Sermon:

"Day of the Dead: History"

(from In Nature’s Honor: Myths and Rituals Celebrating the Earth

by Patricia Montley)

People have celebrated festivals commemorating the dead for millennia. As many as five thousand years ago, Babylonians at Ur honored Ninazu, god of the Underworld, at a time in their calendar equivalent to the end of August in our calendar. At Nippur, they celebrated the sacred Mound Festival, dedicated to the dead. This took place in October, after harvest was complete and fallow fields awaited seeding in the rainy season. These festivals marked the “return of the spirit for a brief visit to the family. Setting fires and lighting torches near the household guided the ghosts to the funeral meal that awaited them.” (Anthony Aveni, The Book of the Year. )

In like manner, ancient Egyptians commemorated Isis’ search for her dead husband/brother Osiris, lord of the Underworld and her bittersweet recovery of him at a November festival, during which people burned oil lamps on the eaves of their homes in a nightlong vigil to honor Osiris. This practice eventually became a commemoration of all the dead and included setting out food for the departed.

Thus, for many ancient people, the final harvest, the end of the agricultural and pastoral year, also marked the end of the calendar year. At this time they acknowledged the end of the cycle of the earth’s seasons and gave thanks for its gifts. Often this was also a time to acknowledge the human lives that had come to an end and to give thanks for their gifts.

Samhain, the Celtic New Year and beginning of winter, celebrated on October 31 and November 1, was the central feast in the Celtic calendar, a time when the barriers between this world and the Otherworld temporarily disappeared so that the living and the dead could meet. These encounters might be pleasant if the ancestors had been treated with respect, if offerings of food were left out for them, and if they approved of how their offspring had been behaving. But encounters might be unpleasant if the living had done something to distress the gods or the dead. In the latter case, the living might even wear a disguise to avoid being recognized by the avenging dead. Sound familiar? The ancient Finns celebrated their new year and honored their dead at the November 1 feast of Kekri.

In Christian tradition, the celebration of the dead wandered all over the calendar. In the sixth century, Benedictine monasteries honored their deceased members in late spring. The Spanish did it either at the end of February or in late spring. By the middle of the ninth century, the Feast of All Hallows or All Saints was observed by Christians all over Europe on November 1. Three centuries later, the Feast of All Souls – those souls believed to be in Purgatory and in need of the intercession of the saints – was officially established as November 2. On these two dates, people in Latin American countries celebrate the Day of the Dead, a fusion of Catholic and Mexican Indian traditions.

Buddhists and Taoists around the world celebrate Ullambana. Originally a harvest feast, it is popularly known as Festival of the Hungry Ghosts. People who follow the Vedic traditions observe Diwali, the Festival of Lights, at this time of year to welcome the winter. It is celebrated as the New Year in northern India. But in Bengal it honors the death-bringing goddess Kali. Wiccans today still celebrate Samhain, lighting a hearth fire to welcome the cold season and the remembered spirits of their beloved dead.

Probably it is most important to reiterate that, in general, across many cultures, honoring the dead is a time of joyous celebration. The dead are not considered scary, but loved ones to be honored and addressed directly during the time when the veil between the worlds is thin. Many families welcome their dead loved ones, eat, drink, make music, dance, and celebrate the love they continue to share with those who are no longer with them. Though this is often done at night and through nightlong vigils, it is a happy time: a time of respect, responsibility, and relish!

Order of Service

“The Day of the Dead”

Sunday, October 30, 2005

9:30 & 11:00 a.m.

Please place photos and mementos of loved ones on the tables at the front before taking your seat

Prelude:

“Heartbeat”

Lighting of Chalice and Candles

Opening Song:

“Where Do We Come From?” by Brian Tate

Where do we come from? What are we? Where are we going?

Mystery, mystery, life is a riddle and a mystery.

The Day of the Dead: History and Symbols

Celebrating with Music:

I Cannot Think of Them as Dead”

by Frederick Lucian Hosmer and W. Frederick Wooden

Calling the Names for the Tree of Life

“Mexican Soup: God, Death, and the Peasant”

Bread of the Dead Communion

Offering and Dance:

“Skull Dance” by Camille Saint-Saens

Closing Words

Closing Song:

“Blood of the Ancients” by Charlie Murphy

It’s the blood of the ancients than runs through our veins,

And the forms pass, but the Circle of Life remains.