All Hallows' Eve

Main Street, Harbor Springs Michigan

We vacationed in Northern Michigan during the second week of October. Harbor Springs is on the opposite shore of Little Traverse Bay from the town of Petoskey where we stayed. Each local business in downtown Harbor Springs sponsored a dressed-up skeleton. My favourite was the skeleton outside the camera shop who was waiting to take that perfect picture. Sometimes you can wait too long for that ideal shot!

I remember my first Halloweens in Aurora ON when people still burned fall leaves along the curbs of town streets. We shuffled through fallen leaves, the air tinged with smoke from slow-burning leaf fires. We dressed in homemade costumes, held our pillowcases and received treats like apples, taffy apples, popcorn balls, candy rockets and Kraft caramels. It was rare to get a chocolate bar. My mom always handed out an apple to each trick-or-treater because we got them free from her brother's orchard. Mom hosted a couple of Hallowe'en parties at our home when I was a young teenager. Every church I attended up until I was in my late 20s hosted Halloween parties for youth and young adults.

A couple of the Painted Ladies houses in Grimsby ON

The era of "satanic panic" swept across North America in the mid-1980s and 90s. Frank Perretti, the "Stephen King" of Christian fiction wrote several books about spiritual warfare that impacted the teaching in evangelical churches. Our children attended "harvest parties" and never went trick or treating once they started school. In time, the allegations that initiated the satanic panic were proven to be false. I remember when one of our pastors who had four young children decided that they could go trick-or-treating on Halloween, dismantling the religious taboos of the past two decades. Some people left our church because of his decision. 

Grimsby ON

The seventh petition of the Lord's Prayer says, "Deliver us from evil". Writers from Dante to C.S. Lewis and JRR Tolkien have explored the concepts of evil in allegorical stories that were written when premature death was common and the world was in turmoil. Today we understand illness and death from a modern scientific perspective but have become increasingly death-averse. The world remains in turmoil. Evil is present in mankind who selfishly seek power and influence and in those who exploit vulnerable people. Inherent evil in people who are alive is a much greater danger to personal and societal well-being than the potential actions of departed spirits.

The church we are attending will celebrate All Saints Day this Sunday. The names of people who have died in the past year will be read aloud as we remember their lives and our own short sojourn on earth. I have always loved walking through cemeteries even though our parents and grandparents on both sides of the family never visited family graves. There is no need to have a superstitious fear of death and "departed spirits" but it is good to remember the past and lessons from history.

Delicious sourdough Pan de Muerto that I made today (Recipe here)