Halloween or NAHlloween

  • Thread starter Thread starter Average_Joe17
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
A

Average_Joe17

Guest
Good night! One more question before i head of to bed!
I’ve been raised and taught by my parents that participating in halloween is a sin. My local priest also makes the same statements.

My question is : is participating in halloween a sin itself?

(By participating, I mean dress up in a costume and all that stuff)
 
Average_Joe17 said:
is participating in halloween a sin itself?
Click to expand...
No. It is not a sin to handout candy or dress up tastefully.

However, Catholics are not allowed to engage in tarot cards, fortune telling, or necromancy. If any of these are present at a party, I’d leave…
 
Last edited:
Our parish is having a party for the kids. They’ll wear their costumes, play games, get treats, and have a hayride. Nothing sinful in that.
 
Average_Joe17 said:
I’ve been raised and taught by my parents that participating in halloween is a sin. My local priest also makes the same statements.
Click to expand...
It might depend on what country you live in. I would go with the local priest’s advice and what you were taught by your parents. What country do you live in?
 
Last edited:
If by “participate in Halloween” you mean " engaging in intense spiritual warfare by praying many chaplets and rosaries to combat the wickedness and snares of the devil and his minions" then yes, go for it. You should totally participate in Halloween. God speed.
 
Celebrating halloween by dressing up as spongebob or a vampire and eating candy isn’t sinful.
Samhain, the basis of halloween, is the time that the Irish pagans thought the gap between the world of the living and the world of the dead was at its closest. It wasn’t about summoning dead spirits.
 
The original meaning of Halloween is “All Hallows’ Eve” which is the Vigil of All Saints. This is a time of special holiness in the Catholic Church.
 
It is thus related by his biographers. Whilst the holy Abbot governed his monastery in France, a pious^ hermit lived in a little island off the coast of Sicily. A French pilgrim was cast upon the shore of this little island by a tempest. The hermit, whom he went to visit, asked him if he knew the Abbot Odilo. “Certainly,” replied the pilgrim, “I know him, and am proud of his acquaintance; but how do you know him, and why do you ask me this question?” “I often hear,” replied the hermit,” the evil spirits complain of pious persons who, by their prayers and alms-deeds, deliver the souls from the pains which they endure in the other life, but they complain principally of Odilo, Abbot of Cluny, and his Religious. When, therefore, you shall have returned to your native country, I beg of you, in the name of God, to exhort the holy Abbot and his monks to redouble their good works in behalf of the poor souls.” The pilgrim betook himself to the monastery and did as he was directed.
Here is more on this feast;
In consequence, St. Odilo gave orders that in all the monasteries of his Institute, on the day following All Saints, a commemoration of all the faithful departed should be made, by reciting the vespers for the dead on the eve, and on following morning matins by ringing all the bells and celebrating Mass for repose of the holy souls. This decree, which was drawn up at Cluny, as well for that monastery as for all those dependent upon it, is still preserved. A practice so pious soon passed over to other churches, and in course of time became the universal observance of the whole Catholic world.

CHAPTER XVI : Relief of the Holy Souls - Liturgy of the Church Commemoration of the Dead - St. Odilo

Purgatory is the condition or process of Purification or Temporary Punishment. HELP! HELP! HELP! HELP! THEY SUFFER SO MUCH....
purgatorysouls.blogspot.com purgatorysouls.blogspot.com
 
This. Well stated.

Trick or treating and giving out candy aren’t sinful. Our prot cousins are the ones who came up with the idea that it’s an evil day.
 
Average_Joe17 said:
I’ve been raised and taught by my parents that participating in halloween is a sin. My local priest also makes the same statements.

My question is : is participating in halloween a sin itself?

(By participating, I mean dress up in a costume and all that stuff)
Click to expand...
Certainly not. Dressing in a costume (a reasonable and modest costume, to be clear) has never been a sin, so there’s no reason to make it a sin one day of the year. Ditto with handing out free candy, provided it’s safe for kids.
If there happens to be anything like necromancy or fortune telling, however, to participate in THAT would be a sin. But nothing wrong with doing what most people would for Halloween, including costumes, candy, and pumpkin-carving.
After all, this day is the eve of All Saints.
 
No, it is not a sin. For proof, use the search feature and check out all the other threads over the years about Halloween. 😉 Go wear a costume or give out candy and be at peace. 🍫 🍭 🍬
 
My favorite Halloween costume in a Catholic context was a few years back. The teachers made it clear that all students were to come as a saint. So I painted a cheap platter silver, bought a beard and red paint. I put my son in a black robe with the platter around his neck, added beard and fake blood, and he went as the head of St. John the Baptist - a win/win
 
Last edited:
pnewton said:
My favorite Halloween costume in a Catholic context was a few years back. The teachers made it clear that all students were to come as a saint. So I painted a cheap platter silver, bought a beard and red paint. I put my son in a black robe with the platter around his neck, added beard and fake blood, and he went as the head of St. John the Baptist - a win/win
Click to expand...
This reminds me of an incident at my former place of business. One of the departments always went “all out” in decorating for Hallowe’en, these people knew how to have fun! One year they had set up a “haunted house” and one of the exhibits consisted of a darkened chamber with a large shrouded box. On top of the box was a disembodied head, all gray as though it has been exsanguinated, on a platter with blood and gore all around. I thought it was something they’d picked up at Party City or somewhere. I was getting ready to haul off and slap it…

…and then the eyes started opening and closing, and the lips started quivering. In my horror, I let out an NSFW exclamation of terror and ran out as fast as I could!

They had cut out a hole in top of the box and one of the supervisors was underneath it, with her head sticking out and made up to look like it was decapitated on a platter.

I ended up working for that supervisor.
 
Last edited:
Average_Joe17 said:
I’ve been raised and taught by my parents that participating in halloween is a sin. My local priest also makes the same statements.
Click to expand...
I think it depends on what you mean by “participating in Halloween.”

If you mean wearing sinful (immodest or blasphemous) costumes, celebrating the occult, and/or anything else that that Hollywood is pushing as “Halloween” then yes it would be sinful.

HOWEVER, if you are simply giving out candy, trick-or-treating, and wearing a costume that you would be acceptable at a parish All Hallow’s Eve party, then you should be good.

NOTE: HOWEVER, I DO THINK we Catholics need to take back Halloween, Mardi Gras, St. Valentine’s Day, and St. Patrick’s Day from the secularists.

God Bless
 
Last edited:
Halloween should be a day of fun.
I remember dressing up as a child. In our town, we had a Halloween parade that led to a Halloween festival. Different groups sold food or sponsored game booths. The money went to different groups as a fund-raiser event.
Over the years, some people have try to chastise the day and make it some anti-religion thing.
For Heaven’s Sake, let the kids have some fun! Lighten up!
 
Last edited:
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top