Halloween

[rinnie]

When I was a kid I was brought up in a Roman Catholic Household. I never heard about Halloween being the devils day in my life until the last ten or so years

Am I the only person who grew up like this, When did it become the devils day. We loved halloween couldnt wait for it, would get tons of Candy it was right up there with Christmas really.

What happened?

Dont get me wrong i am not blind, i see now how it has been made into a horrible day. But was it always like that? Or did someone evil just start this one day?

 

[stacywva]

I grew up after my parents got really into the Pentecostal church and they were always letting me go trick-or-treating but then telling me how bad of a devil’s holiday it is…

I was one confused child.

I view it as another day that just so happens to be All Hallows Eve, a Catholic holi-“holy”-day…

 

[Tantum_ergo]

A lot of confused people get together, ‘cherry pick’ Scripture, and impose their ‘warped’ view onto others. These others, full of ‘convert zeal’, continue and embellish the warped view, adding other equally ‘warped’ views, and continuing the confusion, by this time adding on the ‘bigot’ and ‘intolerant’ cards to any who question them. Factor in that somewhere along the line people started playing this as a ‘religious’ decision for them, add in that many (not all) ‘entertainment mediums’ thrive on controversy and thus bring this up, painting everything into ‘extreme views’ and having people ‘get in each others’ faces’ over this while they giggle over the ‘religious nuts’. . .and voila! You have the Hallowe’en controversy, Christmas controversy, Easter controversy, "do we dare call it any kind of ‘holy day’ lest we offend all those who are not of that religious persuasion’ ‘festivus’ people controversy, the celebration of birthdays controversy, the ‘separation of church and state controversy’, etc. etc. etc. ad infinitum and ad nauseum.

 

[os_justi]

I was raised in the Church of Christ, and for me Halloween was about one thing: getting candy. I wasn’t allowed to go trick-or-treating after I was 10 years old; not because it was evil, but because my mother said I was too old.

Now I’m 29 years old, starting RCIA, and Halloween is still about getting candy. And now that I’m an adult, I won’t get in trouble I put on a costume and eat an entire bag of candy corn. =)

 

[BamaRider]

I grew up the same way. It was nothing more then a fun night. Most of the year candy, snacks, and soda was only every once in a while. To go out and eat candy till you drop was just flat out awesome.

 

[muffinmojo]

I was raised a non-denominational protestant, and halloween was just fun, and never allowed to do ‘creepy’ costumes. Creative, original, awesome? sure. Satan, devils, etc? no.

Some years I get more into it than others. This year, for instance, I’m making (by hand) a Jean-Luc Picard costume(first contact version), while last year i did nothing.

Since I’ve been Catholic though, I always make sure the emphasis is on the day AFTER halloween-the real point. I find I enjoy the solemnity Mass more than dressing up.

Though it’s cool to be able to dress like your fantasy and not be thought weird, for a day at least.(yeah I’m 16 and an uber trekkie)

 

[rinnie]

Do you think its because of Nov 1 being All-Saints-Day could have had something to do with it.

Someone just had to make it ugly because of that. And that is why they choose that day?

Did anyone learn that this is the “devils day” in church though, or just the bad that people started to do with it, taint candy etc. and thats how it became the devils day, because of the evil people started doing?

 

[gettingthere]

I grew up in an Evangelical Christian church/home. We were taught (at church and at home) that Halloween was, basically, bad. I don’t even know if we ever learned why. As kids we would just stay home and watch a movie (usually a “Christian” kids movie) and eat popcorn balls.

As we got older my parents let us go trick-or-treating, but we’d also have to participate in whatever church function was going on (usually a form of trick-or-treating in the church).

Now my husband and I are 27 and 24, respectively, starting RCIA and planning on watching movies and eating candy. And I hope there are kids who go trick-or-treating in our building, because I’m totally buying candy for them!

What is All Hallow’s Eve and All Saint’s Day? I should probably know this.

 

[kage_ar]

Goody goody gumdrops, hope this does not turn into the annual Halloween fight

Sometime back, Catholic Exchange had a good article about reclaiming halloween… Here is the link:

catholicexchange.com/2005/10/10/94151/

 

[Brenda_V]

What is All Hallow’s Eve and All Saint’s Day? I should probably know this.

First, don’t worry about not knowing what these are! You are just starting on your journey into Catholicism there is so much that even I as a pretty well educated 50 year old Cradle Catholic don’t know!

All Saints Day is the day we celebrate all the Saints who don’t fit on the Calendar to have their own feast day. This is a very simple explanation though, someone may go into more detail about it. All Hallow’s Eve is like Christmas Eve, it is just the evening before the feast day.

All Saints Day is a Holy Day of Obligation which this year (2008) falls on a Saturday so the Bishops can choose to transfer the feast to the following Sunday. Many will simply because we have too few Priests and saying all the Masses needed for all the people to be able to make it is way too hard on them. May God bless the Parish Priest who chooses to add an extra Mass or two on that day!

Brenda V.

 

[Sailor_Kenshin]

When I was a kid I was brought up in a Roman Catholic Household. I never heard about Halloween being the devils day in my life until the last ten or so years

Am I the only person who grew up like this, When did it become the devils day. We loved halloween couldnt wait for it, would get tons of Candy it was right up there with Christmas really.

What happened?

Dont get me wrong i am not blind, i see now how it has been made into a horrible day. But was it always like that? Or did someone evil just start this one day?

When I was a kid, in my mostly-Catholic neighborhood, everyone enjoyed Halloween, dressed up for Trick or Treat, and just generally had a ball.

 

[Sierrah]

When I was a kid I was brought up in a Roman Catholic Household. I never heard about Halloween being the devils day in my life until the last ten or so years

Am I the only person who grew up like this, When did it become the devils day. We loved halloween couldnt wait for it, would get tons of Candy it was right up there with Christmas really.

What happened?

Dont get me wrong i am not blind, i see now how it has been made into a horrible day. But was it always like that? Or did someone evil just start this one day?

Halloween is a minor holiday that has been commercialized due to the success of horror films, a rise in paganism, secular retailers looking to make a profit in the downtime before Christmas and the popularity of the culture of death.

 

[redtech]

Halloween is a minor holiday that has been commercialized due to the success of horror films, a rise in paganism, secular retailers looking to make a profit in the downtime before Christmas and the popularity of the culture of death.

And a rootin’ tootin’ good time!!!

Sorry. We’ve always had fun with Halloween. This year we are going to be super heros!

 

[duskyjewel]

Ahhh, I was wondering when it would show up…

The annual Halloween is of the devil and will turn your children demonic thread has arrived!

You really wanna get nasty… all you Celts out there, let’s talk about Samhain! Packing a wicker effigy full of human sacrifices and lighting it on fire, anyone?

 

[stacywva]

Ahhh, I was wondering when it would show up…

The annual Halloween is of the devil and will turn your children demonic thread has arrived!

You really wanna get nasty… all you Celts out there, let’s talk about Samhain! Packing a wicker effigy full of human sacrifices and lighting it on fire, anyone?

:extrahappy:

Not really, LOL…

But yea, that’ll be a good thread if we want to discuss the whole meaning behind Halloween according to fundamentalist doctrine…

Hey… may as well bring this up…

Jehovah’s Witnesses are so against holidays they are against Halloween, Thanksgiving, Birthdays… and Lord, have mercy… Christmas!

 

[Jeanne_dArc]

The Halloween that we celebrate in America actually has Catholic roots. There’s nothing evil or bad about it.

From the History Channel:
"The American tradition of “trick-or-treating” probably dates back to the early All Souls’ Day parades in England. During the festivities, poor citizens would beg for food and families would give them pastries called “soul cakes” in return for their promise to pray for the family’s dead relatives.

The distribution of soul cakes was encouraged by the church as a way to replace the ancient practice of leaving food and wine for roaming spirits. The practice, which was referred to as “going a-souling” was eventually taken up by children who would visit the houses in their neighborhood and be given ale, food, and money."

 

[Catholic90]

Love Halloween!!

Last year we did it 4 times…this year we are going to do it 10 times!!!

'IT" is work at a local haunted house as scary people or monsters and scare people! We do this as a family and scare the bejeebers (or try to) out of people. (Sometimes we even put a costume on ).

Seriously, my goal every night (and I did this last year, too) is to make a small child cry ( age 10 and younger). There are HUGE WARNINGS all over the place that it is for age 10 and up because of scary things. Caution; no kids allowed; Age 10 and up only; Warning; Kids keep out; etc. Of course, you always get some parent who thinks their kids won’t be scared or won’t mind…so the owner of the place gives us employees the high sign to really scare them. .

It is the highlight of our fall!

 

[rinnie]

The Halloween that we celebrate in America actually has Catholic roots. There’s nothing evil or bad about it.

From the History Channel:
"The American tradition of “trick-or-treating” probably dates back to the early All Souls’ Day parades in England. During the festivities, poor citizens would beg for food and families would give them pastries called “soul cakes” in return for their promise to pray for the family’s dead relatives.

The distribution of soul cakes was encouraged by the church as a way to replace the ancient practice of leaving food and wine for roaming spirits. The practice, which was referred to as “going a-souling” was eventually taken up by children who would visit the houses in their neighborhood and be given ale, food, and money."

Now this I never knew, I knew all souls day and saints rolled in together, but i should have known too, think about it all SOULS day. You know souls, spirits, ghosts. That would make sense. But i used to LOVE Halloween, My brother and I would get a pillow case and i swear to you 3/4 full of candy.

By Dads friends at the mine use to love it because 3 weeks later he took it all for them. By then we had candy comming out of our ears. But the best think was as much candy as we had, at the end of the night we would dump it out on the floor and TRADE eachother for what we didnt like.

 

[newf]

Love Halloween!!

Last year we did it 4 times…this year we are going to do it 10 times!!!

'IT" is work at a local haunted house as scary people or monsters and scare people! We do this as a family and scare the bejeebers (or try to) out of people. (Sometimes we even put a costume on ).

Seriously, my goal every night (and I did this last year, too) is to make a small child cry ( age 10 and younger). There are HUGE WARNINGS all over the place that it is for age 10 and up because of scary things. Caution; no kids allowed; Age 10 and up only; Warning; Kids keep out; etc. Of course, you always get some parent who thinks their kids won’t be scared or won’t mind…so the owner of the place gives us employees the high sign to really scare them. .

It is the highlight of our fall!

You are pathetic. Seriously. I’m not going to sugarcoat this like Monicad. You ought to be ashamed of yourself trying to scare a young child to tears. And remember, you will reap what you sow.

 

[queen_anne78]

I always know when October is looming…the mandatory halloween threads heat up.

For us, we celebrate Halloween Catholic-style. It’s the Eve of All Souls, which is a feast day, so we behave accordingly and feast!