All Hallows’ Day
All Saints’ Day • Solemnity of All Saints • Hallowmass
Make Much of Small Virtues
About All Hallows’ Day
All Hallows’ Day, the inaugural entry in our 120-day holiday cycle, sets a gracious tone for the season by celebrating the quieter saints among us. Traditionally this day is an occasion when many branches of Christianity honor saints without assigned feast days as well as unrecognized people through whom God may have worked discreet miracles. For our holiday, these are not the righteous defenders of the faith or slayers of metaphorical dragons, but unsung heroes who return stray carts from grocery store parking lots or bring gluten-free cookies to book club because Mary has an intolerance. They often practice their craft behind the scenes without expecting thanks. They are the patron saints of the small gesture: the loving lunch-note writers, the folks who choose to shovel walkways for less able neighbors, and the thoughtful holders of elevator doors. In keeping with the small scale of their marvels, they tend to be longer-lived with less fantastically grotesque final passings than so many of the famous martyrs whose pyres and conflagrations illuminate the larger saints’ calendar. Today, we cheer for the generous, everyday kindnesses of strangers and friends alike.
Ways to observe
(A) Low effort
Send a brief message to someone who has quietly helped you in the past month. Let them know you noticed their impact, even if it’s as small as always having a spare pen or fresh tissue on hand.
(B) Recommended
Look for little chances to perform gratuitous good deeds today. Consider buying some non-perishable goods for a local food pantry; giving a water cooler minute to a dull, chatty coworker; or walking the dog an extra block or two so he can experience new smells. You may find a gesture so rewarding it becomes a new, kind habit.
(C) High effort
Attempt to bake a 'soul cake' recipe. These historic European biscuits are like spiced shortbread cookies. Sharing them in exchange for prayers for the dead (not as a protection offering so your house doesn't get pelted with eggs) is considered one possible origin for the practice of trick-or-treating.
Inspiration
Overshadowed by its own night-before (Hallows' Eve/Halloween), this pious yet practical holiday was the work of efficient leaders in the early Christian church who saw a way to honor the uncountable martyrs lost to Roman persecution while commemorating every saint in one festal blowout. Plus, peppering the year with holidays helped an emerging religion compete socially with the fun traditions of more established faiths. Through the 8th century, the day was observed in early Spring, but its later, grimmer task of honoring all departed Christian souls seems to belong in the last traces of a harvest season and the onset of colder, bleaker, days. The fusion with older folk traditions, especially Samhain, the Celtic festival marking the time when the boundary between the living and the dead was thought to blur, turned costumes intended to protect one from vengeful ghosts into a playful night for fancy dress. Less religious readers with an interest in history may recognize the French term for All Hallows or All Saints due to one of its famous namesakes, Haitian Revolutionary hero Toussaint Louverature (1743-1803).
For me, the day is about “memento mori” in a traditional sense. It encourages meditation on those who have died and one’s own mortality, but the point of this reflection is that one may go forth to make better choices during the time that remains. The living saints among us excel at this work and deserve to receive whatever little merit badges we can dream up while they’re here to receive our appreciation.
Adornments
Watch
The Station Agent (2003)
Finbar McBride wants only to be left alone in his inherited train depot, but he’s distracted by two other misfits, one loquacious, one grieving. The film’s magic is in its restraint through scenes of quiet conversation, awkward silences, and unexpected friendships.
Tokyo Godfathers (2003)
In this overlooked anime by Satoshi Kon, three homeless outcasts in Tokyo (an alcoholic, a runaway, and a drag queen) find an abandoned baby on Christmas Eve. What follows is a touching odyssey as they try to return the child.
Listen
We Are Each Other’s Angels by Chuck Brodsky
A folk ballad about small kindnesses: someone stopping to help on a rainy road, or strangers who appear at just the right time.
Gracias a la Vida by Violeta Parra
This iconic Chilean folk song, best in Parra's own aching voice, is a love letter to life's minutiae. She gives thanks for hearing birdsong, seeing stars, and loving someone.
Read
Humankind: A Hopeful History by Rutger Bregman
This surprisingly optimistic work of nonfiction argues convincingly that most people are basically good. Drawing on anthropology, history, and psychology, Bregman makes the case for decency as humanity’s default setting. I really want to agree.
Pray for Us: 75 Saints Who Sinned, Suffered, and Struggled by Meg Hunter-Kilmer
This book is full of messy, overlooked saints who stumbled their way into goodness. Some were addicts, misfits, or skeptics; all were deeply human.