"Recalling All Saints"
by Byron King
"The celebration goes back over 1,700 years in fact, to the 4th and even 3rd Centuries of our calendar. It gets into the very DNA of modern Christianity and Western culture. And even those long-ago, misty, worshipful origins were likely grafted onto previous, far more ancient, pagan, Roman Empire customs such as the fall harvest celebration in a post-glacial world where, if the crops failed, you’d almost surely die of cold and hunger.
Way back, people actually “hallowed” things. They honored what they regarded as deeply important, which leads to a hallow-evening (or “ae’fen” in Olde English). In other words, Halloween was the night before a day of something sacred. Say that phrase fast a couple of times… “Hallow-ae’fen…” and you’ll get a feel for how the older expression transformed into the modern term.
Which brings us to tomorrow, November 1, All Saints’ Day; and I may as well mention that Monday, November 2, is All Souls’ Day. In essence, we’re in the midst of a trio of holy days in the Christian church devoted to honoring saints as well as departed souls. In France, All Saints’ Day is called Le jour des morts, the Day of the Dead, a public holiday. In Germany, it’s Stiller Tag, or the Quiet Day. It’s Día de Muertos in Mexico, a celebratory day to recall the departed.
You’ll find similar names and styles of celebration, if not formal political holidays, in countries across the globe. That is, on November 1 and 2 different people in different geographies pause to recall their deceased. And to remind themselves of their own, temporary mortality.
These particular days of saints and souls are firmly moored in longstanding custom, if not ancient liturgy. Memorials and venerations are part of the culture throughout Central and South America; across northern, central and southern Europe; in parts of Turkey and into (the few) remaining and constricted Christian enclaves of the Middle East in Syria, Lebanon, and Egypt; down into parts of Africa; across the deep blue sea to Christian areas of India; then further east as far afield as the Philippines.
And of course, you’ll find remembrance and reverence to the departed in Australia, New Zealand, and other far distant lands where shadows of Christianity still fall, however faded the social fundamentals might be down there, beneath the Southern Cross.
Out of Control: Here in North America many quaint customs have become – sad to say, and not to put too fine a point on it – part of the throwaway culture. People are too busy. Time is too valuable. There’s work to do, if not stocks to trade online. And it’s simply burdensome for many to drive across town to a cemetery and visit mom’s grave. Meanwhile, who really has a spare hour to visit some dark, dank church? Or as a certain high political figure might say with his characteristic eloquence, “Hey, c’mon, man.” Whether it’s the Episcopal palace on a high hill or a sturdy Methodist fortress down in the valley, there’s just no time. Go to chapel, recall the departed, and nod towards that rugged old cross? No, not today, pilgrims. Other… ahem… priorities.
It’s not hard to diagnose the underlying issue. It’s modern culture. There’s too much else to do. By way of comparison, most people scarcely read books anymore, either. Along these lines, have you heard about the massive numbers of de-accessed books that fill dumpsters outside of America’s libraries? Clearly, much of what happened before about the year 2000, if not 2005, is simply being carted off to the pulp recycler if not the landfills.
“It’s all online,” they tell us. On Google Books, no less. As if, for example, you’ll ever read online the likes of American history by Bernard DeVoto, or of World War II through the pen of Hanson Baldwin. And besides, there’s so much else that’s currently happening right now that our entire civilization seems amenable to discarding its past. The sooner the better, some might say.
Obviously as well, many currently sit on the edge of their chair awaiting the next, much-anticipated Fed interest rate increase. Should we buy stocks or sell? Great fortunes hang in that balance. And all the while, the clock of destiny ticks down to the night of Tuesday, November 3 next week. Then, America will count her votes and determine which political party controls the House and Senate. And yes, it matters.
Meanwhile, with just these two elements of current life – Fed and Congress – we have well and truly corralled the problem. Too much of that Fed-money floating around. And way too much politics, such that Beltway Progressive partisanship is the new secular religion. Plus, with all that money and politics in action is it any wonder that greed, fraud and corruption are killing the country? Hmm… Oh wait; it’s All Saint’s Day and here we are again, speaking of the dead.
No, of course the country hasn’t died; not yet. Although it’s worth noting how Russian scholars routinely and seriously discuss the ongoing, evident failure of America as a political system. They say that the place no longer works. It doesn’t function. They describe potential breakup scenarios that make the dissolution of the former USSR look like an orderly effort, a day at the beach. If you don’t want to consider Russian analysis, how about a recent poll by no less than CBS News, totally mainstream establishment if there ever was such a thing. CBS calculates that 79% of Americans believe that the country is “out of control.”
Better Off? The results are not just, say, that the country is “moving in the wrong direction,” mind you. But “out of control.” Think of a runaway train. Or it’s kind of like saying that the place is ungovernable. Well, it is kind of ungovernable anymore, right? If nothing else, this CBS poll is hardly a ringing endorsement of the current political leadership class. It thoroughly indicts the collection of grifters, mobsters, fools and imbeciles who’ve run the place for, oh… say… 30 years and more. Since the end of the Cold War, at least, although you could go backwards from there too.
Or if you’re no fan of CBS, perhaps you would just take your own poll. Ask yourself if this is the “same country you grew up in” back in the 1960s, 70s, 80s, even 90s. Okay, let’s adjust for some improvements like more civil rights, safer cars, and better cardiac surgery. Things like that. But still, is modern America safer from crime? From drugs? Homelessness? Are major cities better off? Are roads and bridges better? Are job prospects better? (Are there enough plumbers? I’m asking for a friend.)
For all the computers everywhere, is the country more productive? Have social media companies improved overall output of useful goods and services? Has Big Pharma really improved your life? Is American food better than it used to be? Is the population healthier in terms of weight and general fitness? Or does Hollywood make better movies these days? Are TV shows better (okay, does anyone even watch TV)? Do singers belt out the tunes better? Do actors perform better?
Is America’s energy situation better, such that you can both run the air conditioner and charge your electric car at the same time? Or if you still buy old fashioned gasoline and diesel, are you pleased with what you see at the pump? And are you currently living in fear of your heating and electric bill this coming winter? (If not, why not?)
Are American public schools better? Or even private schools? How about U.S. colleges and universities? Is the country educating young people better than in the olden days? Do costs justify the outcomes? Well, are math and science test scores going up or down?
The Foreign Past: I could go on but you get my drift. Which brings us back to the beginning, to the point that the first three days of this week are a traditional time to remember saints and souls. Remember the dead and contemplate one’s mortality. Yet for the most part, here in the U.S. (and Canada I’d add) we no longer follow those old, outdated paths.
It recalls that famous line by novelist L.P. Hartley, “The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there.” And obviously, the country that many of us recall – the America in which we grew up – is no more. You’ve noticed, right? And riddle me this, dear reader. If the past really is Hartley’s foreign country, when and how did so many of us emigrate? Just where exactly do we live, anymore? Are we all now somehow illegal immigrants to this new nation that claims jurisdiction over half the continent? Are we just mere squatters in the newly formed United Deep States of America, perhaps?
I don’t know about you, but I don’t recall ever agreeing that the country that used to be was so bad that we needed to burn it down. And yet here we are. We live in a nation and culture that has abandoned its past with no clear vision of the future, surrounded and controlled by corrupt institutions that have lost credibility and respect.
You don’t have to get all religious and churchy to appreciate that something deep has been lost from the foundations, if not the very heart of America. Hey, you can go to church, or not. Visit a cemetery, or not. Recall the saints and souls, or not. But don’t think that fate will never catch up with all of us. Or that in the end, we won’t get what we want but will almost surely receive what we deserve."
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