Mixing Religions and Other Stuff
Today, of course, has been Halloween- All Hallow's Eve. November 1 is All Saints Day and in some parts of the Hispanic world, November 2 is El Dia de los muertos- the day of the dead. Talk about an eclectic, synretistic mixing of all kinds of things in all of this.

In general, All Saints Day was promoted in Christianity as a way of taking the power away from this fall holiday/holy day that we now call Halloween. (Gee, that worked well, didn't it.) One of the many times the church has tried to "baptize" a non-Christian element of society to make it fit. (Think Christmas Trees and Easter Eggs.)

Well, in Spanish class this morning we spent a good deal of time reading and talking about (in Spanish, of course) these holidays this week. It was intriguing and fascinating to hear of the customs and practices that have been added to the "basic" Christian message that go way, way back to primitive times in Latin America. Probably we are talking about rituals that have roots in Maya, Incan, and Aztec practices. These rituals have been absorbed into the Christian rituals and practices with hardly a blink of an eye.

Because these celebrations and rituals are so different from what "modern" Christianity in the United States and Europe looks like, it is tempting to be repelled by them. I can see how a euro-Christian would go to such places and react negatively, calling them pagan practices or superstitions. In the United States, the "native" or "indiginous" religious practices were almost entirely wiped out by the euro-Christians. Very little, if any of those rituals found their way into American Christian practices.

But what we have in our US/Western European religious styles is ancient Middle Eastern, European, and Greek/Roman paganism. They were baptized into our European religious consciousness so long ago we don't even question them. The dualistic view of the body and spirit that we cling to is one. Greens and trees at Christmas and those eggs at Easter. We don't even think about it.

It is always interesting to learn about other cultures, customs and practices. It reminds us that we are not the final arbiters of what is or isn't The Way to understand and live the faith. We are as culturally bound as anyone. Our interpretations of faith and scripture are as culturally bound as anyone elses.

It is an important fact since euro-Christianity is losing its predominance in the world if it hasn't already done so. Christianity is moving South of the old western civilizations. It will not look the same.

Which for us euro-types is a challenge. It forces us to consider humility as a way of life. Something we are not generally good at doing.