Reclaiming Halloween: a Plea to Church Officials

Once it was celebrated as the Vigil of two feasts. Today it profanes faces and friends, banquets and abundant days.

Social media are fast joining parents and educators to oppose Halloween parties whose anti-social virulence has intensified of late. Halloween is on trial.

Next Monday, children decked out in costumes will ring doorbells and blurt out “trick or treat.” Adults too will don outlandish garb. Even PetSmart has designed an elaborate Halloween web site for dogs and cats.

Ask the meaning of Halloween, and most people will give you blank stares. Children will shrug their shoulders in ignorance still hoping for your treat. The short answer? In the Middle Ages, All Hallows Eve—Hallowe’en was marked on the Christian church calendar as the day before All Hallows Day on November 1st. The Vigil eventually served for All Souls Day, November 2nd as well.

A Mega-Business With every passing year, October 31st grows into a mega-business of fun-loving Jack-O’- Lanterns, and for images of demons, devils and evil spirits, witches, goblins, ghouls, bonfires, and oversized cats, ancient symbols of the devil.

What’s the harm in having a few hours of fun once a year? The problem lies with those who are not content with ordinary fun. Halloween is now linked with vandalism, violence, and a cult that worships the demonic.

Some parents keep their children close to home instead of risking their safety to go trick or treating without an adult. Others chaperone their children lest they be deprived of enjoying the night’s festivities.

What’s the harm in getting dressed up in Halloween outfits once a year? The longer response follows below beginning with an excerpt of an exorcist, posted last week by the Catholic News Agency. Halloween is on trial.

Perspective of an Exorcist

“Father Vincent Lampert, a Vatican-trained exorcist and a parish priest of the Archdiocese of Indianapolis, travels the country speaking about his work as an exorcist and what people can do to protect themselves against the demonic. When deciding what to do about Halloween, he says it’s important for parents to remember the Christian origins of the holiday and to celebrate accordingly, rather than in a way that glorifies evil.” How did we get from All Hallows Eve to Halloween?

Pagan Origins of Halloween

Hundreds of years before Christ, the Druids of Celtic lands made mischief by heckling others with mean tricks and scaring them into offering fruits and sweets. They were prompted by the long nights and early darkness of winter months.

In contrast, Pomona, the Roman goddess of fruits and gardens, was celebrated on November 1st. In the Roman Empire, the custom of eating or giving away fruits, and especially apples, became popular.

The Christian Celebration of All Hallows Eve and All Souls Eve

As with Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, the Church sacralized a pagan celebration, christianizing the mischief of the Druids and the practice of the Roman goddess Pomona. From the seventh- or eighth century, the Church marked October 31st as All Hallows Eve, the eve of All Saints Day. By the eleventh century, All Souls Day, the day after All Saints’ Day, commemorated the faithful departed. All Hallows Eve was then linked to the two feast days. In Ireland and Great Britain, the end of October marked the end of the fall harvest and the beginning of the barren winter, and the faithful were reminded of the call to sainthood as well as the reality of the Four Last Things, death, judgment, heaven, or hell. Depending on where one lived, All Hallows Eve was celebrated by praying that all would attain sainthood. At the same time, prayers were offered for the dead whose prayers, in turn, one sought.

In her book, The Year and Our Children, Mary Reed Newland writes: “Late in the evening in the country parishes, after supper was over, the housewives would spread a clean cloth on the table, set out pancakes and curds, and cider. And after the fire was banked and chairs set round the table for the returning loved ones, the family would recite Psalm 129, “Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord” (De Profundis clamavi ad te, Domine) and then go to bed. The English custom of knocking at doors began by begging for a soul cake. In return, the ‘beggars’ promised to pray for the dead of the household. The refrain sung at the door varied. It could be as short as“a soul cake, have mercy on all Christian souls for a soul cake” to a later version:

“Soul, soul, an apple or two, If you haven’t an apple, a pear will do, One for Peter, two for Paul, Three for the Man Who made us all.”

Advent of the Doughnut

With the soul cake came a new development and an ingenious variation—the doughnut. To remind people that life on earth was but a passing reality, a hole was carved out of the middle of the cake so that those who ate the cake were reminded of eternity. Later on, charades, pantomime, and mini-dramas were developed on the reality of life after death and the means of attaining salvation.

With the remembrance of a saintly life came images of evil and scary creatures like those mentioned above. Still, the familiar and seasonal harvest fruits such as apples, cornstalks and pumpkins were given out to beggars. Christian art depicted death by skulls and bones to remind Christians of death. Pagan and Christian symbols existed side by side.

It is not definitively known to what extent there was a link between the practices of the Druids and the people of Ireland and Great Britain. Nevertheless, Christendom cast its thoughts from the end of temporal life to thoughts of death, sainthood and the departed souls. The saints in heaven and those suffering in Purgatory are part of the full and complete Body of Christ, the Church.

In 1955, All Hallows Eve was stricken from the Church calendar. Since then, the religious significance of October 31st has virtually disappeared. What remains is a day of devilish antics.

Next to Christmas, Halloween is the most commercial and the most anticipated festivity of the year. Like Christmas, Halloween captures the psyche of millions long before the actual date. The commercial world may not want to admit it, but Christmas is primarily a Christian religious feast celebrating the Nativity of the Lord’s birth. The commercial world probably has little or no awareness of the religious history of Halloween.

Like most cultures, the Judeo-Christian tradition is guided by cycles of time. Though distinct from civil time, sacred time is not separated from it but gives it meaning and makes it sacred. God is present and at work in history, and it is through the two concentric circles of civil and sacred time, that we live and work out our salvation. The Jewish liturgical year is highlighted by the holydays of Passover, Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, and Hanukkah; the Muslim, by Ramadan and Eid al-Fitr.

Further Reflections

Today, our youth look up to super-stars as role models. Some are worthy of admiration. The Church can boast of its own success stories, men and women who are worthy not only of admiration but also of imitation. Parents, teachers, and catechists can find countless success stories within the Judeo-Christian heritage. Donning period costumes of periods when saints lived makes learning about one’s faith an enjoyable experience. It’s fun to dress like kings, queens, biblical heroes, Native American saints and those saints who immigrated to this country.

It’s fun to dress like those who befriended and worked among Native Americans, African Americans, and immigrants, teen-age saints, and founders of religious orders. Modern-day martyrs have suffered and died for their faith in lands all over the world. There are martyrs such as the four Maryknoll women missionaries and the Jesuits slain in El Salvador, Asian martyrs, and those who continue to be martyred for their faith in Syria and other Mideast countries. Youngsters may choose to dress up like their own mothers and fathers, their grandparents or other revered relatives.

Planning Group Activities

A group’s creativity will vary as the members consider what activities will be chosen for All Hallows Eve. Children love to compose haiku, limericks, and poems. They may choose to write short paragraphs about their choices. Some children may want to dress up dolls in costumes, keep them, donate or sell them at a benefit for children in need. For the more ambitious, a marionette skit written by the children may be possible drawing together a number of saints in lively repartee.

Some families may want to host a party on All Hallows Eve featuring foods that include pumpkin in recipes—cupcakes, pie, bread, or fritters; doughnuts; apples and other fruits for dunking. With adult chaperones, children may process around their neighborhood in their saints’ costumes. These are only a few ideas that will perhaps spark others. If children see church leaders and educators plan for All Hallows Eve, they will gladly receive the Church’s celebration as an integral part of their Catholic education. Children instinctively recognize what is good, wholesome, and beautiful in contrast to what is sleazy and dangerous.

The Devil in Music

Even music gets in on the Halloween act. The musical composition, “Danse Macabre,” by Camille Saint-Saëns is traditionally played on Halloween. It suggests the presence of the devil and evil spirits by highlighting the ‘devil’s interval,’ a tinny, off-key sound of two notes that jar the ear as though someone is harping on wrong notes. Technically named a tritone, this sound is never (never) permitted in classical composition except to make a point. Clearly, the point of “Danse Macabre” is to mimic the devil in music.

The Church’s Year of Grace

It is the mind of the Church that, through the course of “the Church’s year of grace,” all of us celebrate not only the mysteries of Jesus and the Mother of God but also the feasts of the saints in heaven. In his 1947 encyclical, Mediator Dei, Pope Pius XII wrote: “Through the course of the liturgical year, . . . the Church is always striving to set forth examples of holiness for the faithful, that they, being moved by these examples, may adorn themselves with the virtues of the Redeemer Himself.”

Proud to Be Catholic

The celebration of the liturgical year should form an integral part of Catholic education. As “the Church’s year of grace” is repeated one cycle after the other, it becomes the primary way in which Catholics can sacralize the year, the week, and the day, including All Hallows Eve. Diocesan committees on liturgy should join with educators to plan in advance of October 31st to celebrate the true spirit of All Hallows Eve. Only church leaders can officially lift the ban of 1955 and revitalize the Vigil. They alone can restore it to its proper place on the church calendar.

If devout Jews and Muslims proudly and publically observe their liturgical holydays, why are Catholics willing to hide their faith “under a bushel basket?” We have received a beautiful faith. It is even more beautiful to understand its truth. Who will proclaim it if not we its ambassadors?