Halloween

  • Thread starter Thread starter JoyToTheWhirled
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
Mayita30 said:
me (a Catholic) : Do you celebrate halloween???

friend (protestant) : Halloween???..Why should I celebrate the devil??

okk end of story…since that conversation happened…NO MORE HALLOWEEN FOR ME
Click to expand...
Respectfully, if you are Catholic, I would refrain from putting too much stock in the theological opinions of Protestants, especially regarding celebrations of the liturgical year. They can be right about some things, but All Hallows Eve is very, very Christian. See this:

catholicism.about.com/od/thecatholicfamily/p/Halloween.htm
Mayita30 said:
Catholic holidays are

November 1 : All saints day
November 2: All souls day

We are required to go to mass on Nov. 2…
Click to expand...
Perhaps where you live All Souls’ Day is a Holy Day of Obligation, but that’s not universal. It’s good, of course, but not required.
 
I need to push the dress as Saints more on my young children; I do like that idea. I tried to convince my oldest daughter to go as Maximilian Kolbe, but she decided on Elsa from Frozen.🤷
 
Our family loves Halloween!! Ever since my children were very small, we have always had a huge neighborhood party. My husband and I would buy 50+ pumpkins, hollow them out (well…that was my husband’s job :p), buy or print up a lot of patterns and tools, fix food and invite anyone who wanted to attend. Over the years, our tools have expanded as have our patterns. My husband even bought a pumpkin cleaning power tool. The party is usually held 3 days before Halloween. All of the neighborhood kids and parents carve pumpkins- and we put them out all down the street on orange buckets that I obtained from a home supply store. Every night, we put the pumpkins out- then bring them in around 10:00. My husband and I stay outside with them, keeping them lit- and neighbors join us. We all sit outside talking while our kids compare pumpkins. It is a season of fun and friendship for us. On Halloween night, we have a lot of Trick-or-Treaters who enjoy the pumpkin art show. And, of course, the kids all bring their friends by to see their “artwork” on the street. As we have grown older, it has become more of a pumpkin aerobic class for us but we love it. Our kids are now grown and married with their own children- but the tradition continues in our neighborhood as well as their’s. We’ve even been on TV! I’m always saddened when I read about people who don’t let their children dress up, get candy and just be kids for the night. The devil has way more stealth ways to come at people than Halloween celebrations. And God is always here to defeat these attacks on His followers. So have faith and have fun!
 
pensmama87 said:
Respectfully, if you are Catholic, I would refrain from putting too much stock in the theological opinions of Protestants, especially regarding celebrations of the liturgical year. They can be right about some things, but All Hallows Eve is very, very Christian. See this:

catholicism.about.com/od/thecatholicfamily/p/Halloween.htm

Perhaps where you live All Souls’ Day is a Holy Day of Obligation, but that’s not universal. It’s good, of course, but not required.
Click to expand...
Respectfully, All Souls day is more CATHOLIC than what you call Hallows Eve… Perhaps where you live in is more of a Protestant nation.
 
Mayita30 said:
Respectfully, All Souls day is more CATHOLIC than what you call Hallows Eve… Perhaps where you live in is more of a Protestant nation.
Click to expand...
Do you know why it was called All Hallow’s Eve/Hallowe’en?

“Hallow” is a word which means “holy”–see the “Our Father,” which says in part, “Hallowed be thy name.” All Hallow’s Eve is the evening before All Saints’ (Hallows’) Day. That’s all.

Until rather recently, Ireland was as Catholic country as you could ever find. Do you know how they celebrated All Hallow’s Eve? By having children dress up in odd costumes, carry lanterns made of carved vegetables (jack’o’lanterns), and knock on doors for treats. The treats were called “soul cakes,” and there was even a song about them:

“Soul cakes, soul cakes,
I pray thee, good missus, a soul cake!
One for Peter, two for Paul,
three for Him who made us all!”

The children would, in turn, promise to pray for the beloved dead of the house which they visited. The spooky lanterns and costumes were to remind us of our own mortality and our possible eternal destinations–quite fitting on the eves of All Saints’ and All Souls’, respectively!

This is part of the Catholic tradition of holding feast days to start on the evening before. Note that Holy Saturday evening is when converts traditionally come into the Church; that Christmas Eve is revered as well as Christmas Day; and that you can attend Mass the Saturday evening prior to Sunday in order to fulfill your obligation. This dates back to Jewish tradition, in which great feasts and the Sabbath started at sundown the prior day.
 
UbiCaritas said:
The children would, in turn, promise to pray for the beloved dead of the house which they visited. The spooky lanterns and costumes were to remind us of our own mortality and our possible eternal destinations–quite fitting on the eves of All Saints’ and All Souls’, respectively!
.
Click to expand...
How can spooky lanterns and costumes remind us of our own mortality. I don’t get this.
Shouldn’t Nov. 1 and 2 be more important… Nov. 1 reminds us of all the saints or our departed loved ones who are now in Heaven and on Nov. 2 is the feast day of the Holy Souls particularly those souls who are in Purgatory
 
Mayita30 said:
How can spooky lanterns and costumes remind us of our own mortality. I don’t get this.
Shouldn’t Nov. 1 and 2 be more important… Nov. 1 reminds us of all the saints or our departed loved ones who are now in Heaven and on Nov. 2 is the feast day of the Holy Souls particularly those souls who are in Purgatory
Click to expand...
How does children dressing in fun costumes and collecting candy from neighbors take away from any of that?

It’s a fun holiday for kids yet we can always count on the CAF community to expose that one person in the neighborhood with their porch lights off. 👍

That reminds me, I’m going to break into the hidden candy stash before the kids wake up from their nap!
 
PhiloMed said:
How does children dressing in fun costumes and collecting candy from neighbors take away from any of that?

It’s a fun holiday for kids yet we can always count on the CAF community to expose that one person in the neighborhood with their porch lights off. 👍

That reminds me, I’m going to break into the hidden candy stash before the kids wake up from their nap!
Click to expand...
Do most people who put in lots of effort on costumes and parties for halloween do the same by going to mass on Nov. 2 and also visiting the cemetery??? I doubt it…
 
Mayita30 said:
Do most people who put in lots of effort on costumes and parties for halloween do the same by going to mass on Nov. 2 and also visiting the cemetery??? I doubt it…
Click to expand...
Since the majority of the USA is’t Catholic, probably not. I’m not sure why someone would need to go to Church November 2nd.

From the USCCB, these are the HDO’s.: November 1st is there. Not November 2nd.

January 1, the solemnity of Mary, Mother of God
Thursday of the Sixth Week of Easter, the solemnity of the Ascension
August 15, the solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary
November 1, the solemnity of All Saints
December 8, the solemnity of the Immaculate Conception
December 25, the solemnity of the Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ

But yes, my family does go to Church on November 1st. This year it will be on a Sunday so if we go Saturday night before trick-or-treating or Sunday morning we get a twofer either way!
 
pnewton said:
I had one two years ago. The head of St. John the Baptist on a platter and bearded beheaded guys head on a platter. It made an interesting addition to the schools All Saints parade.
Click to expand...
Very creative!

I think more people should dress as Saints. We wouldn’t want the holiday to get too gory. 😛
 
Mayita30 said:
Respectfully, All Souls day is more CATHOLIC than what you call Hallows Eve… Perhaps where you live in is more of a Protestant nation.
Click to expand...
In 837AD, Pope Gregory IV extended the Feast of the Holy Martyrs to remember all the saints, changed its name to Feast of All Saints and changed the date from May 13 to November 1. The following day was established as a day to pray for the dead in Cluniac monasteries in 998 AD, and spread gradually to the universal Church from there.

The European folk practice of confronting death and the spirit world in the time surrounding All Saints Day predates the official Christian feasts. Some of the customs incorporated into the season pre-date Christianity; they are certainly NOT Protestant, whatever else they are. European folk customs would be more like it, since they are folk reinterpretations of past practices that dovetailed the practices into a Christian worldview.

Obviously, there is going to be common themes any time religious seasons are in keeping with the natural world in the same place. Everything sort of dies down in Europe in November or so. The crops are in. Confronting life and death in the autumn is as natural as can be.
 
catholiceducation.org/en/culture/catholic-contributions/all-saints-and-all-souls.html

Besides the Celtic traditions in place, the Roman conquest of Britain in AD 43 brought two other pagan feasts: Feralia was held in late October to honor the dead. Another Autumn festival honored Pomona, the goddess of fruits and trees; probably through this festival, apples became associated with Halloween. Elements of these Roman celebrations were combined with the Celtic Samhain.

With the spread of Christianity and the establishment of All Saints Day, some of these pagan customs remained in the English speaking world for All Hallows Eve (or Halloween, All Saints Eve), perhaps at first more out of superstition and later, more out of fun. Nevertheless, All Saints Day clearly arose from genuine a Christian devotion.

Along with the Feast of All Saints developed the Feast of All Souls. The Church has consistently encouraged the offering of prayers and Mass for the souls of the faithful departed in Purgatory. At the time of their death, these souls are not perfectly cleansed of venial sin or have not atoned for past transgressions, and thereby are deprived of the Beatific Vision. The faithful on earth can assist these souls in Purgatory in attaining the Beatific Vision through their prayers, good works and the offering of Mass.
 
Nobody is saying you can’t/shouldn’t go to Mass on All Souls Day, or pray for the souls in Purgatory. In fact, I believe I said that it would be good to do so. Many do at our parish, especially if a loved one has died during the previous year. And while Nov 2 is reserved in a particular way for that purpose, of course we can do so the rest of the year.

Catholics are both/and, not either/or.

(Do I dare mention Mardi Gras and Ash Wednesday or should we at least wait until New Year’s? :D)
 
pensmama87 said:
Nobody is saying you can’t/shouldn’t go to Mass on All Souls Day, or pray for the souls in Purgatory. In fact, I believe I said that it would be good to do so. Many do at our parish, especially if a loved one has died during the previous year. And while Nov 2 is reserved in a particular way for that purpose, of course we can do so the rest of the year.

Catholics are both/and, not either/or.

(Do I dare mention Mardi Gras and Ash Wednesday or should we at least wait until New Year’s? :D)
Click to expand...
Yes…but the point is lots of American Catholics are giving more importance to Halloween costumes and parties than what the original Catholic tradition is …Halloween or Halows Eve, whatever you want to call it overshadows the Nov 1 and 2 Catholic feast days
 
Mayita30 said:
Yes…but the point is lots of American Catholics are giving more importance to Halloween costumes and parties than what the original Catholic tradition is …Halloween or Halows Eve, whatever you want to call it overshadows the Nov 1 and 2 Catholic feast days
Click to expand...
Well, thanks at least for conceding that it’s not devil worshipping to partake in Halloween fun. 😉
 
UbiCaritas said:
Interesting. Is this focus on the souls in Purgatory on All Saints’ Day a cultural tradition in certain places, or one that I just missed out on?

I’m used to the focus on 11/1 (All Saints’) being on the saints in Heaven, so a sort of big-celebratory day, and the focus on 11/2 (All Souls’) being the souls who, as you say, are still in Purgatory, and therefore quite restrained, with a more reflective sort of focus. Not, as I said, that I expect either to be offended by praying for the souls in Purgatory on All Saints’ day, as well as any other! 😉
Click to expand...
In a nutshell:

catholicism.about.com/od/holydaysandholidays/p/All_Souls_Day.htm
 
Mayita30 said:
Do most people who put in lots of effort on costumes and parties for halloween do the same by going to mass on Nov. 2 and also visiting the cemetery??? I doubt it…
Click to expand...
We do.

🤷

We picked out both a Halloween costume and an All Saint’s Day costume.

A butterfly for Halloween and St. Gianna (easy enough…she has a play doctor kit and a baby doll) for All Saint’s Day.

We celebrate Halloween and we absolutely attend Mass on Nov. 2. My oldest will be going with the school and we’re lucky enough for my husband to have the day off and we can attend as a family.

We don’t do the evening procession to the cemetery for a couple of reasons.
  1. Too cold out for an infant
  2. Too spooky for a preschooler who is a bit apprehensive about the dark.
  3. Too late for a family with an infant and a 2 year old.
My husband will probably go.

So…we do our best to have appropriate fun with sincerity to the holiday and recognize Nov. 2 as much as Oct. 31…if not more.
 
Our pastor encourages the children to come to Mass on All Saints dressed as Saints, but the very youngest can come as storybook characters. ( we do a big picnic and Trunk or Treat after the 11 AM Mass annually)
I’ll never forget the time he asked a 4 yr. old during his homily, which saint she was, and she proudly proclaimed “Saint Cinderella!” 😃
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top