The month of death

I never really thought of it like that.

Last Friday (the 4th), Mr R and I attended a mass at our church. It was the Annual Bereavement Mass to remember the dead. Mr R & I lit candles (given to us by members of the Bereavement group) and listed the names of members of our families who had passed on, on a sheet of paper that was placed on the altar.

It was during the mass that the priest mentioned how things died during November. Leaves faded and fell off branches, trees died, flowers refuse to bloom and the sun fails to show up. It is like the whole world (from this country's perspective, at least!) just stops. And dies.

Or waits for Spring. When life is injected back into leaves, branches, flowers and people all at once. Like magic.

In India, the second of November is commemorated by Catholics as 'All Souls Day'. Here too, the 2nd is All Souls Day but the Bereavement Mass is the main celebration.

Closer to the end of this month is the American tradition of Thanksgiving where families traditionally gather together to remember the good things and thank God for a full life. Everybody is blessed except the turkey, but you can't please everybody all the time (ok, ok, the SOH is not so good these days).

So while the flowers and leaves hibernate along with the squirrels with their gathered acorns, we too wait for death and then life again to triumph. Have you ever spent time wondering what it is like after you 'die'? Or what will it be like to meet departed family members? No? Well, this is a good month to think about these things, to remember those gone by and to count your blessings.

And look forward to Spring. Life is still waiting at your doorstep.