Day of the dead.

I can't believe it's November.  We're coming to the States this month!  That's crazy.  Anyway...

November's beginning is marked in Romania by Ziua Morțiilor, or Day of the Dead.  Unlike the spooky death themes of Halloween (which Romanians don't really celebrate), Ziua Morțiilor strikes me as a beautiful way to honor and celebrate life and acknowledge death as part of what it means to be human on this planet.  In Romania, Ziua Morțiilor is festive, at least in Lupeni.  Everyone comes to the cemetery carrying armfuls of flowers, clutching candles in their fists.  There's an abundance of cakes (heaping platters full!) and bottles of țuica (a strong, homemade Romanian plum brandy).  Extended families gather in clumps around the graves of deceased loved ones, passing the treats, decorating the tombstone, remembering and mourning and laughing and celebrating.  It's beautiful, and fragrant, and fascinating.

I'm sure it's not all light-hearted.  Just like in the States, the debate rages here too about what it means to celebrate death -- death seen as so antithetical to life, to the holiness of God, to the way things ought to be.  We have some conservative Pentecostal friends here who don't observe Ziua Morțiilor because they believe its treatment of death is un-Christian, who are afraid that it makes room for the devil, who are concerned that it dismisses the seriousness of eternal consequences for your life on earth by simply treating death lightly.  But I can't say I agree.  Of course, death is horrible.  Of course, it's not the way things are supposed to be.  Of course, the promise of the new heavens and new earth and the promise of no more death is a far better promise to look forward to than the reality of our mortality.  But what I like about Ziua Morțiilor is the way it doesn't let death have the final say.  On this day, grief is turned into joy as people remember the love and friendship of those who have gone before.  On this day, the cemetery is not a somber place of grief, but a place of community and remembrance.  And on this day, we can remember and celebrate the goodness of life, and look forward to the day when death will be no more, when tears will be wiped away, and when -- I hope -- we'll join in singing and laughing and passing the cake, celebrating with our God who has overcome the grave -- and even somehow made it beautiful.