Celebrating and recalling our dead is a proclamation to LIFE would you not agree? Don't we speak to our loved ones, departed from their earthly shackles and shame, now on another plane, a dimension far beyond our comprehension? Deep in your secret heart, are you not happy for their victory?
I know I talk to those I've lost to the next life.
Not lost to death.
To the NEXT LIFE.
The next step.
And today 11-2 is All Soul's Day, a time to celebrate the glory of the lives gone on ahead of us. Not death. It is not for a fool's use, not for a religious scheme. Although it has its origins in the catholic faith, many varied ways of celebrating this feast have long departed from the standard religious "prayerful" tradition.
Today people gather to make skulls from candy, bring baskets of fruit to the cemetery in offering and joy as they remember those they love, they dress up and in some places special caves are kept where the skulls of ancestors are kept, in proper decorum. A far cry from the Western view of a dead body, eh?
I like this one better.
My loved ones were not the sum of their bodily parts. They had emotions and ideas.
They had LOVE. They had LIFE. And this is the day I intend to honor that life.
Posts
![Go ahead and cry it's okay](<a href="http://s618.photobucket.com/albums/tt269/chimera_wings/family%20and%20friends%20morphs/my%20blingee/?action=view¤t=629498779_1018405.gif" target="_blank"><img src="http://i618.photobucket.com/albums/tt269/chimera_wings/family%20and%20friends%20morphs/my%20blingee/629498779_1018405.gif" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>)
15 comments:
good for you......I hate the western way of death being very muich part of it........however places do exist where things are different - like the Scottisg isles - above all I hate crematoria
I remember a mother talking with her young children about her impending death from cancer. She told them that she would be with Jesus. "How so?", one of her children asked. She answered, "When a squirrel goes after a nut, he is very careful with it. He opens it and takes all the good stuff out and leaves behind the shell. So it is with death, God will take Mommy's good stuff and leave behind her body." I always liked her analogy, and she was quite a woman in my book.
Our existence (IMO) is only measured by the remembrance of our deeds and actions after we are gone. Everything else is filler. Losing someone is hard because we miss their physical presence but their contributions carry on in how we keep them in our hearts and thoughts.
Life is free. Living has a price.
I've always thought it was a fine tradition to honor the dead. In New Orleans, go to the cemeteries on All Saint's Day and tidy the tombs, give them new whitewashes, etc. Cemeteries used to be viewed more as parks, and families would visit and enjoy the landscaping and trees. We seem to have gotten away from that, and death is to be feared. Honoring those who have gone seems much more logical than fearing them.
Beth
I hate western death traditions too. I want either a green burial or to be donated to the body farm at the University of TN.
Stop by and seem me. I wasn't showing up on the dashboard because of my adult content warning but I removed it. If you unfollow me and then follow me again, I'll start showing up.
Hope you are well! Love your moons of the day!
xo
MJ
Death is not the end-it's a beginning to another realm we will never understand until we ourselves enter. What we leave behind are marked on the hearts of our loved ones-and they are forever with us. Julie
I can't understand why anyone (after death) would choose to be here among us, rather than being in heaven. I can't see it!! I know my dad and my grandma are in heaven. I talk to them because it comforts ME. I do believe that they visit, but they stay with me only in my heart. Honoring the dead is not a bad thing of course, as long as the REAL honor was done when they were actually here to enjoy it.
It's a Native Custom to burn someone's earthly belonging with them when they pass. For they will need those things in the next life. There is also the tradition of burning the Yule log to invite the departed to join us and sit by the fire in the warmth of the holiday. Talking and sharing memories with the dead is our hearts rememberance of them as they were in life. (Hugs)Indigo
How beautifully said about your loved ones having love & life. I hate our views on death and the rituals we are forced to endure. I find viewings to be horrible and morbid and the sight of seeing a loved one go into the ground just freaks me out. I would much rather concentrate on the good and not have such trauma as my last thoughts.
xxx
My boyfriend is from Mexico. He celebrates Dia De Los Muertos "Day of the dead". I think it's a respectful holiday, giving the dead their day to shine once again, just like a birthday.
He's fascinated with our Halloween, lol.
*M*
http://learningtoadapt.blogspot.com
Feel good......
Just found you again ... so glad I did!
I've been finding and misplacing blogs for a few weeks, but think I have 'it' under control again. LOL
Nice entry on All Soul's Day. I take extra care on this day to remember the lives well lived and the legacy of their characters left behind.
"It is a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead that they be loose from their sins" Mach
Losing anyone is truly hard as we miss their presence but losing people that are physically here is harder still when all we need to do is contact them by any method. Much of the comments left on your post reflect that. So reach out and get in touch, please.
Wonderful post.....I'm going the "dance for the dead!" Anne
Post a Comment