The older I get the more meaningful the passage of time has become. I think no clearer is this impermanence of life felt than in the autumn season. There is an innate humanness to taking notice of the world around us. The biology of our relationship with time demands that we acknowledge the liturgical nature of our seasonal world.
It is so grand that the small tilt of the earth, which forces change upon us as we move our way around our star. The days shorten and the air grows colder and colder. What an insignificant detail it seems on paper - 23.5 degrees of tilt - six months the top half of the world is warmer, and the next six it’s the bottom half. But truly significant this detail is, that it is one that has influenced so much of our humanity and our many cultures.
As I’ve considered this I’ve captured thoughts on this All Hallows Eve.
This wasn’t a significant holiday for me growing up. Costumes and candy were obviously enjoyable, but the real treat for me was the ushering in of the Christmas season. As I press into my 30s, I’m paying attention to the days of the calendar. I am forcing myself to slow down, not think too far ahead, and understand the experience of this moment.
There are five things I have been thinking about this month.
No. 1: Halloween as a reflection of autumn.
It is incredibly enjoyable to learn the history of a holiday and also think about the humanness behind it. Halloween is a mishmash of many cultures, but most prominent is the pagan Celtic festivities of Samhain (pronounced sow-win). This holiday marks the end of the harvest season and the beginning of winter. It is the recognition of the dark days ahead.
Remove the padded comfort of our modern world and the months of October and November mark a very fragile and unknown reality. Autumn is death in a way and I am remiss to think I wouldn’t feel uneasy each year as the world slipped into darkness and snow and I had to endure without my grocery store or furnace. I can only have empathy for my distant ancestors.
No. 2: The Creativity of the Human Mind
The spiritual traditions of Samhain believe that on October 31st the barrier between the spiritual world and the natural world is at its thinnest. Spirits both bad and good can easily cross into our world.
The tradition of dressing in costumes has origins in this belief. Celtic people would dress as animals to disguise themselves from the bad spirits that would cause them harm during this period. There are tales of the Otherworld, of the spirits that would lure the living out to harm or cause mischief to those unfortunate enough.
This leads me to marvel at the creativity of the human mind. I have always been interested in folklore and stories - mystical things and adventurous tales. The decorations, the traditions, and the costumes we pour into these holidays, all have through-lines going back hundreds if not thousands of years. These things originate from that which frightens us and inspires us.
I don’t want to dive into the topic of which monsters or spirits are real or not (I leave my mind open to any of these). The takeaway that I have is this: each story or monster is a mirror that reflects back at us what it means to be human.
No. 3: The Humanness of Fear
I’m going to revisit my previous thoughts here and center them around the topic of fear. I think particularly in the northern hemisphere, winters are harsh and unforgiving. From that lens, we can create a great framework to help us understand the stories from the past. For example, the bizarre stories of the Grimm's fairy tales make a lot more sense when looking for the things the audience of the time would fear.
Darkness is frightening. Our sight is a very coveted sense. When the tilt of the earth forces the night to beat out the day we have the opportunity (or maybe the necessity) to come together in our communities and traditions. Perhaps it’s the celebration of light that gets us through. Perhaps it’s also how we mix the seriousness of our mythologies with the lightheartedness of a holiday that turns fear into something to enjoy.
I would highly recommend the PBS show Monstrum if you would like more deep dives into the monsters and spirits we’ve passed down in our cultures. They have a great YouTube channel.
No. 4: The Remembrance of What Has Passed
All Hallows Eve has the word “eve” in it for a reason. It’s the December 24th of All Saints Day in the Christian tradition. I have been intrigued by the traditions of Dia De Los Muertos and the Peruvian version (where my wife’s family is from) Dia De Los Difuntos. These are traditions that have been shaped by the Christian liturgy and indigenous traditions of the Americas.
These holidays celebrate our loved ones that have passed. There is a beautiful tradition of placing pictures of our departed loved one on an ofrenda along with their favorite foods. Maybe this thought comes with age, but I think our modern culture ignores death too much. I don’t feel that much of a connection with my relatives who have passed on a daily basis. And I certainly don’t contemplate the idea and meaning of death as much as I should.
During this time of seasonal grief over the summer months, there’s an opportunity to grieve and celebrate the life that has passed. What truly is more powerful than the whole world around us (more or less) changing before our eyes?
No. 5: Slowing of Life
I had a moment this fall, it was in September where on a walk I suddenly noticed nature had paused, summer had paused. The grasses stopped growing, new flowers no longer budded, and the trees were starting their descent into bareness.
The idea inspired a haiku:
Summer green had paused.
Whoever noticed first should,
with confidence say.
I want to be the person who notices the changing of the season. Each year I feel so rushed in my own duties that I always feel like I missed out. Fall is so quick and yet I haven’t slowed down enough to notice each detail. I wish we had room to slow down in our world. Nature pauses and it stops to catch its breath. It hibernates. I definitely think I should too.
To sum all of these thoughts up, it is a blessing that the tilt of the earth exists at all. Without it, there wouldn’t be abrupt changes in our lives to push us into contemplating the wider meaning of our humanness. There might be fewer stories and fewer expressions of our fears. We are shaped by the natural world, we are part of this natural world.
I hope I can continue to slow down and let the liturgy of these seasonal days guide me in my introspection.