I love Halloween: the kids, the candy, the costumes. It is the one day of the year where it seems that everybody can get out, generously offer fist-fulls of treats, and neighbours take time to visit and catch up with each other. For all the feigned fright and spooky decorations, it is actually one of the most peaceful and loving days of the year, often bringing out the best in our community. The history of Halloween speaks to this, and reminds us of something even more important.
We can trace Halloween’s beginnings because it emerged originally as the night before the “Feast of All Saints.” This special annual celebration was meaningful in some Christian traditions because it remembered those faithful saints who have gone before us. It has been called ‘Hallowmas,’ a kind of holy celebration of the departed. Since about the 4th century Hallowmas was a time to remember, and also to reflect on our own mortality, to take stock of the days we have, and to commit to live with grace and compassion towards our neighbour because, after all, life is short.
The night before Hallowmas, or Halloween, is an extension of that celebration. Today we have a highly commercialized version of Halloween, but the image of a skull was not always meant to invoke horror as we think it is intended to, today. Instead, reflecting on death was a way to help us live well in this life.
The phrase, “Memento Mori” means “remember that you have to die.” It is a phrase that seems gruesome, but for many people, for hundreds of years, the phrase was a word of encouragement. To wear a ring with a skull was a reminder of life, and that this life is limited, finite, precious, and worth our full attention, care, and passion. Remembering our death does not celebrate it, as we might think, but it inspires us to live well now. It is a paradox that gets to the heart of Halloween and Hallowmas.
As the days get shorter and darker, and as prepare for the long cold Alberta winter ahead, Halloween offers us a gift to reflect on the limited life we have, and choose to live well in this moment: to love others and live open-handedly. This past week a pastor friend of mine passed away suddenly leaving an infant child and wife behind. That same week a dear professor of mine passed away suddenly, too. I am mourning both of them and feel deep sadness for their loved-ones. While I have no easy answers for why both of these friends passed away unexpectedly, and too soon, and while no easy answer should ever be given, I was struck by how each of these people lived so well with the time they had. The last sermon preached by my professor was an encouragement to a small community dealing with this difficult season. His final words were of love, care, and comfort. “Memento Mori.” These two saints lived remembering that we all have to die, and because of that they knew that how they live today actually matters.
This Halloween should be full of every fun, every celebration, and plenty of generosity between neighbours because in doing so we celebrate what is most valuable: this one and singular life we’ve been given. Memento Mori, because you have a beautiful life to live, today. Happy Halloween!
