I have been thinking of the richness of our cultural diversity at St Ursula's, and of the joys and complications that it brings. This all started because I wanted to say something by way of explanation about our Remembrance & All Souls service on November 13th, and so I began to read up on the component parts of that service - silly me! Well, Churchill did say that Britain and the United States are "two nations divided by a common language", and, with a British father and American mother, he may have had reason to know, and he was only thinking of two countries. Move the scene to a multi-cultural congregation in a multi-lingual country, and things really become complicated.
Once, back in England, and back in time, it was all very simple: November was the time for Bonfire Night ("Remember, remember the Fifth of November"), All Souls' Sunday and then, a week later, Remembrance Sunday. Harvest festivals were over; we knew nothing of "Thanksgiving", Buss- und Bettag, Ewigkeitssonntag, or Volkstrauertag; and, at least until recently, "Halloween" was not a major feature. The picture is changing - even in England! Halloween has all but eclipsed Bonfire Night, which, with all the new safety regulations, is scarcely a "Fireworks Night" at all; and Remembrance Sunday continues to decline in importance, with many churches no longer celebrating it.
(For a light hearted view of Bonfire Night, see: http://www.geocities.com/robainsley2/eikoku/10.html.)
In Europe most harvest festivals have already taken place. There are exceptions such as those along the Moselle River, which take place on the second Sunday of November, after the grape harvest. Across the Atlantic things are different. Thanksgiving Day, the annual one-day holiday to give thanks at the close of the harvest season, does not take place until it is nearly December, except, of course, in Canada, where it now happens in October. In the USA, Thanksgiving Day was fixed in 1863 by President Lincoln as the last Thursday of November. In 1939 President Roosevelt declared that it would be a week earlier. This was not because he thought the date too late, but to give merchants a longer period to sell goods before Christmas, which Roosevelt hoped would aid bringing the country out of the Depression. 23 states went along with this, but 22 did not, and others, like Texas, took both weeks as government holidays. Finally, in 1941, Congress split the difference and established Thanksgiving annually on the fourth Thursday of November.
Remembrance Day, also called Veteran's Day, Poppy Day, or Armistice Day, depending where you live, is observed in the Commonwealth, the USA and European Countries including France and Belgium to commemorate those who have died in war, especially the two world wars. It is observed on November 11 to recall the end of World War I on that date in 1918. Many traditions include two minutes of silence at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, the time (in Britain and France) when the armistice became effective. The two minutes recall World War I and World War II; before 1945 the silence was for one minute. In some countries Remembrance Day is now less important than an alternative commemoration such as ANZAC Day in Australia, or Memorial Day in the U.S.A. The poppy emblem, worn on the day, was chosen because of the poppies that bloomed across the battlefields of Flanders in World War I, their red colour symbolizing the bloodshed of trench warfare. For Anglicans and Roman Catholics, there is a coincidental but appropriate overlap of Remembrance Day with the feast of St. Martin of Tours, the saint who put aside his life as a soldier for the peace-filled life of a monk.
There is a Remembrance Day ceremony here in Switzerland every year, at the War Graves Cemetery in Vevey, where graves of Allied soldiers and airmen who died in Switzerland are gathered together. It is attended by diplomats and veterans from many countries. I go too, as Chaplain to the British Ambassador.
In the United Kingdom, although the two minutes' silence is observed on November 11 itself, the main act of remembrance is on the second Sunday of November, hence the name: Remembrance Sunday. A special form of service is used by churches of all denominations, in some cases at ecumenical services. However, as even the Second World War becomes a distant memory to most people, many churches are no longer holding their own special service.
November is the time for remembrance in Germany, with the secular Volkstrauertag, and All Saints Day and Ewigkeitssonntag for the major German churches, with Buss- und Bettag in Reformed churches on the Wednesday before Ewigkeitssonntag. Here in Switzerland Buss- und Bettag is a Federal Day on the 3rd Sunday in September, and plays no special role in church life.
This brings us back to our service on 13 November. In an attempt to be as inclusive as we can we have brought together elements of these various ways of remembrance on the British "Remembrance Sunday". During this service the names are read of those for whom our clergy have taken a funeral service during the year, and the names of any other people that we are asked to include. Please let the office know of names you would like to add. Paper "memorial crosses" will again be available for those who would like to write a name on one and place it at the foot of the cross at the front of church. For those who have recently lost loved ones, it is good to have a specific opportunity to remember them again before God: this can aid the grieving process. Even if we are not remembering a particular person who died in war, it is good for us all to be reminded of the horror and cost of war.
May the God of peace and hope speak to all of us during this service.
Yours in Christ
Richard Pamplin