Halloween 20002

We are here together today to celebrate the holiday of Samhain, which comes from the Celtic people and is still celebrated today all around the world... Now, a long time ago, in what we call Europe, North through Denmark, South through Spain and Portugal, West to Switzerland and parts of Germany, and East through France to the Islands of Britain and Ireland lived a race of people called Celts. They were Herdsman, farmers, craftsmen, and metal workers, warriors, poets and priests.

 

The religion of the Celtic people was very concerned with life and death. And the year was divided into two parts: light and dark. The light time of the year, beginning in the spring, was the time of growing life, of crops and harvest. After the last harvest, at the end of Autumn, this time of year, people moved into what they called the dark time, when life was ebbing and plants and trees were shedding their summer glory. The abundance of life was contracting. The world around them seemed to be dying. And there was one day, the holy day of Samhain, when the great wheel of life shuddered and turned. This day was the time when people stopped between worlds, between light and dark, between life and death. The day when they looked both backwards and forwards.

 

And what of us? What does this have to do with people who live in warm houses, full of food and who can expect a long life? Samhain is still around, and people still celebrate it, even if they call it Halloween, or Hallows Eve. The leaves are falling off the trees, the gardens are turning brown and dry and the days are getting shorter. Tonight sunset will come earlier than yesterday. Each night from now on till just before Christmas will grow longer. Think of the year as a circle. Spring to summer, to fall, to winter, and back to spring again. It happens over and over again all through our lives. Think of yourself as part of the circle. You wake up, you play, work, you sleep, you wake up again... and start all over. Think of life as a circle. Babies are born, grow up, grow old, and die, and babies are born, grow up, grow old, and die. It happens over and over again. You and you and you and you are all part of the circle as I am. Because we are part of the circle of life, we know that endings are part of it too.

 

Close your eyes and think about a time when you were sad. How did that feel? Did it feel like a rainy day? Did it feel like a cold dark night? Did it feel like a time when nobody was around to give you a hug? Sadness is the other side of happiness. Both sadness and happiness are part of the circle. At Samhain people let themselves be sad. We have lots of reasons to be sad. When a friend moves away, when you lose a job, when a mom or dad has to leave, when you leave a favorite school. But the saddest thing of all is when someone you love dies. Maybe, your kitten or dog, a friend's mom or dad, or one of your grandparents has died. We're sad because they made us happy when they were alive. We're sad because we miss them. We're sad because we loved them. So at Samhain we remember all of the people and animals we have loved and who have died, because as long as we can remember those whom we love, they are alive in our hearts and our minds.

 

Today we are here to remember. We have given you leaves. I'm going to ask you now to spend some time thinking and remembering. If you would like to write the name of someone or an animal friend who has died on that leaf please do. After you have done that you can come up and hang your leaf on this tree. Say their name aloud if you are comfortable. If you want you can say why you are grateful to have been blessed by knowing them and let us all remember them together

 

We remember today and we remember on other days. Because what is remembered...lives. And thus it is that life departs and life returns and life departs and life returns... season after season and year after year.

 

The wonderful thing about the circle is that it doesn't stop. It keeps going around and around and around. There is no beginning and there is no end. So even though the circle of life has endings, it also has beginnings. Although Samhain is the end of the summer, it is also the first day of the New Year. Everything becomes New today, everything starts again. Even with winter coming, we know that the seeds that fell off the plants are going to be new plants next spring with flowers. The bare tree branches are going to be covered in leaves again.

 

Patty is now going to lead us in a meditation.

 

We live inside the circle, the circle of time, the circle of life. In the circle we are born, live, and pass from this world. In the circle we love and are loved. In the circle we have come here together to laugh and to cry with each other...our friends, our families, our beloved community. And because we have each other, no sadness is too much to bear, and no happiness is celebrated alone. In the circle I bid you peace and blessed be.