Posted on 10/31/2008 9:49:19 AM PDT by NYer
>>The origins of Halloween are, in fact, very Christian and rather American<<
Thank YOU!
Non-Catholics don’t get the idea of our All Saints Day.
Go to a Catholic school and you will see Halloween costumes then all of them at Holy Mass the next morning!
And let me tell you, if my kids want to celebrate my birthday on any other day but January 24th, am I going to tell them that they are wrong? Especially when they don’t really know the date?
Oh no I am not!
I’m just glad they remembered me.
You'll get some debate about that answer - not every baptist group accepts the identification with Protestantism. So in anticipation of the debate to come, a little preemptive education may be in order here. It's all centers around the "Trail of Blood":
Vatican's claim of link to apostles has parallels in Baptist successionism
"...some conservative Baptists...reject the label “Protestant,” since successionists can’t accept the view that Baptists emerged out of the Protestant Reformation in the 17th century..."
There are some folks who will never accept Catholics and don’t like the fact that we’re here and willing to explain, and if necessary defend, our faith.
This could’ve been an interesting discussion on the origins of Halloween, but anti-Catholics couldn’t resist the temptation to label us as pagans. Such is the way things seem to work around here.
And yes, it is nauseating. It’s tiresome to have people who don’t know us by anything more than words on a screen judge our relationships with Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Thanks, Alex, but I’m well aware of the steaming load of taurine feces called the Trail of Blood. The number of people I’ve known who’ve accepted it has been mercifully small, but they’ve been about the most vocally anti-Catholic (and really, anti-everyone-but-them) people I’ve ever encountered.
To put the thread back on topic, then, I invite everyone to google and compare Hallowe’en with French charivari and German Fasching and Walpurgisnacht traditions.
The Scottish and Hebridean bonfire traditions are also relevant, I believe.
The fact that these traditions go so far back suggests that we cannot simply dismiss them as primitive relics and move on.
I agree with you, but I have seen that the judging of others’ relationships with Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is a two way street.
You’re right, of course, and I freely admit that. And perhaps it’s that I’m a Catholic and thus more aware of the crap that’s thrown in our direction, but it seems like it flows more from their side to ours than the other way around.
Charity requires me to at least consider the sincerity and love of Christ in everyone who calls himself a Christian. I just wish others would offer the same courtesy, regardless of church membership.
Another time she was St. Martin de Tours, with a hobby horse and a Roman soldier outfit.
And one year we did a 'theme' -- she was Papagena and I was the Queen of the Night.
First off, for purposes of clarification, the Catholic Church is not a 'denomination'. It is the only Church founded by Jesus Christ. According to Scripture, Christ wanted us to be one (John 17:22-23). We are all as a Church to be of one mind and to think the same (Philippians 2:2; Romans 15:5). There is only to be one "faith" (Ephesians 4:3-6), not many. For the Church is Christ's Body and Christ only had one Body, not many. Also, since the Church is Christ's Bride (Ephesians 5:29), can Christ be married to more than one wife (essentially a spiritual form of the the sin of polygamy)? No, Christ can only have one wife (i.e., one Church, not many).
I’ve read the Bible.
Then you realize that before there was a Bible, there was the Catholic Church founded by Jesus Christ. And you also realize that, according to the Bible Itself, the Church is the "pillar of truth" (1 Timothy 3:15), not the Bible. Can there be more than one interpretation of the Bible? No. The word "truth" is used several times in the New Testament. However, the plural version of the word "truth" never appears in Scripture. Therefore, there can only be one Truth. Early christians did not have the Bible. The Bible as a whole was not compiled until the late 4th century and then it was compiled by a Catholic saint (St. Jerome) at the request of a Catholic pope (St. Damasus I). There are still remote communities today that speak a language into which the Bible has yet to be translated. There are also illiterate people in the world who cannot read the Bible. Like the early christians, they are still taught through "oral" teachings by the Church, not by writings.
To suggest that Jesus is a liar is an outright falsehood.
His views stem from the “Trail of Blood” version of Christian history, which insists (to the best of my recollection) that the “true” church was forced underground by the Big Bad Catholic Church, and that same Catholic Church destroyed the evidence. Of course, that flies in the face of the church being the light of the world, city on a hill, and lamp that cannot be hidden (Matthew 5:14-16).
Actually, halloween is a great time to teach children what an Obama presidency will be like. When they come home from walking the neighborhood collecting candy, greet them at the door with shouts of “you selfish little brats, kids that live in the country don’t have the opportunity to go to so many houses and can’t collect as much candy as you.” Then reach into their bag of candy and take out half of it. In the coming weeks when they have finally eaten what was left of their candy, give them back what you took, one piece at a time. Each time you give them a piece make them beg a little, then ask them, “aren’t mommy and daddy nice for giving you free candy?” This will teach them how to grow up to be liberals.
You should also make them fill out and sign a lengthy detailed form elaborating how much of each type of candy they collected before your levy and demand that they keep a copy of that document for at least 13 years, in case you want to review their payments later and impose additional penalties and interest.
Hallowe'en
Eve of All Saints
October 31st
by Helen Hull HitchcockNot long ago, a friend and I were talking about children and holidays. "What am I going to do about Hallowe'en?" she asked. "My kids love planning costumes, figuring out jokes and riddles for trick-or-treating, and then there's the big night when dozens of neighbor children come to our door for handouts. But now I wonder if it's right for Christians to let our kids participate in pagan holidays like this at all."
Her concern was real — and considering some of the adult Hallowe'en street celebrations in recent years, anyone would think this is a deeply pagan festivity. (The same might be said of Mardi Gras celebrations!) Add to that the fact that some people today actually claim to be witches. They have claimed "ownership" of Hallowe'en. They claim it is really an ancient pagan harvest festival.
What about this? Can even innocent children's parties, trick-or-treating, dressing up like witches and ghosts on October 31 — as almost all Americans have done for generations — be participating in a pagan religious celebration? Worse, is it a way of seducing our kids into the occult or devil worship?
Are we compromising our religious beliefs and principles by letting our children, even if innocently, dabble in something that has its origins in evil? As Catholic families, what is our obligation to be consistent and true to our faith?
We think that Hallowe'en can be a real teaching moment. Despite what many people think — or what some modern-day "witches" may claim — Hallowe'en is and has always been a Christian holiday.
The word Hallowe'en itself is a contraction of "Hallowed evening". Hallowed is an old English word for "holy" — as in "Hallowed be Thy Name", in the Lord's Prayer.
Why is this evening "hallowed"? Because is is the eve of the Feast of All Saints — which used to be called All Hallows. Like Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve, and the Easter Vigil, the Church's celebration of her greatest feasts begins the evening before. (This follows the ancient Jewish practice of beginning the celebration of the Sabbath at sundown on Friday evening.)
We need to begin to re-Christianize or re-Catholicize Hallowe'en by repairing the broken link to its Christian meaning and significance. We need to reattach it to All Saints Day — and to All Souls Day, for it is only in relation to this that we can understand the original and true significance of the "hallowed eve".
The Communion of Saints The Church's belief in the Communion of Saints is a key to unlocking the real mystery of Hallowe'en and to restoring its connection to the Church's celebration of All Saints and commemoration of All Souls.
The Communion of Saints is really a definition of the Church: the unity in faith in Christ of all believers, past, present and future, in heaven and on the earth. We are united as one body in Christ by holy things, especially the Eucharist, which both represents the Mystical Body of Christ and brings it about. (See the Catechism of the Catholic Church §960)
The Communion of Saints also means the communion in Christ of holy persons (saints) — "so that what each one does or suffers in and for Christ bears fruit for all". (CCC §961)
So, as Pope Paul VI put it, "We believe in the communion of all the faithful of Christ, those who are pilgrims on earth, the dead who are being purified, and the blessed in heaven, all together forming one Church".
Furthermore, "we believe that in this communion, the merciful love of God and His saints is always [attentive] to our prayers". (CCC §962)
This is why Catholics honor the saints and "pray to the saints". (Actually, what we are doing is are asking them to pray for us -- to add their prayers to ours, just as we might ask a friend to pray for us. This is known as "intercessory prayer".)
It is because of our belief in the communion of all the faithful in Christ — in this world or in the next — that Catholics pray for the dead, for all those those have died and who are being purified (in Purgatory), that they will soon be granted eternal rest in heaven with God and reunited with all the saints.
A reminder of "Last Things" It's odd, isn't it, that Hallowe'en is such a big deal in our secularized society in America today? In the pre-Modern world the threat of impending death from plagues and wars, as well as uncontrollable disease, loomed large in people's daily lives. Death could not be ignored. Themes of the Last Judgment, Heaven, Hell were on people's minds, and the art of the period illustrates this. Consciousness of personal sin, repentance, confession and penance and the Church's role in forgiveness of sins influenced the spiritual life and devotion of most Catholics.
The omnipresent reality of death, almost daily experience of it, and people's authentic religious beliefs about it, along with ignorance and superstition and folk legend, led to an attitude toward death that often seems primitive, bizarre and alien to us, now.
Paradoxically, though, in our contemporary world — justly called a "Culture of Death" — people often seem to be "in denial" about death. As a culture, we avoid not only avoid coming to grips with personal sin and the consequences of evil, but we deny the spiritual value of the suffering and pain associated with dying, which are a part of the human condition.
Even Christian funeral customs have changed markedly in the past few decades. Although the Church strictly forbids eulogies at funeral Masses, there has been a recent tendency to "canonize" the person who dies — to assume that the person is instantly in heaven. This emphasis on joy and eternal bliss, and the denial of the sorrow, loss and suffering death causes, may reflect the widespread denial sin and of hell, which is the eternal consequence of unrepented sins. (This mistaken idea of "instant heaven" among Catholics also deprives the "faithful departed" of needed prayers for purification.)
Could this denial of belief so common in our "culture of death" account for why Hallowe'en has become an occasion for flaunting our lack of belief in the power of evil, Satan and his power in this world? Do we attempt to tame death and hell by erasing all trace of the original connection of the Eve of All Hallows to the solemn feast of All Saints and the commemmoration of the dead on All Souls day?
We can see how such attitudes actually destroy belief in the Church as the Communion of Saints — past, present and future. The rejection of Christianity also underlies the self-conscious invention of new "pagan" observances, such as "wicca" and some New Age pseudo-religions.
Hallowe'en is distinctively Christian — and specifically a Catholic holiday — so we Catholics should restore the original meaning of this feast and season of the Church's year.
Celebration in the Domestic Church HALLOWE'EN As Catholics — and as parents — our job is to make clear the real meaning of the Hallowed Evening and its link to the Communion of Saints to our families and our communities. Celebrating Hallowe'en in the "domestic Church" can help restore the link with All Saints and All Souls. Hallowe'en, like Valentine's Day, and even Christmas, is a big commercial "holiday". But if the original religious significance of these celebrations is restored, this could have a beneficial effect on the religious formation of youngsters.
Hallowe'en is chiefly celebrated in America, and principally as a children's festival. As with many holidays (holy days), pagan elements have been part of the tradition most of us associate with Hallowe'en. In a culture that has lost its Christian moorings, there is a serious risk that the "paganizing" of holy days will lead to further loss of belief.
Consciously anti-Christian Hallowe'en celebrations in recent years have led many Christian families to believe that participation in any Hallowe'en festivity — even kids trick-or-treating and dressing up in costumes — should be avoided.
But our task, as laity — as Catholics — is to evangelize our culture. In this case, we might say "re-evangelize", because, as we have seen, Hallowe'en is really a completely Christian festival.
There is something nostalgic and cheerful about our memories of celebrating Hallowe'en — even if our celebration was completely disconnected from the real holy day that inspired it. The same could be said of Mardi Gras, which is now detached from the authentic observence of Lent; and even jolly Santa Claus, who bears no resemblance to the Middle-Eastern bishop, Saint Nicholas, and adds nothing to the real meaning of Christmas. Saint Valentine's Day and Saint Patrick's Day celebrations have also become almost entirely secular and commercialized.
Do we want to abolish all these secular holiday customs? No, we don't. They are truly a part of our culture. But as Catholics, we should see in these celebrations an opportunity "inculturate" the vestiges of truth in the customs, and to integrate these customs with some fresh ways to instill the real meaning of the holiday.
Understanding our customs and traditions
Trick-or-Treating on Hallowe'en — like Santa Claus and his "eight tiny reindeer", is fun — and an authentic part of our own culture. The naughty and destructive tricks once associated with Hallowe'en seem mostly to have disappeared.
What about children dressing as devils and witches and ghosts?
We think dressing children to look like devils or demons is not a good idea. Is it harmful? Probably not. But at the very least it tends to reduce evil to something cute or fun, and this is certainly off-base. Talking with kids about choosing Hallowe'en costumes can give Christian parents an opportunity to make it clear that there is a real personal Devil, and he is truly evil — something people nowadays are inclined to forget.
Until very recently, witches seemed entirely fanciful — like fairies or leprechauns. Witches were comically wicked, like the Wicked Witch of the West in The Wizard of Oz, or Samantha on the old TV series Bewitched. Now, however, some very misguided people actually claim to be witches, and they practice fabricated religions based on magic and the occult. Some even claim to worship Satan. This is not funny. It is seriously wrong and it changes the picture considerably. Again, this can be a teaching moment when we talk with our children about this.
Jack-o'-lanterns are different. Although the big orange pumpkins with glowing scary faces are uniquely American, this is our remake of an old Irish custom, based on a folk tale about a man who was so miserly that, after he died, his ghost had to walk about at night with a lantern made from a hollowed-out turnip, in order to make amends for his sins by warning the living to repent. As the story goes, people later began to carve the miser's ghostly features in the turnips as a reminder of his message.
(This tale of the repentant miser's ghost reminds me a bit of Scrooge's ghostly partner, Jacob Marley, in Dickens's A Christmas Carol, who had to drag heavy chains forged in life by his sins. Remember? Marley's ghost visited Scrooge in order to scare him into changing his sinful ways before it was too late.)
But the story of the miserly Irishman and his penance was lost over time, and Jack-o'-lanterns grin fiercely from our American pumpkins, not turnips. This custom has become a memorable part of American childhood.
Picking out the pumpkins can be an excuse for arranging a nice family outing in the fall. And carving them is an activity that can involve almost all members of the family.
While we're helping small children carve the pumpkin, we might tell them the Jack-o'-lantern legend — and we can even relate it to authentic Catholic teaching about Purgatory and the need for every soul's purification from the effects of sin before entering Heaven.
Symbolism of Hallowe'en colors
Did you ever wonder why the traditional colors of Hallowe'en are black and orange?
Orange is the color the color of ripe pumpkins, falling leaves and glowing sunsets and candlelight. The color represents harvest and autumn, the pleasant warmth of bonfires and blazing hearths, and the harvest moon of the year's waning days. As days are growing shorter and colder, and the creatures of the earth prepare for winter, we, too, are reminded of the "last things" of life.
But perhaps the main reason that this color came to be associated with with death and mourning – thus to Hallowe’en and All Soul’s – is related to the dusky yellowish-orange color of the unbleached beeswax candles used at Requiem Masses (also during Holy Week, especially on Good Friday). These dark “mourning” candles contrast sharply with the much whiter candles made of refined and purified beeswax that are used at Easter and other feasts. At funeral Masses, four to six tall lighted unbleached wax candles were always placed around the catafalque holding the casket covered by a black pall.
Black is the traditional color of mourning in the West. Black signifies sins, evil (as in "black-hearted"), the occult or hidden (as in "black magic"). Many people may think this nearly universal association of darkness with evil comes only from the irrational childish fear of the dark, of the unseen. But there is more to it than that. Jesus is the Sun of Righteousness; the Light of the World. Black — the absence of light — is the opposite of this Light of Christ. For this Light penetrates and overcomes spiritual darkness, ignorance, sin. In the words of the prophet Isaiah, "The people that walked in darkness have seen a great Light. And they that walked in the valley of the shadow of death, upon them hath a light shined.” (Isaiah 9:2)
Throughout most of Christian history, black was always the liturgical color used for funerals, for requiem Masses, Mass on All Souls and on Good Friday – along with the dark yellow wax “mourning” candles. Although since the Second Vatican Council, priests now often wear white vestments at funeral Masses, to symbolize the Resurrection, black vestments are still proper for funerals and for All Souls Masses. (Violet is also approved for funerals, and red for Good Friday.)
Suggestions for family celebration - Costumes - Parties - Games
Saint Michael, Archangel, defend us in battle;
Be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the Devil.
May God rebuke him, we humbly pray;
And do thou, O prince of the heavenly host,
by the power of God, thrust into hell Satan
and all the other evil spirits who prowl about the world
seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.
Follow this prayer with the traditional invocation of the Sacred Heart of Jesus:
Most Sacred Heart of Jesus: Have mercy on us. All Saints Day - Origin as a solemn feast of the Church
Most Sacred Heart of Jesus: Have mercy on us.
Most Sacred Heart of Jesus: Have mercy on us.+ In the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost. Amen.
All Souls Day - Prayers for the Dead
>>My daughter was St. Lucy, with two artificial eyes on a plate.<<
You owe me a keyboard. LOL!
I did theatrical costuming for awhile, so I have a LOT of fun with Hallowe'en, RenFest, and any other excuse for dressing up. My kids love my big Costume Trunk, there's something in there for everyone!
I can only imagine!
"Good and true" doesn't have to be redeemed. Other than Christ, nothing is good and true, especially paganism, which rejected the one true God.
> The past few years, we have changed our view.
Uh-oh. You have now created the scenario where your older will pontificate to the younger on how easy she (the younger) has it compared to her (the older). I’m almost to retirement, and my older brother still harps on how he had it so much tougher than I, as a kid.
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