 St Alban’s Episcopal Church Bolivar, Missouri Monday, October 24, 2022 Three days to celebrate next week All Hallows Eve (Hallowe’en) All Saints’ Day All Souls Day Hallowe’en, October 31, Monday This week I want to look a little more closely at the three feast days and celebrations that are coming up next week so you (and your children if you have them) are ready to do something to remember the faithful dead of your own family. Our ancestors do influence us. Perhaps you have stories of your own grandparents or great-grandparents or an uncle whose life somehow made a difference to you. I hope you do. Some of those stories may be joyful – some of them painful or even abusive. This is a season to remember them all. And maybe even they even offer us a way to hold the beautiful and the terrible together within the mercy and love of God. But first, Hallowe’en Stripped of its sense of the evening before the feast of of All Hallows – or all the hallowed – or all those who died as holy women and men – or all the saints…it just becomes a fun time for kids. That’s harmless. And I do not object to it. But we can also, in the midst of that, remember that for many people it is still a scary time, full of the fear of demons and wicked witches flying about – free to do evil to humans. (You will delight Gale Roberts’ heart if you ask him to explain the Celtic festival of Samhain – when harvest was gathered in, and people wore costumes and lit bonfires to ward off the evil that might be wandering on that night between the old year and the new, which began on November 1.) Pope Gregory III (741) chose to make a special feast day to celebrate all the saints and all the martyrs together on November 1. As is typical of all major Christian feasts, the “eve” begins the celebration. You know about Christmas Eve, for example. And so, Hallowe’en. And that mixed with already prevalent folk customs to create, in popular imagination and expression, a whole new thing outside the Church’s worship. Americans didn’t celebrate October 31 widely until the 19th century, though. Protestant belief systems of the northern colonies abhorred it. Although Europeans commemorated the end of the fall harvest season and the beginning of the darkness of winter with bonfires, parties, ghost stories, scry tales, demanding “treats”, and sometimes tricks and fortunetelling, it didn’t become a “thing” in the US until the Irish immigration of the late 19th century popularized Hallowe’en. But by the beginning of the 20th century, Hallowe’en began to lose both its superstitious and religious overtones. Parent were encouraged to remove anything frightening or reminiscent of evil from the celebration, and to make it a community, and happy event for children alone – Costumes became increasingly benign and humorous or beautiful – a simple make-believe. Now even dogs get costumes! We had become a scientific society in which “evil” was disregarded as a reality to ward off, or to deal with ritually. Pumpkin carving became an artform, not a way to talk about, and ritually scare away evil that “stalks by night” as the bible says – or to symbolically allow us to enter the winter season of death without fear. But that is exactly what All Hallow’s Eve can be for us: We are about to celebrate the victorious lives and deaths and the eternal resurrected lives of all those who have died in Christ on All Saint’ Day. All Saints sings to us that there is now no evil that can ultimately destroy us – and the carved pumpkin full of light is already a sign that Light wins over any darkness. It is a way to laugh at the very real wrong and the very palpable evil in the universe.  An upcoming pubic event in Bolivar Saturday, October 29th 10am-1 pm (tours every half hour) Hallowe’en is so often associated with cemeteries, with the dead – so this year the Polk County Genealogical Society is having a Living History Tour of the old Greenwood cemetery. It should be fascinating even for those who have lied here for a long time, but especially for those who have not. There is more to Bolivar than you can see on the surface, and as our own Jean Vincent can tell you – there’s a LOT more to discover! Other events in town for Halloween On Sunday, October 30 Trick or Treat with the Bearcats at SBU basketball arena. 2-3:30 pm Wear your costumes. Meet the SBU basketball players. Fun games and contests. Trick or treating Open Hearts United Methodist Church Tailgate and Treat 3:00-4:30 pm On Monday afternoon/evening October 31 The whole downtown square will be set up for trick or treating at the various businesses beginning about 4:45 pm Trick or Treating at Parkview Healthcare Facility– 119 W. Forest St. 5:00-6:30 pm The residents love this annual event and children do, too. It’s also indoors, so if the weather turns cold, little ones can get their treats without freezing or walking far. Fall Fest – Bolivar First Assembly of God Church 5:30 – 8 pm Games, candy and prizes/ jump house/ hay rides/ kettle corn and funnel cakes, food trucks, music and comfy firepits – First Baptist Church – Sweets and Treats 5:00-6:30 pm. That’s enough to keep your little ones happy, probably. But there are plenty of neighborhoods that also will be handing out treats, too. For a change of pace Now if you’d like a really interesting, serious piece of unusual Hallowe’en fiction from the 20th century, try this on for size. I read it some 30 years ago and never forgot it. It is not silly. It is deadly serious. Deals with real evil. Scary. Excellent. You will be thinking about it forever. Charles Williams never lets you off the theological, intellectual and spiritual hook. Ever.    |
Categories:
Tags:
No responses yet