Ushered in on All Hallow’s Eve, it’s the season of All Saints, All Souls, Día de Muertos. We remember our beloved dead in this chill season at the dying of the year. The red oak is aflame and the veil feels very thin.

The human psyche, our collective psyche, is astonishing in its genius for creating the festivals we need—for layering joy and pain, life and death, this world and the one beyond. What conveys life more than a joyful child? And what depicts the nearness of death more than a skeleton? Put those together in our celebration of Halloween, and there’s the human experience.

It’s fun to dress up in another persona. There’s a thrill in wearing a creepy costume with the power to spook other people. When we’re young it’s a game, then as time goes by we apprehend what gives rise to the whole party.

Through these rituals we remind each other that we’re going to die. We do it with candy to sweeten the medicine, and children to gladden our hearts. Joy and sorrow intermingle, and the poignancy fills me with love for this world.

The generations come together to make this celebration. For some, the air is thick with the presence of those who have passed. For others the world is brand new. Fierce monsters and gentle princesses travel together. We meet the darkness with glowing jack o’lanterns, and greet life and death at our doors.  

With candles of remembrance on All Souls’ Day we honor our loved ones. We recall their light and acknowledge our connection to the world beyond. Through ritual, the generations come together and we bridge the distance between this world and the next.