Celebrate!
We have a different list of holidays this October than in many years, since Yom Kippur, Eid al-Fitr and Dussehra all happened in September this year. But while we may be missing some of the heavy-hitters, there are plenty of good ways to celebrate this month. If nothing else, have a crunchy apple in celebration of the fall harvest.
Click on any of the links below to find out more about the holiday and how you might celebrate it.
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We Honor… |
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Since Halloween falls this month, this is a good time to honor the many Universalists (and some Unitarians) who practiced Spiritualism in the mid and late 1800s. Spiritualism (which is different from spirituality) is the belief that the spirits of dead people can communicate with those who are living—in other words, talking with ghosts. Spiritualists were known for having séances, in which a medium would go into a trance, and then deliver messages from the dead. One Universalist minister who became a committed Spiritualist was John Murray Spear. (Not to be confused with his namesake John Murray, who was a much earlier Universalist.) After some twenty years as a Universalist minister, in 1852 Spear became convinced that he was the chosen medium, or "general agent on Earth," of the spirits of John Murray, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, Benjamin Rush and other important (and dead) thinkers and leaders. Spear let it be known that the "Congress" would deliver plans, through him, to remake society. Through Spear the spirit of Jefferson spoke against slavery. Universalist physician Benjamin Rush's spirit directed him to give lectures on health and medicine. Scientific spirits, like Franklin's, sent on information to assist with advances in technology, including a perpetual motion machine, an electric thinking machine, an electric ship, an intercontinental telepathic network, and an improved sewing machine.
Not surprisingly, many of Spears old friends thought that he had gone off the deep end, and he was eventually removed from fellowship as a Universalist minister. It’s easy to get the impression that John Murray Spears was pretty much bonkers, but it’s also worth remembering that a) he was a heroic opponent of slavery, who helped slaves who came to the North to escape from their owners and b) he was far from the only Universalist who believed strongly in Spiritualism. When the Spiritualist movement was at its strongest, some 2-3 million people in the US were involved in trying to talk with ghosts. We know now that the most famous mediums, who produced all kinds of amazing “proof” of the presence of spirits, like tables falling over and knocking sounds, were doing it through tricks like a stage magician uses. But it doesn’t hurt to remember that the Spiritualist movement promoted a belief that all people could tap into their own spiritual truth, without having to rely on a minister or the Bible to guide them. Some radical ideas manage to last through time, even when other ideas, just as popular, fall away as we learn more! |
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Act!
Halloween can be a time to collect more than just candy. For thousands of kids in the US, Canada and many other countries, Halloween is when you Trick or Treat for UNICEF, collecting money for this important organization. UNICEF is the part of the United Nations that works to care for children around the world, helping kids in need to get food, clean water, education and more. Click here to find out how you can get involved in Trick or Treat for UNICEF, and help children to some of the basics of life that many of us take for granted.
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Nurturing Your Spirit
The holiday of Diwali, or Deepavali, is celebrated in India and Nepal with many tiny lamps. Traditionally, these lamps are filled with oil, and have a cotton wick, but you can make your own Diwali lamp using clay and a votive candle. But the important part of the lamp for celebrating Diwali is that the light of the lamp reminds us of our own light inside. So make a diva lamp, or just put a tea candle in a holder or on a ceramic plate, grab a grownup who can use a little spiritual nurture as well as being able to make sure that things stay safe with the candle and matches, and take some quiet time to just look at the soft glow of a candle flame. While you watch, remember that there is a light inside you that shines out in your own creativity and acts of caring.
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Principles in Practice
The Jewish holiday of Sukkot is celebrated by building a sukkah, a kind of little outdoor house. A sukkah has at least three walls and a roof, but it has to be open enough so that you can see the stars through the top and the world around you through the walls. A sukkah is a good place to sit and think about our seventh UU principle: “Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.” Inside a real house or apartment it’s easy to get stuck in thinking about the human-made world: TVs, homework, music, video games, etc. But when you sit outside it can help you to remember that we humans came up with all that stuff as part of the larger natural world that we live in. And when you sit in a sukkah or a tree house or a fort that you’ve build, it can remind you that even when we’re inside a building made by human hands, the rest of the natural world is still there. We always are connected to the animals and plants and rocks and everything around us, and it’s a good idea to find ways to remember that connection so that we treat this planet we share with the respect it deserves.
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