October 3, 2023

 Greetings Everyone!

It is the first week of October. Ray Bradbury, who can be considered as the patron saint of October, describes the last day of the month in his book The Halloween Tree—a book that adults as well as children should read to get into the spirit of this timeless season.

It was the afternoon of Halloween.

And all the houses shut against a cool wind.

And the town full of cold sunlight.

But suddenly, the day was gone.

Night came out from under each tree and spread...Anyone could see that the wind was a special wind this night and the darkness took on a special feel because it was All Hallows’ Eve. Everything seemed cut   from soft black velvet or gold or orange velvet. Smoke panted up out of a thousand chimneys like  the plumes of funeral parades.                                                                      

These words seem to be permeated with death.  The cold wind; the velvet cerements; the funeral plumes; all of these seem to be a threat.

But Halloween is not about death.  It is about life.

The candle burning in the jack o’ lantern is life and, perhaps, the celebration of the everlasting life to come after death. 

JLS