Happy All Saint's Day!

[iSteve]

Today is my favorite holy day on the church calendar - it's All Saint's Day. In case you are unfamiliar with it, here is what Wikipedia has to say about it:

All Saints' Day, All Hallows, Hallowmas ("hallows" meaning "saints," and "mas" meaning "Mass"), is a feast celebrated on November 1 or on the first Sunday after Pentecost in honour of all the saints, known and unknown. Halloween is the day preceding it, and is so named because it is "The Eve of All Hallows". All Saints is also a Christian formula invoking all the faithful saints and martyrs, known or unknown. In terms of Catholic theology, the feast remembers all those who have attained the beatific vision in heaven, while the next day, All Souls' Day, commemorates the departed faithful who have not yet been purified and reached heaven.

For me personally, it's a day to remember those whom I love who have died and express gratitude for their lives.

One of the people I'm grateful to have known is my Aunt Banty. Her real name was Esther, but her father nicknamed her after the banty hen, which is a small chicken. She was petite. My cousin, George, her son, had a great Silver Age collection of comics that he kept at her house. She let me borrow stacks at a time to read. When I finished, I returned them to her and she placed them back in the storage container where they were kept. Aunt Banty was one of the people I can credit for helping me develop a passion about comics. She also taught me proper care for my comics. As a result, my own Silver and Bronze Age books are in very good condition.

[comhcinc]

the same to you steve. i hope it has been a good one

[six-gun]

indeed, God bless

[jimski]

Every October, my high school sends me a postcard on which I can anonymously write the names of people who have died, and then the school prays for everyone on the list throughout November. The annual arrival of the postcard always puts me in a reflective mood.

[labor_days]

Never heard of this holiday or knew it was celebrated.

Well wishes to everyone then? I don't know what the proper greeting is.

[paper]

I'm rusty on my catechism. When is All Soul's day? Is that Halloween or is that November 2nd? It bumpers All Saints Day.

[kahunablair]

Never heard of this holiday or knew it was celebrated.
Really?
Never heard of Día de los Muertos?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Day_of_the_Dead

[paper]

That answers my question.

Tomorrow we Grim Fandango!

[labor_days]

Sure. I've heard of day of the dead. Grim Fandango was awesome, yo~!

http://net.metron.com/imgs/fandango.gif

[drwally]

These holidays at this time of the year are my favorite. I'm always answering questions from my English students here in Japan as the whole Halloween thing is deeply puzzling to them, as they know its a holdiay but they see no obvious Christian connection. I include brief mentions of the old Celtic, pre-Christian roots of Halloween, Día de los Muertos, and how All Saints Day fit with the church's method in Europe over the centuries of matching Christian holy days with the local pagan holy days to "weezy on in." Of course "All Hallows Eve" is one of those neat little language points you pull out for a special occassion in a langauage class.

I compare it to the Japanese OBon Holiday in Summer, and the connection to the end of the harvest and the beginning of winter. Also, Day of the Dead is a really a celebration of llfe (cycle of life, cycle of death). THEN they nod their heads and say, "OH I get it now..." (translation: "naruhodo").

O-Bon is a holiday where Japanese light paper lanterns for their doorstep to welcome back visiting ancestors that have passed away. Families also make visits to the family tombstones of the grandparents or other loved ones that have passed away- still a big, well honored tradtion here.

For All Saints Day I pick a woman I called "Aunt Karol" even though she was not really my aunt, but a very good friend of my mother's who helped out a lot. She was a member of the John Birch Society, a deeply religious and strict protestant, but kept the heavy politics and religion talk away from the kids. Instead, she had a house full of fascinating stuff, including a Charlie McCarthy dummy, was one of the two "Aunts" that spurred on my early reading skills, and was a great baby sitter. She never talked down to me or treated me like a kid. Sadly, she passed away due to Lou Gehrigs disease, at a time when it was a pretty unknown illness. Her brain was sharp as nails to the very end, and she passed away with her favorite minister and beloved husband Stan at her side. I was 16, my first experience of death.

She and her husband Stan had a vacation house in Tahoe, so we went up with them once to see the snow for a weekend when I was 6-7. I went upstairs (about 1972 or 73) and found a box PACKED FULL of Legion of SuperHeroes comics collected by her son who was about 6-8 years older. Didn't spend much time in the snow after that Discovery of Hidden Treasure! Still fondly remember that atttic.

To this day, I still have fond memories of Bouncing Boy. Reminds me of Aunt Karol and her wonderful house, and that attic up in Tahoe.

[iSteve]

I'm rusty on my catechism. When is All Soul's day? Is that Halloween or is that November 2nd? It bumpers All Saints Day.

All Soul's Day, or All Saint's Day, is Nov. 1. All Hallow's Eve, or Halloween, is Oct. 31.

[iSteve]

These holidays at this time of the year are my favorite. I'm always answering questions from my English students here in Japan as the whole Halloween thing is deeply puzzling to them, as they know its a holdiay but they see no obvious Christian connection. I include brief mentions of the old Celtic, pre-Christian roots of Halloween, Día de los Muertos, and how All Saints Day fit with the church's method in Europe over the centuries of matching Christian holy days with the local pagan holy days to "weezy on in." Of course "All Hallows Eve" is one of those neat little language points you pull out for a special occassion in a langauage class.

I compare it to the Japanese OBon Holiday in Summer, and the connection to the end of the harvest and the beginning of winter. Also, Day of the Dead is a really a celebration of llfe (cycle of life, cycle of death). THEN they nod their heads and say, "OH I get it now..." (translation: "naruhodo").

O-Bon is a holiday where Japanese light paper lanterns for their doorstep to welcome back visiting ancestors that have passed away. Families also make visits to the family tombstones of the grandparents or other loved ones that have passed away- still a big, well honored tradtion here.

For All Saints Day I pick a woman I called "Aunt Karol" even though she was not really my aunt, but a very good friend of my mother's who helped out a lot. She was a member of the John Birch Society, a deeply religious and strict protestant, but kept the heavy politics and religion talk away from the kids. Instead, she had a house full of fascinating stuff, including a Charlie McCarthy dummy, was one of the two "Aunts" that spurred on my early reading skills, and was a great baby sitter. She never talked down to me or treated me like a kid. Sadly, she passed away due to Lou Gehrigs disease, at a time when it was a pretty unknown illness. Her brain was sharp as nails to the very end, and she passed away with her favorite minister and beloved husband Stan at her side. I was 16, my first experience of death.

She and her husband Stan had a vacation house in Tahoe, so we went up with them once to see the snow for a weekend when I was 6-7. I went upstairs (about 1972 or 73) and found a box PACKED FULL of Legion of SuperHeroes comics collected by her son who was about 6-8 years older. Didn't spend much time in the snow after that Discovery of Hidden Treasure! Still fondly remember that atttic.

To this day, I still have fond memories of Bouncing Boy. Reminds me of Aunt Karol and her wonderful house, and that attic up in Tahoe.

To the memory of your Aunt Karol then! Salute.

[drwally]

Thanks Steve! She sure didn't know who Bouncing Boy was in the attic of her vacation home in Tahoe (or maybe even know they were there), but she did captivate me with the story on that Charlie McCarthy dummy! (I think here's was in a a green jacket in bow tie, very cool).

Also, for John Birch Society member and a stict Protestant, she also graced our kitchen window with a wonderful "kitchen witch." (if you know what that is, basically an old good luck charm to protect the kitchen). I think she was of the same tradition as Six Gun - maybe that have very definite ideas about poltics and religion, but that is certainly not a good reason in their mind to be uncivil or unkind to other people of other beliefs. God Bless the ladies that enriched our youth! Some say eccentric, I say "wise in the mysterious ways of the world..." Great thought for this time of year!:)

[paper]

All Soul's Day, or All Saint's Day, is Nov. 1. All Hallow's Eve, or Halloween, is Oct. 31.

Oh, ok. In my church, I think All Saints and All Souls are two different things.

I just checked. Yep. Roman Catholics celebrate All Souls on November 2nd. Also called Day of the Dead in the Spanish tradition.