many in the American South when I was growing up. With the growing Hispanic influence in the U.S. today, we are being introduced to many new customs that we "anglos" can benefit from. For example, in American society, we tend to push death back. We don't really want to think about it. Even in the medical field, we are much more attuned to life-saving measures than we are at end of life care.
In Birmingham, Alabama, this year marks the 20th celebration of El
Día de los Muertos.
Setting aside some time to think about the dead need not be a maudlin or grim
occasion. It can be a time to celebrate the lives of loved ones who have died.
Having a day to recognize our mortality can certainly be beneficial in giving
us a healthy perspective on life.
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* From William Shakespeare's Hamlet, Act 3, Scene 1, Hamlet's Soliloquy.
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