Day 1 - All Saints Day

I watch the Colbert Report most nights. He cracks me up. Last night, he opened with this:

“Nation, I wish I could say ‘Happy Halloween.’ But happy is not a word I associate with this childhood festival of hi-jinks, merriment, and diabetes. Sure, it’s fun to play dress-up, but I believe that costumes are just lies that you wear. But the real reason, folks, we need to hallow-wean ourselves off this holiday…is that it is a pagan celebration of panhandling. You know what I call trick-or-treaters? Pre-hobos. Kids, when you grow up, you get to celebrate a holiday I call Un-Halloween, every day. That’s where you dress up like a productive member of society, go to a real job to earn a paycheck, then buy your own damn candy. Boo!”

Oh how I love Stephen Colbert.

Besides watching The Colbert Report, I didn’t do much for Halloween this year, such as dressing up in a costume, or anything like that (I had a prior obligation).

However, last year I went to a Halloween party at Resurrection, and I dressed up as the devil. I felt it was a fitting costume for a church event. My original plan was to make my own costume and go as “Snakes on a Plane,” and I even started to get the materials for it. It turned out to be a difficult concept to put into costume-form, though, and I didn't have enough time to get it together. I then considered making it “Snakes on a geometric-Plane”, but that was just too geeky to pull off, even for me.

I was one of the young adult team leaders when we were planning that Halloween shindig, and I remember that, at the leaders’ meeting, I jokingly said something about how our church group shouldn’t celebrate a pagan holiday. I was being satirical/sarcastic and completely joking, of course, but I think (at least for a second or two) that a couple of people thought I was being serious when I said that. I need to be careful with my sense of humor sometimes, I’ve come to realize, especially around people who don't know me that well. But it is kind of fun to satirize the uptightness of some when it comes to that kind of stuff, which is probably why I enjoy Colbert so much.

So, even though some may call Halloween a “pagan” holiday and refuse to celebrate it, it actually does have relevance to Christianity. And it's simply fun to get dressed up in costumes and be ridiculous all night, regardless of your religious beliefs. It also has Celtic origins, which makes it all the better:

“The last day of October marks the beginning in the church of a period known as Hallowtide, 'All Saintstide,' when Christians remember those who have died. All-Hallows Eve, or Halloween, October 31, has Celtic origins, being originally the feast of Sanhain/Samhain,(pronounced 'sow'inn), the last night of the Celtic year, when all kinds of spirits were thought to be active. The Celts believed that this was a time when the boundary between the spirit world and the earthly world is at its thinnest and when spirits are most likely to be seen on earth…. So when did Sanhain become Halloween? By the 9th century, Christianity had spread into Celtic lands and the celebration became known as the Eve of All Hallows and eventually Halloween… The word Hallow means 'Holy', (blessed, consecrated or set apart in a special way), so 'All-Hallows' or 'All Saints’ refers to the Saints—the Holy Ones. Those who died for their faith or who lived extraordinary lives.” – Rev. C. Royden, All Souls – Remembering our Loved Ones

And that brings us to today, November 1: All Saints (Hallows) Day.

Those who have lived before us have much to teach us. Of my loved ones who have died, my grandma Jean (my dad’s mom) particularly comes to mind for me. She died when I was 10, and I only saw her once or twice a year because she and my grandfather lived in Tucson, Arizona. I wish I could have spent more time getting to know her while she was alive, but, of all my relatives who have died, hers is the presence I’ve felt most often throughout my life.

I know that she was very spiritual (and very Methodist), stubborn, opinionated, sassy, feminist (not in a “men-are-bad” way, but in the true sense of the word: she believed that men and women were of equal worth), and definitely had a mind of her own, which she wasn’t afraid to speak. My dad has told me a few times that my personality is a lot like hers (and I don’t think he always meant that as a total compliment. Hehe).

Most of what I know about her comes from stories and shared memories passed down from my parents and other relatives. When they talk about her, I can see and hear how much she meant to each of them. What I personally remember, however, was that she had a nickname for each of her grandchildren – something she picked out for each of us that only she called us. Her name for me was “angel.”

Now, I know that I’m no angel, but that name still brings a smile to my face when I think of her. And it kind of makes me laugh that her “angel” got dressed up as the devil for Halloween.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. – Hebrews 12:1