Posted on 10/30/2025 9:11:01 PM PDT by CondoleezzaProtege
The controversy surrounding Halloween arises largely from how cultural and commercial forces have distorted its original meaning. Once a simple vigil (All Hallows Eve) connected to the twin holy days of All Saints and All Souls, Halloween has evolved into an oversized commercial season—now the third most celebrated American holiday after Christmas and Thanksgiving. In the process, troubling cultural trends have emphasized darkness, fear, and the macabre, often at the expense of faith and virtue. Understandably, many Christians worry about exposing children and families to themes that glorify evil or trivialize the reality of death and the afterlife.
This distortion is not unique to Halloween. Other holy days have suffered similar secularization—Christmas, for example, has become centered more on shopping and sentimentality than on the birth of the Savior of humankind.
Yet when understood in its proper context, Halloween has some deep spiritual roots. Its earliest expressions in Celtic lands were indeed pagan, but the Druids reflected a genuine human concern: the mystery of death and the hope for life beyond it. As the harvest ended and winter loomed, ancient peoples faced the fear of mortality and sought meaning through rituals—bonfires dressing up in costumes, and the poor going door to door trading. When Christianity took root in these regions, the Church did not reject these instincts but transformed them. The bonfires that once pierced the darkness became symbols of Christ, the Light of the World. Prayers for the dead became acts of mercy. The fearful spirits of death were overcome by the triumph of the Resurrection celebrated in the feasts of All Saints and All Souls.
This process reveals a deeper spiritual truth.
By symbolically engaging our fears—through story, play, art, or ritual—we can process them safely and bring them into the light of faith.
(Excerpt) Read more at gulfcoastcatholic.org ...
I’ve always hated this holiday.
Very good essay.
Here is my tupence...FWIW ..Happy Samhain...(it’s pronounced sow-when...old Gaelic)
(Boo!)
;)
But not now. Now there is such a death match with evil and it is so in-your-face and normalized by language, crimes, and hatred of good and divine things, that this holiday is pretty grim and basically gives me pause.
California killed it for me, in the 50s and 60s it was just kids in mostly homemade costumes knocking on doors and getting candy, it was a family creative, neighborly kid thing with holes cut into sheets and hobo clothes and silly costumes kids and moms came up with, with grown ups being cheerful with bowls of candy and admiring the costumes, and some creative types doing kid friendly spooky house decorations and a little participation stuff like a witch on a string.
In California during the 70s it seemed to be for the young adults to party, and over the decades it became more and more a sort of greedy commercial event for the kids and a decadent event for the adults, a real business and adult party event without the simple joy and fun, and more and more politics and statements in the costumes, I get the impression it isn’t as neighborly and friendly as it used to be and commonly isn’t even done in one’s own neighborhood.
Halloween used to be a bit of harmless fluff with candy. It seems more demanding and mercenary now, at least around here.
I still enjoy the very little kids tho...they are usually so cute standing there and not exactly sure why...
I’ll be the kill joy!
This article glosses over the fact that it is a holiday which originates in worship in fear of demonic forces and death. When the church came along it did not denounce the partaking in the holiday but required another holiday to “coverover” sins of the previous day.
All Christians should avoid this brushing over of these actions.
Good old Halloween. A day I really enjoy, trashed by the pearl clutching fuddy duddies on FR. “Lighten up Francis” always comes into my mind.
I see so many children in cute costumes come to our house, that it actually raises my spirits about the future. What fond memories I have from my own childhood and with my own children on this night.
The only spiritual root of the Druids was paganism and death. They were so bad that even the Romans thought they were evil.
The only spiritual root of the Druids was paganism and death. They were so bad that even the Romans thought they were evil.
Leave it to America to turn the scariest night of the year into a party.
Halloween dances are very popular these days. I will be going to one tonight at my local ballroom dance venue. It’s basically a costume party where people can express themselves with creative outfits.
Matthew 10:28
And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
bump for later
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