;)
The Feast of All Souls.
All Souls Day!!!!!(Fete le morts)( Feast of all souls) (Fet lay mor-E-Zee-Creole)
"Today, as well all know, it's the Feast of all Saints", said the priest, at the beginning of mass..reminding me of the day I once feared. And now i got flashes of what usually happened when I was a child, the day that followed this day was called" All souls day or the feast of all souls.
Up to this day I've asked myself why were we told such weird stories.
When I was a Kid, I dreaded this day (All Souls Day!!) well, according to our parents, this was the day that all the people who have died would come back into the homes of their family to have supper (a feast), how scary this one was for me, a child, could you imagine telling a child that dead people are coming for supper tonight?
Mon Dieu! Come first of November mwen zhaka twamblay, on the 2 of November during the day
mwen ka pwen cheer(tje), ok there was this little lamp that my mum used to make called a "Lampion as long as I saw that damn thing, I was frightened to death, first she made two sticks into a cross, and tied them with some kind of thread, at each end she would place a piece of cork taken from a wine bottle or some other bottle, she would get a bottle jar of some sort, pour a large amount of oil into it, sit the cross on the oil to float and light the end of the rope in the middle of the cross, and put it into her bedroom, it looked like a candle to me, but I dreaded even the sight of this thing.
I couldn't stand that day, I wanted it to come and just go! Go! go! but in my imagination, I couldn't bring myself to understand how the hell would dead people be coming home for supper. So I prepared for the day I dreaded.
Before the night came, I would go to my fathers house to ask him if he needed me to go to the shop, because I knew I didn't want to go to his home at anytime during the night, in case I bounce up with his dead wife going to his house for supper, I asked my uncle if he needed cigarettes, I did all I thought people would ask me to as early as possible so I wouldn't be out going on errands during the evening, much less the night. I knew that my elder siblings knew that I was afraid, because they would send me into the rooms to get stuff for them
deliberately, I would dash into the room in a flash and dash out and say that I didn't get whatever the sent me for, they would ask me to go again. Ou Kweer say moonanh tay oblizhay feer mwen sa.
When ever I got a chance I would go back to my thinking,"How can the dead people come home? How are they going to arrive? Are there wheels on their coffins? Are they coming by bus? Which bus is supposed to be taking them home? Billy Bee? Success? Honesty? Morning Star? I wondered. Are they walking all the way from Mon Repos on their feet? What if they
bounce up with someone, would they stop to talk or would they put them into their coffin and bury them. Why? why? do they have to come home for supper, could they just prepare everything by the lady living near the cemetery, and have all of them get together and have supper there and quickly get back into their coffins, disappear, and never return. Why not go to the church, maybe that's the thing they called they last supper, but why do they come back every year? My imagination was going wild, with all sorts of thoughts. I wonder if anyone every saw these dead people. I wondered if my mum and siblings wasn't as scared as I was,
they didn't seem so,why were they not scared, were they telling me the truth? Oh yes they were, because this little Lampion meant
something for sure.
I went to bed early on that day, I always had a belly ach or something, I would not stay up late to see this, Me! what if the people want me to go with them, or what if they insist I get into their coffins, and when they close that coffin, how will I breath, now if my mum is crying what will they do, will they kill my mum too, will they get upset and destroy the whole world, is that how the end of the world will come? Oh boy, I wished I had answers to all of my questions. I would lay on my bedding and think of all of these things, with my eyes closed, it was hard to fall asleep, but I knew I would eventually.
There were two plates on the table, One for Tony and one for Andrew, my two dead brothers, I didn't even know them, I would have loved to see them, they died before mama had me. I wonder if they knew they had a little sister, or more so if they knew my name, what if they did?
What if I heard them calling me in the night? Fear was all over me. I just didn't know what these people was capable of doing. I had lots of questions that I wanted to ask, but didn't want to know the answers,simply because the answers that my siblings gave me scared me even more.
Ok, so on All souls night, when I woke up to pee, I wouldn't dare open my eye, I would get up slowly,trembling with fear, search for the poe with my eyes closed, if my hand bounced on something before it got to the poe, my heart would leap out of my chest, the poe search would begin again, when I found the poe, I would try my best to keep that thing quiet, I wouldn't drag
the thing under me, with my eyes closed tightly I would lift the poe, put it down on a piece of bedding, a try to pee without disturbing these dead people that may even be in the living room at the time. I would listen for the chattering of forks and plates with my eyes closed tightly. I never heard anything, maybe they had not yet arrived or they were gone already, I didn't know and I would dare open my eyes to
to even peep.
Everyone else in the house was sleeping just like a normal day. How could they sleep like that when dead people were supposed to visit. I wonder if Mama didn't want to see her children, how could she not stay up or wake up to see them, maybe she just didn't care because they were dead, No, maybe they could not talk, Oh yes that's why, they couldn't talk to her,dead people don't talk... ummm...but dead people don't walk either, dead people can't eat.....what is going on...I am getting even more confused...why did they do this to us....why were we so naive...why can't we tell our kids stories like this now...ummm would they believe us? maybe not...not today, we might get to have our fun with some, but most of them would ask many interesting questions, maybe they would laugh at us.
Today our children probably don't even know that this day exist, and they probably don't know the meaning of "The Feast of all Saints" neither "The Feast of all Souls" Was Halloween ever Old School?
Let us remember our prayers, we don't necessarily have to scare our children to death on this day, but let us educate them on what exactly these days mean....so that they can know what strong meaning the beatitudes hold in their lives and how to respect the people who have passed...Let's respect the graves of our loved ones and that of others. Stop Standing on the Tombs at the cemetery at funerals. Can we? Yes we can.
today we rejoice in the holy men and women
of every time and place.
May their prayers bring us your forgiveness and love
We ask this in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
From Christian Prayer: Liturgy of the Hours
you are still remembered by my family;
you are most worthy of our perpetual remembrance,
especially you, my grandparents, my parents,
also our relatives, children,
and everyone whom death
took away from our home.
I invite you to this annual feast.
We pray that this feast be agreeable to you,
just like the memory of you is to us. Amen.
The beatitudes can very often go unnoticed but they are very important for those who have made the decision to follow Christ. They should guide us, point us in the right direction, teach us, and show us the values that Jesus cares about. As we read them we should be looking at whether or not we are trying to follow them.
This blog is especially for you Jade! So you can know a little of how yesterday compares to today! I love you!
"Today, as well all know, it's the Feast of all Saints", said the priest, at the beginning of mass..reminding me of the day I once feared. And now i got flashes of what usually happened when I was a child, the day that followed this day was called" All souls day or the feast of all souls.
Up to this day I've asked myself why were we told such weird stories.
When I was a Kid, I dreaded this day (All Souls Day!!) well, according to our parents, this was the day that all the people who have died would come back into the homes of their family to have supper (a feast), how scary this one was for me, a child, could you imagine telling a child that dead people are coming for supper tonight?
Mon Dieu! Come first of November mwen zhaka twamblay, on the 2 of November during the day
mwen ka pwen cheer(tje), ok there was this little lamp that my mum used to make called a "Lampion as long as I saw that damn thing, I was frightened to death, first she made two sticks into a cross, and tied them with some kind of thread, at each end she would place a piece of cork taken from a wine bottle or some other bottle, she would get a bottle jar of some sort, pour a large amount of oil into it, sit the cross on the oil to float and light the end of the rope in the middle of the cross, and put it into her bedroom, it looked like a candle to me, but I dreaded even the sight of this thing.
I couldn't stand that day, I wanted it to come and just go! Go! go! but in my imagination, I couldn't bring myself to understand how the hell would dead people be coming home for supper. So I prepared for the day I dreaded.
Before the night came, I would go to my fathers house to ask him if he needed me to go to the shop, because I knew I didn't want to go to his home at anytime during the night, in case I bounce up with his dead wife going to his house for supper, I asked my uncle if he needed cigarettes, I did all I thought people would ask me to as early as possible so I wouldn't be out going on errands during the evening, much less the night. I knew that my elder siblings knew that I was afraid, because they would send me into the rooms to get stuff for them
deliberately, I would dash into the room in a flash and dash out and say that I didn't get whatever the sent me for, they would ask me to go again. Ou Kweer say moonanh tay oblizhay feer mwen sa.
When ever I got a chance I would go back to my thinking,"How can the dead people come home? How are they going to arrive? Are there wheels on their coffins? Are they coming by bus? Which bus is supposed to be taking them home? Billy Bee? Success? Honesty? Morning Star? I wondered. Are they walking all the way from Mon Repos on their feet? What if they
bounce up with someone, would they stop to talk or would they put them into their coffin and bury them. Why? why? do they have to come home for supper, could they just prepare everything by the lady living near the cemetery, and have all of them get together and have supper there and quickly get back into their coffins, disappear, and never return. Why not go to the church, maybe that's the thing they called they last supper, but why do they come back every year? My imagination was going wild, with all sorts of thoughts. I wonder if anyone every saw these dead people. I wondered if my mum and siblings wasn't as scared as I was,
they didn't seem so,why were they not scared, were they telling me the truth? Oh yes they were, because this little Lampion meant
something for sure.
I went to bed early on that day, I always had a belly ach or something, I would not stay up late to see this, Me! what if the people want me to go with them, or what if they insist I get into their coffins, and when they close that coffin, how will I breath, now if my mum is crying what will they do, will they kill my mum too, will they get upset and destroy the whole world, is that how the end of the world will come? Oh boy, I wished I had answers to all of my questions. I would lay on my bedding and think of all of these things, with my eyes closed, it was hard to fall asleep, but I knew I would eventually.
There were two plates on the table, One for Tony and one for Andrew, my two dead brothers, I didn't even know them, I would have loved to see them, they died before mama had me. I wonder if they knew they had a little sister, or more so if they knew my name, what if they did?
What if I heard them calling me in the night? Fear was all over me. I just didn't know what these people was capable of doing. I had lots of questions that I wanted to ask, but didn't want to know the answers,simply because the answers that my siblings gave me scared me even more.
Ok, so on All souls night, when I woke up to pee, I wouldn't dare open my eye, I would get up slowly,trembling with fear, search for the poe with my eyes closed, if my hand bounced on something before it got to the poe, my heart would leap out of my chest, the poe search would begin again, when I found the poe, I would try my best to keep that thing quiet, I wouldn't drag
the thing under me, with my eyes closed tightly I would lift the poe, put it down on a piece of bedding, a try to pee without disturbing these dead people that may even be in the living room at the time. I would listen for the chattering of forks and plates with my eyes closed tightly. I never heard anything, maybe they had not yet arrived or they were gone already, I didn't know and I would dare open my eyes to
to even peep.
Everyone else in the house was sleeping just like a normal day. How could they sleep like that when dead people were supposed to visit. I wonder if Mama didn't want to see her children, how could she not stay up or wake up to see them, maybe she just didn't care because they were dead, No, maybe they could not talk, Oh yes that's why, they couldn't talk to her,dead people don't talk... ummm...but dead people don't walk either, dead people can't eat.....what is going on...I am getting even more confused...why did they do this to us....why were we so naive...why can't we tell our kids stories like this now...ummm would they believe us? maybe not...not today, we might get to have our fun with some, but most of them would ask many interesting questions, maybe they would laugh at us.
Today our children probably don't even know that this day exist, and they probably don't know the meaning of "The Feast of all Saints" neither "The Feast of all Souls" Was Halloween ever Old School?
Let us remember our prayers, we don't necessarily have to scare our children to death on this day, but let us educate them on what exactly these days mean....so that they can know what strong meaning the beatitudes hold in their lives and how to respect the people who have passed...Let's respect the graves of our loved ones and that of others. Stop Standing on the Tombs at the cemetery at funerals. Can we? Yes we can.
Catholic Liturgy of the Hours All-Saints Prayer
Father, All-Powerful and ever-living God,today we rejoice in the holy men and women
of every time and place.
May their prayers bring us your forgiveness and love
We ask this in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
From Christian Prayer: Liturgy of the Hours
Lithuanian All Souls Day Prayer
Dear souls of the dead,you are still remembered by my family;
you are most worthy of our perpetual remembrance,
especially you, my grandparents, my parents,
also our relatives, children,
and everyone whom death
took away from our home.
I invite you to this annual feast.
We pray that this feast be agreeable to you,
just like the memory of you is to us. Amen.
THE EIGHT BEATITUDES OF JESUS "Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are they who mourn,
for they shall be comforted.
Blessed are the meek,
for they shall inherit the earth.
Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they shall be satisfied.
Blessed are the merciful,
for they shall obtain mercy.
Blessed are the pure of heart,
for they shall see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they shall be called children of God.
Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."Gospel of St. Matthew 5:3-10
The beatitudes can very often go unnoticed but they are very important for those who have made the decision to follow Christ. They should guide us, point us in the right direction, teach us, and show us the values that Jesus cares about. As we read them we should be looking at whether or not we are trying to follow them.
This blog is especially for you Jade! So you can know a little of how yesterday compares to today! I love you!
posted by monrepossports at
9:13 AM
1 Comments:
Phys gurl you are so funny.What an imargination you have.sorry to say from small i was never afride of the dead always the living.I know the dead knows nada but the living on the other hand words cant tell enough of what they are capeable of doing.
I love that experience you've shared.I didn know that's what this day was all about, yes I saw my mom lighting stuff but I thought it was for protection(to prevent them dead people from coming to the house)
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