HALLOWEEN CELEBRATIONS

 HALLOWEEN CELEBRATIONS 

The talk on dead man walking epidemic reopened a can of warms as regards the subject of death.  Death is a subject many of us would rather avoid but we never really get to run away from it because, it's always around us. And just as I thought that I would do a column or two on the subject and end it, then alas!! The People's President, Raila Amolo Odinga died and we were back to the subject of death. Of course I had to do a tribute article dedicated to him because,  I still think he is a great man. But death has no manners, it took him away. Then as I was putting down my pen after writing Raila's tribute,  I remembered that I only had a few days to rush to the shops to buy Halloween costumes before the day comes on 31st October. And that brings us to another death related episode.  Halloween day is much connected to all saints day which is celebrated across the world on 1st November to remember known and unknown saints. There is unconfirmed belief that one of the two days helped to develop the other especially Halloween which may have come up because many if not all of the celebrated saints are already dead. Halloween is also attributed to the celtic people as celebration of the dead. Celtics are said to have believed that on 31st October,  the spirits of the dead returned to the earth. As sign of the dead among the living on that day therefore,  costumes like the grim reaper developed over the years and since then, they are used to mark Halloween.  We already talked of the walking dead, people in modern times who are exhibiting characteristics of the dead although they are alive. Let's now talk about other death status. One of us talked about the dead dead, that is a dead burried dead. There is also the living dead, people who we know very well, have had living experiences with us but they died and we burried them. This category of the dead still influence our lives one way or another. Then of course we have ancestors, the dead that we only hear about but have never met. If these guys still affect our lives is a debate that may never end but is still alive even in our churches with some pastors helping to break real or imaginable ancestral curses and so on. Some people are of the belief that it does not help anyone to remember or celebrate the dead and that the dead should be left to rest in peace.  This category of people want to forget a burried person immediately. They don't do memorial services for the dead. Some go to an extent of throwing or giving away things that remind them of the dead person. Some don't even do photos or videos in the burials. They simply want no association with the dead. Apart from memorial services, Halloween provides more experience in bringing the dead closer to the living and the costumes demystify the whole subject of death. Should someone celebrate Halloween or be like those who have nothing to do with the dead? What do you think? 

Could the later category be right as per Jesus in Matthew 8:22, "Follow me and let the dead burry their dead"? Or Mathew 22:32 that says that God is not the God of the dead but of the living?

What do you think?

@ Stephen Mungai