C
CB_Catholic
Guest
The whole time I was growing up in the 50’s and 60’s and went to Catholic schools, we celebrated the secular traditions in the Catholic schools with the Sisters and the Priests in attendance. We had Halloween parties complete with costumes in the classroom, went trick or treating, had Christmas parties and small gift exchanges, Santa Claus would visit the parish at the Christmas party, etc. Never once did we consider any of this unholy or unhealthy and we were all, at that time, “traditional”. That is how Catholics in America celebrated Christmas and Halloween traditionally
We also were given religious instruction on the meaning of the Holy Days, Christmas, All Saint’s Day, Easter, etc. We understood both the American secular culture celebrations and the religious culture celebrations, and to us there was absolutely no conflict, until sometime, in the late 60’s and early 70’s, grownups decided some of this this might be harmful to children, although no one has yet published any studies or proved in any way that it was. The biggest proponents of not celebrating Halloween or Santa Claus seemed to be fundamentalist Protestants, not Catholics. (Catholics have aways been known to have a good time, at least traditionally).
Now every year I hear about people (and I am not referring to the posters here) who are convinced that Halloween is evil and Santa Claus tales are harmful to children because they are “lies”. I can understand that with the way the world is today, that parents are hesitant to let their kids roam the neighbohoods and take candy off of strangers–but I can’t see taking all the secular fun out of the holidays. American cultural traditions with respect to the holidays are not bad, although there is an excess of materialism, which can be easily controlled by the parents, if the parents have the guts to.
I just feel sorry for some children today, because we always had so much fun on the holidays celebrating both the secular and religious traditions, and no harm was done to us psychologically. Most children are quite well able to distinguish fantasy from reality. it’s the adults I worry about in this respect.
But, as many posters have indicated, there are many religious traditions that can be fun for the family, like advent wreaths and calendars, pooling resources and buying presents for those in need, Christmas caroling, sending out religious-themed Christmas cards,making presents for loved ones, etc. One of our favorites with my grandchildren is to have a special cake for Jesus’ Birthday.
We also were given religious instruction on the meaning of the Holy Days, Christmas, All Saint’s Day, Easter, etc. We understood both the American secular culture celebrations and the religious culture celebrations, and to us there was absolutely no conflict, until sometime, in the late 60’s and early 70’s, grownups decided some of this this might be harmful to children, although no one has yet published any studies or proved in any way that it was. The biggest proponents of not celebrating Halloween or Santa Claus seemed to be fundamentalist Protestants, not Catholics. (Catholics have aways been known to have a good time, at least traditionally).
Now every year I hear about people (and I am not referring to the posters here) who are convinced that Halloween is evil and Santa Claus tales are harmful to children because they are “lies”. I can understand that with the way the world is today, that parents are hesitant to let their kids roam the neighbohoods and take candy off of strangers–but I can’t see taking all the secular fun out of the holidays. American cultural traditions with respect to the holidays are not bad, although there is an excess of materialism, which can be easily controlled by the parents, if the parents have the guts to.
I just feel sorry for some children today, because we always had so much fun on the holidays celebrating both the secular and religious traditions, and no harm was done to us psychologically. Most children are quite well able to distinguish fantasy from reality. it’s the adults I worry about in this respect.
But, as many posters have indicated, there are many religious traditions that can be fun for the family, like advent wreaths and calendars, pooling resources and buying presents for those in need, Christmas caroling, sending out religious-themed Christmas cards,making presents for loved ones, etc. One of our favorites with my grandchildren is to have a special cake for Jesus’ Birthday.