Ghoulies, Ghosties and Sacred Feasts
We are at the beginning of the last month of the church year. November begins with All Saints Day and ends with Christ the King Sunday, the final Sunday of the church year. Christ the King is a relatively new feast to the church calendar. Pope Pius originally instituted it in 1925, but it has only been observed in the Episcopal church since 1970. It celebrates Christ's kingship and rule over all creation. However, the feast of All Saints Day is quite ancient and has its roots in pre-Christian Ireland, in the festival of Samhain, which marked the end of the harvest season and the beginnings of the "darker months". It was traditionally celebrated from sunset on October 31 to sunset on November 1. It was a time when the boundary between this world and the "otherworld" could be more easily crossed by spirits from that "otherworld". Bonfires were lit for protection, and food was left outside for the spirits, both benign and malicious. From the celtic tradition we have that wonderful verse:
From ghoulies and ghosties
And long leggedity beasties
And things that go bump in the night,
Good Lord, deliver us!
Samhain was also a time to remember dead kin. Feasts were held and the souls of dead relatives were invited to attend. Also, people dressed in costumes and went door to door, reciting verses in exchange for food. Out of this ancient feast, celebrating ghosts and remembering the dead, we have two holidays--All Hallows Eve (Halloween) and All Saints Day. Halloween has become a secular holiday and All Saints became part of our liturgical calendar, when we remember those who have passed on before us, entering the gates of paradise. Two British composers set to beautiful music a most eloquent verse describing that paradise:
"O sweet and blessed country, O paradise of joy, eternal fount of radiance no evil can destroy!
They stand, those halls of Sion, all jubilant with song, and bright with many an angel and all the martyr throng:
And there the throne of David, and there, from care released, the song of them that triumph, the shout of them that feast!
The Prince is ever with them, the daylight is serene, the pastures of the blessed are decked in glorious sheen.
What ecstasy of music within those courts is found!
What glorious alleluia supernatural choirs resound!
Their palms in holy chorus seraphic voices raise, and cherubim make answer in antiphons of praise. O home of fadeless splendor, of radiancy unpriced:
O sweet and blessed country, thy cornerstone is Christ.
Come to church in November and hear the choir sing this glorious and moving anthem!
Lynn Gardner, Organist/Choirmaster
