Holiday

I should think about masks today.  It is Halloween - I should also think about death today.  The season of Halloween is Samhain, a period of time each year when the membrane between the living and the dead is supposed to be very thin.  During this season, it is said that we can talk to our relatives and ancestors and that they can respond.  Its a good idea, during Samhain, to put out photos, paintings and other images of people we have loved as an invitation to their spirits to be with us.
Even if we are not sensitive, even if we do not hear their voices, it is said that during Samhain we can sense their presence around us.
Religious or not, you can celebrate Samhain as a way to remember important people in your life, both living and dead.  You can make a conscious effort to keep them in your mind, examine how their lives intersected yours, examine where they might be now.
Holidays are important.  But it is not always the literal meaning that we should celebrate.  For example, Christmas.  There has been a lot of hubbub about the predominance of the Christian holiday, simply because it is associated with Christian tradition.  But if you look at the way the holiday is celebrated, you can see that it has elements that non-christians can, and should celebrate happily.  The spirit of giving, the reconnection with family and friends, taking time in the midst of winter to count your blessings, taking time to reflect and turn and plan the oncoming new year.  That the holiday has the added meaning to Christian as a commemoration of the birth of their savior is an added benefit - but you can choose, as a non Christian, to remark the spirit of the holiday without remarking its genesis.
How did we become so judgmental - that we cannot appreciate a holiday, or an idea, in the spirit it is offered instead of dwelling on literal meanings that may have nothing to do with the celebrant's intentions?  How is it that saying "Merry Christmas" to someone not of the Christian faith has become insulting, or offensive?  When I say "Merry Christmas" to someone, I'm not demanding that they turn up at midnight mass in their Sunday best with their children in tow, I'm not suggesting that they go out and spend every penny they have on gifts for their children.  I'm merely sharing my own heightened sense of happiness in the heart of a wonderful season, hoping that they will be merry in this season as well. I can as happily say Happy Hanukkah or Good Solstice, or Happy Kwannsa.  If someone says one of those things to me, I'll nod, and wish them the same.  I'm not offended that the Jew or the African American or the Neo-Pagan has offered me a blessing in their own faith!
With so many wars, so much crime, so much outright evil showing its face in the world, why is it that we can't simply be happy when others are celebrating something good - and wish them the best when they do?