NOVEMBER 3-9: “A Voice of Gladness for the Living and the Dead”
Come Follow Me Doctrine and Covenants 125-128
This topic could have been last week’s topic, although worldwide we remember and honor our ancestors throughout the year.
October 31- November 1 celebrates Samhain, an ancient Celtic festival celebrating the end of the harvest and the beginning of winter, viewed as the Celtic New Year. It is a time when the veil between the world of the living and the spirit world is believed to thin, allowing spirits to cross over. This festival is the origin of modern Halloween, with traditions including lighting bonfires, wearing costumes, and leaving out food to honor ancestors and ward off spirits.
Day of the Dead (Día de los Muertos), a joyful Mexican holiday is celebrated on November 1 and 2 to honor and remember deceased loved ones. Families welcome the souls of the dead with food, drink, and celebration, building memorial altars, visiting cemeteries, and sharing stories. The tradition combines ancient Aztec rituals with the Spanish tradition of All Souls’ Day with colorful decorations, music and parades.
Dia de los Muertos – Spanish Go Go Now
I like these holidays to remember our ancestors; much more meaningful than typical American Halloween.
Asian, African, Native American, European, Middle-Eastern and Island cultures all have practices that honor ancestors in similar ways, with shrines in homes or religious practices, storytelling, and offerings of food or incense. In April is China’s Qingming Festival (Tomb-Sweeping Day), Japan’s Bon Festival is in August, and in September is the 15-day ritual Pitru Paksha in India. Rooted in the belief that ancestors have a continued influence on the living, these practices offer connection, gratitude, respect and peace for those who have departed, and for those living and yet to follow. They are beautiful traditions of connection, a reminder of what we are made of and where we fit in our vast family.
These traditions are exhibited in this scene from ‘Moana’. Sing along!
I Am Moana/Song of the Ancestors – Rachel House, Auli’i Cravalho
No matter where you live, you have a cultural history of remembering those who came before you. While some histories may be painful and even shameful, we can still give honor by offering understanding and forgiveness where it is needed, living an honorable life now and passing on respectful traditions.
Emma Hamel shares a sweet tradition that has been passed to her, and that she is passing along so beautifully.
Memories/ Original Song – Emma Hamel
We turn our hearts to our fathers in the growing genealogy work around the globe, and in temple rituals to seal families together. This is our task while we are here in mortality. Don’t forget who came before. And pass the stories on.
Ancestor’s Plea – Bekah Sorensen
What’s in your family history? What history do you want to create and pass along?
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