A Thin Time of Year

The Celts in Wales who celebrated Nos Galan Gaeaf ,and the Scots and Irish who celebrated Samhain, felt that this was a “thin” time of year. That is, they recognized that this was the final harvest of summer’s bounty in preparation for the coming bare days of winter. That was how they observed the natural world. On a spiritual level, they felt it was just as thin: for them, this was the time when the veil between the two worlds could drop, and spirits might just mingle with the living.

In our culture, we still carry on some of the traditions of the ancient Celts when our children (and maybe even their parents at costume parties) dress up as ghouls, goblins, and ghosts. Halloween even gets part of its name from Samhain (pronounced “sah – ween”). On the spiritual side of things, our Christian tradition assimilated these ancient Celtic rituals by creating two new Feasts: All Saints Day and All Faithful Departed (November 1st and 2nd). 

Our modern way of life has numbed us to feeling the thinness of this time. We have central heat to beat back the cold and superstores where we can plan a menu with foods from any season at any time during the year. We are no longer held prisoner to the lean times in the cycles of the seasons. Such a luxurious security we have! Yet what price have we paid for such comfort?

Well, how “thin” is this time of year for you and me? When Mary Jo and I were out riding on our Harley the other day, the air was touched with the aromas of fall. A fire here, fresh-turned earth there, and the crisp touch of air just cool enough to warn of winter’s approach. These natural cycles have the purpose of grounding you and me in remembrance, calling us away from the numbing routines of everyday life to now – this breath, this moment.

The beautiful colors of fall drain, and the leaves turn and fall, leaving the stark landscape of winter. Of course, this would call to mind mortality for the Celts and for our Christian forebears. For some, such remembrance is depressing and thus denied. It doesn’t have to be. In remembering our mortality and touching the thinness of this time, each moment and each breath I have in the now is that much more energized, appreciated, and filled with potential.

In this season, God’s grace is the gift of thinness that calls us to remembrance of those who went before us and the beauty of those who share this moment. In this season of apples, and goblins, and jack ‘o’ lanterns, and witches, and souls on the loose, God has blessed us with this moment to soak up the joy in our children’s faces. In this thin moment and only this moment is the harvest of life.

Joel t