Seasonal | Pilgrim's Perch

Advent: The Light coming into the World

Christ comes into the world to bring light and banish darkness

Balinese artist Nyoman Darsane—painter, musician and dancer was born in 1939 and raised as a Hindu. At the age of seventeen he became a Christian and as a result was ostracized by his family and village community, who thought he was abandoning his culture. But Darsane was determined to show through his art that Christianity was not at odds with the Balinese heritage and they eventually accepted him back. Darsane once said: “Bali is my body; Christ is my life.”

Dance is integral to Balinese life and in so many of his paintings Nyoman Darsane depicts Jesus as a dancer, dancing the world into being. In this picture we see a bare-chested Jesus, full of energy, dancing down from the top right corner and bringing fire and light. We see him wearing traditional ornaments – wrist and arm bands, a leather necklace and white cotton pants with velvet cuffs. As Jesus clears a path for himself he pushes the demons to the very edge so he can dance right into the womb of Mary. Mary kneels in traditional Balinese prayer posture, holding a frangipani flower to her forehead.

The symbolism here is clear. Jesus comes to challenge the powers of darkness; to fight the power of oppression and injustice , and to usher in a new way of being. He invites us to consider how we can fight the obstacles that afflict so many, and strive to make the world a better place.

He parted the heavens and came down with a storm cloud under his feet.
He reached down from on high and grasped me; he drew me out of great waters.
He delivered me from my strong enemies and from those who hated me; for they were too mighty for me.
He brought me into an open place; he rescued me because he delighted in me.
He parted the heavens and came down.
Adapted from Psalm 18

Remembrance

We will remember them…

All Souls

The autumnal season of remembering continues with All Souls on 2nd November. This follows on from All Saints and is the last of the three days that make up Hallowtide, a period which was particularly marked during the Middle Ages.

In her book, ‘The Celtic Wheel of the Year’, Tess Ward writes:

‘It is as if, with the darkness, our memory, our dreaming, our shadow selves and the whole cast of our inner life, comes out to play.’

Hence the playfulness of Hallowe’en and the darker evenings encouraged the winter tradition of story-telling and singing around the hearth and fire. When entertainment couldn’t be had by means TV, cinema, social media, folk had to create it for themselves.

Singing and telling stories around the fire

In order to understand the customs of Hallowtide we need to think about earlier beliefs concerning the dead. It was believed that after dying souls went to Purgatory, a kind of half-way house to either heaven or hell depending on the individual’s merits. The living could help those souls in purgatory and ensure they went to heaven by praying for them. Often this was accompanied by the ringing of bells and although this practice was banned during the Reformation it continued for many years afterwards.

Bells accompanied prayers at All Souls — Bells accompanied prayers for the dead at All Souls

In the Iron Age the dead were often buried with possessions they might need in the after-life – drinking vessels, jewellery and weapons. The remains of these can often be seen in museums and archaeological sites and provide a fascinating insight into earlier beliefs about life and death. The people of that time saw little cut-off between the living and the dead. Death was part of the ‘life-journey’; it just took place out of sight of those left behind.

Visible and invisible merge into one on the life journey

One of the customs of All Souls was to light a fire on the hearth and leave food and wine for those who had died. The Irish would leave the entrances to burial mounds open so that the dead might find their way onwards. A tradition at All Souls was the baking of Soul Cakes. These were lightly spiced, round cakes and were often given out with ale. If the householder refused a prank might be played – you can see here resonances with the ‘trick- or treat-ing’ of Hallowe’en. In their book A Year of British Calendar Customs the writers Palmer and Lloyd quote an early song that was sung as groups of people went from house to house:

‘Soul, soul, for a soul cake!
I pray good missis, for a soul cake!
An apple or pear, a plum or a cherry,
any good thing to make us merry.'

All Souls continues to be marked today. Churches will often hold services where prayers are said for those we remember. The names of those loved and lost are read aloud and often candles are lit in their memory. It can be a source of great comfort to those who mourn, whether recently or further back in the past.

Candles lit for loved ones departed — Candles lit for loved ones now departed