A friend of mine died of natural causes yesterday; another was strangled last week; another was gunned down late September. None a dem no bury yet! These deaths are in addition to the recent demise of people who are (not were!) close to my heart. I am still in denial about my friends’ transitions, tbh. A mean, I’m not even over my brothers’, and those were in 2000 and 2001. Need I mention how traumatised I am by our spiraling-out-of-control murder rate?
With death being such a prominent feature of our lived reality, I wonder if a more intentional and localised version of Halloween could not help us as a therapeutic/coping mechanism. I admit, I have no empirical data on which to base my suspicion; I speak simply from my subjective experience as an Episcopalian/Anglican. Our theology of death has been a most helpful aid in these traumatic experiences. Add to this our subliminal African worldview as it relates to ancestral veneration.
As Episcopalians, wi love dead people! Wi believe seh di whole a wi a wan, aal wen wi ded!
I think it is fair to say that contemplating, venerating and celebrating the dead is steeped in Episcopal/Anglican theology and piety.
Take today, Wednesday, for example. Here at the United Theological College of the West Indies (UTCWI), every Wednesday, the Anglican community meets for holy Eucharist at 6:30am. The liturgy begins with a prayer to the Theotokos/the Blessed Virgin; further on we repeat the “Nicene creed” in which we affirm our faith in the “one holy catholic and apostolic church” (which includes dead people!) and “the resurrection of the dead”; in the Intercession that follows (Form B) we prayed for the dead; and at the climax of the service, the Holy Communion, death and the dead are yet again lifted up. The dead pop up again in the Evening Office, and, at Compline, we face the reality of our own mortality! This evening, we got a special dose at Evening Prayer, as it is All Hallows’ Eve (abbreviated “Halloween”)! "Hallows" are Saints. At the risk of being simplistic, Saints are people Mother Church considers to have lived exemplary lives and are worth being emulated by her children. So tomorrow, we celebrate All Hallows’/Saints’ Day. Then comes the day after tomorrow, Nov. 2, All Souls Day – everybody weh ded! This is in addition to the 100 or so other days in which the Church calls upon us to celebrate dead people! The mystery of our faith embraces life AND death.
Hallowtide provides us with an opportunity to face the reality of death and to celebrate the victory of God over this “last “enemy.” Hopefully, one day, we will redeem it of its over commercialisation, use it, among other things, to facilitate closure on the death of those close to us, to function as medicine for the wounds inflicted on us by the death, to celebrate the lives of those who have transitioned, and to increase our sense of the oneness/sacredness of all of life. Happy Hallowtide!
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