I'm gonna cover a lot here... So if it feels like I'm skipping around, I'm sorry. There's a lot of seemingly disjointed topics that all seem to converge in my mind.
To start off, I was reading in "A Perfect Brighness" about All-Saints Day and Halloween. Her summary of the whole "History of Halloween" thang is pretty good. She commented on our unique LDS perspective on "All Saints Day". So, here are all of my disjointed thoughts:
ONE
My kids love Halloween, with the costumes and the candy and everything about it. I wanted to tie it closer together with some of its more spiritual roots. So, a few years ago we started a tradition of celebrating Nov 1 as All Saints Day. Being LDS, however, we re-interpret it and celebrate it in our own way. We have a special dinner, and after dinner, we talk of the saints in our family that have passed on before us. Some times we talk about memories of Parents and Grandparents. Other times we look up our family history and talk of the stories of those ancestors that are a part of our legacy. It turns into a very fun evening of family bonding.
TWO
One thing Jennifer mentioned in her blog post was "According to tradition, November 1st is the time to celebrate the lives of the martyrs." I thought that was very interesting, since so much of my own study and personal pondering has been focused on the concept of martyrdom, culminating in the completion of the song, "Martyrs".
THREE
The whole concept of our celebration of Halloween is a topic that I touched on in a blog post almost 7 years ago. In fact, it was 7 years ago, tomorrow, that I began the Mo'Boy blog! It all began with a post about Isaiah.
Mark has a lifelong testimony of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (the Mormon Church). Mark also has other sites and blogs, including MarkHansenMusic.com and his Dutch Oven blog.
Mark's Other Blog Posts: Reciprocating Content, Mountain Man Breakfast,
It is interesting at how close your All Saints celebration is to ours on the previous day. Our celebration usually consists in part of a "Silent Supper" where we set a place at the table for those who have crossed over. Typically all or part of the supper is to be in silent mediation and communion with our passed loved ones.
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