Once a year America celebrates death. It’s Halloween. For the rest of the year making references to death, the process of dying, decay or dissolution is virtually taboo. Mostly death takes place closed off from the view of the rest of the world, shut away in hospital rooms and clinics so it will not disturb the rest of the living. But in October, skeletons come out of closets, cemeteries and morgues and join us in store fronts, on the streets and show up at our front doors as children knock and ask for treats.
I used to be horrified at the terror of the parties – people dressing like ghouls, children dripping with fake blood and vampires sitting on couches sucking on cocktails. But I’m convinced that it’s such a popular holiday because of a need to rub shoulders with this other, hidden part of life. The natural process of dying creates so much fear because it is largerly misunderstood and unseen. So it’s not ironic that once a year, for America’s favorite fete, death becomes the thing to mock and ridicule and even flirt with to make it more familiar and bearable.
In Europe, where death has been more out in the open and wide spread due to wars, plagues and a different culture, Halloween is supplanted by All Saints Day on November first. It’s not the death festival which seems to make fun of walking on the hallowed ground of the spirits, it’s the day after that takes precedence. So while we’re feting the dead, on the following day in Europe people pray that departed souls be whished away to hallowed grounds. It may be that the official church co-opted the pagan fete and turned it into a saint’s day to sterilize it and push death underground.
It’s really healthy to jeer at death sometimes. It lurks there like a demon threatening to take away everything in the blink of an eye. And at the same time without it life would be monotonous and the world would be a very crowded place. So the next time you worry about the spiritual basis for such a fiendish and ghoulish celebration, think of the grim reaper with his scythe in hand and welcome him into the party. He might even smile and wink at you on this not so saintly day.
Bio: Debra Moffitt
Debra Moffitt’s book, "Awake in the World: 108 Practices to Live a Divinely Inspired Life” will be published by Llewellyn Worldwide in May 2011 (www.awakeintheworld.com). Read more at www.debramoffitt.com Her essays and articles appear in publications around the world and focus on drawing attention to the spiritual in a mostly material-minded world. She gives workshops in the U.S. and Europe.
PHOTO (cc): Flickr / losvizzero
i personally don't believe in death, i believe life is eternal. i believe "we" don't "die," we just "change."
The body certainly dies. But the rest is a bit like the transformation of the caterpillar to the cocoon and into a butterfly and beyond – always expanding and ultimately merging with all it's supposed to merge with.