Allhallowtide

While shopping for a battery-powered Jack o’ Lantern light, I pondered the meaning of All Hallow’s Eve and why it occurred.

I later found that it is the eve of a period of mourning for the dead, called Allhallowtide, that includes All Saint’s Eve (Halloween), All Saint’s Day (Nov. 1) and All Soul’s Day (Nov. 2).

I considered, “Why have we overlooked the significance of remembering those we’ve lost, turning those solemn days into a festival of frivolity?” For me, the thoughts of lost grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, parents and friends came flooding back.

Then, an email arrived with Michael Beatley’s photograph of the Meadow Valley Pioneer Cemetery which dates back to Plumas County’s founding in 1854. Though the fall color in the shot was light, the photograph’s meaning wasn’t. I realized why I’d been wondering about the meaning of the holiday and asked …

“Why have we put aside honoring and remembering those beloved and sainted forebears for a party?” And answered, “Perhaps visiting historic cemeteries in autumn might be a good tradition to layer upon the Halloween season?” It would add back something lost.

In fairness, Michael wasn’t searching for poignancy, he was looking for autumn beauty and found it beside an historic cemetery along Big Creek Road in Meadow Valley.

There, Big Creek (which runs up to Bucks Lake), said Michael, “is full of Bigleaf maple and dogwood. The creek’s Indian Rhubarb is just turning.”