I am learning more about how different cultures learn and celebrate the different themes of life (eg. love, death, emotions), and this book from the Norfolk Public Library gave me some good starting points. The book has a committee of writers – Elizabeth Breuilly, Joanne O’Brien and Martin Palmer. It was published in 2002.

I strongly believe that the agnostic/atheist tendencies of our Western culture have led us to have an unhealthy relationship with many of the big themes of life – death in particular. Avoidance of death and the subject of death is not helping us prepare for this event that will most certainly happen to all of us. The unspoken sense of doom hiding in the back of one’s mind is not something we need to have. This is one area where I believe that faiths can really teach us a lesson.

“Nearly all faiths have a cycle of festivals that reflect a whole range of human emotions and human experiences, as seen from the point of view of a particular religion or faith. People cannot be expected to be mindful of all the teachings and ideas of their faith every day of the week. Instead, through cycles of fasting and festivals, the faithful are asked to put time aside to think more deeply about core beliefs, founder figures, great teachers and fundamental themes of life.”

This book gives an informative overview of many festivals – Jewish festivals, Christian festivals, Muslim festivals, Hindu festivals, Buddhist festivals, Sikh festivals, Taoist festivals, Zoroastrian festivals, Shinto festivals, Jain festivals, Baha’i festivals, and Rastafarian festivals. Insofar as overviews go, I thought this book was great. The summaries of the foundations of the faiths are easy to understand.

Although Canada is a mosaic country, it is hard for someone like me to fully appreciate the significance of any of these faiths and festivals without becoming fully immersed in them. Even though I may be able to find a Dios De Los Muertos festival to attend this year, a local festival here would be nothing compared to what it would be like to celebrate the festival in its home country.

“As faiths move beyond their traditional boundaries, their festivals have to adapt… It is hard to give proper time to a great festival in a country that does not acknowledge its significance.”

Thus the lessons of the faith behind the festival get lost, and us Westerners once again miss out on working through our thoughts and feelings about life’s core themes.

“Some originally Christian festivals have become far removed from their Christian origins. For example, Carnival and Mardi Gras now have very little connection with the beginning of Lent, while the traditions associated with Hallowe’en owe more to pre-Christian beliefs than to the commemoration of the Christian saints that give the day its name.”

Maybe we can look at these faiths and find interesting ways to adapt their celebrations of life’s themes into our own Western lives…

For example, All Souls’ Day, held on November 2nd, is a day that I want to incorporate into my life. This is a day to visit the graves of passed loved ones and to remember them. While much of the day contains prayer and other aspects that do not suit my personal lifestyle as much, I want a day that is designated for me to visit my passed loved ones. I like the idea of having a day specially set aside to do this. I can plan little meals that remind me of my loved ones. I can decide which gravesite to visit this year and I can bring things to wash the gravestones while I am there. I can bring my children and tell them about these family members they will never meet. I can start to incorporate an understanding of death into their little lives so it becomes healthy and natural for them to talk about. If I don’t designate this day, it may keep getting pushed back and eventually dissolve from my memory. But All Souls’ Day? It comes pre-marked on my calendar!

I am not religious. I refer to myself as Philosophical. But adapting parts of a faith that will help me have a healthier relationship with life (and death) is something I do believe in.

I hope all of us are able to find our way to an understanding of life’s themes, no matter the route you take to get there.