Hoax Alert--Vatican Condemns Halloween

[Scottgun]

Several blogs like Catholic Key have the story. In short, the media can’t report on religion without going into ZOMGRAWR!11! mode.
For a sensible view of Halloween, try Erin Manning at And Sometimes Tea:
Secular celebrations are just that: secular. And sometimes that’s just fine–no one expects to have to infuse the Independence Day barbecue and fireworks ritual with a narrative about how Independence Day is a foreshadowing of our independence from sin, and the fireworks are reminders of the brevity of life and how all that is beautiful eventually becomes ash, and the barbecue is an example of hope, because we sure hope the guy in charge of the grill is using a meat thermometer instead of just guessing when the food is done…This is not, of course, to say that there’s no place for prayer, for faith, at an Independence Day barbecue; it just means we don’t have to try to turn a purely secular event into an adopted Catholic holiday, when that is simply not what it is.

 

[RedSoxWife]

I thought that Deacon Keith Fournier’s article on this subject was great.

Here’s one of my favorite parts:

The article in the Vatican paper was entitled ‘The Dangerous Messages of Halloween.’ The priest interviewed for the story warned that the celebration has sometimes been hijacked by occultism and encouraged parents to ‘to be aware of this and try to direct the meaning of the feast towards wholesomeness and beauty rather than terror, fear and death.’ Good, sound advice for all of us.

“Halloween” comes from “All Hallows Eve”, the Christian Vigil of the celebration of the Christian Feast of “All Saints”. I contend that what it is becoming simply reflects the waning influence of the Christian vision in the West and presents an opportunity for Catholic Christians to do what we have always done, live like missionaries in our own culture. The Church has always recognized that cultural practices can be “mixed”, containing those aspects which elevate the human person and those which do not. However, members of the Church are invited to transform such cultural practices from within through our proper participation. That has been the missionary model of the Church for two millennia.

I don’t think Halloween falls quite into the same category as 4th of July as being a secular holiday. I’m not sure if that’s what the quote was saying or if I misread it. But I think it’s an awesome opportunity to teach our kids about the Saints. And yes, we’re taking our little angel today into town for the town’s celebration, which involves going store to store for trick-or-treating (in our town houses are miles apart, so door to door isn’t practical).

 

[SourGrape]

Some of the secular Halloween traditions have a Christian aspect to them, such as the story behind the Jack O’ Lantern, which is a good moral one. Yes, the origins of Halloween sprang from the Celtic new year celebration of pagan times, but the term Halloween is Christian: All Hallows Eve. For details on the Christian side of Halloween please visit: americancatholic.org/Features/Halloween/

I was surprised to hear this story about a Vatican theologian’s public opinion on Halloween, but as my husband suggested, it’s possibly due to the fact that the “holiday” is new to Italy and all that’s being emphasized are witches and demons.

I personally like the holiday and as a Catholic mother, I haven’t thought it to be sinful for me to allow my children to go trick-or-treating or carve pumpkins, but I do plan to encourage them to dress as Saints or Martyrs or other heroic people like, for example, a fireman, rather than as witches or devils. Why not tell your children the Irish tale of the Jack O’Lantern while carving or painting pumpkins? And, of course, why not have a prayer vigil in the evening of the Litany of the Saints to prepare for the next day’s big feast?

Sure there are secular aspects of Halloween that are anti-Christian, but the same is true for Advent (which is practically non-existant in this culture) and Christmas. I don’t think I need to stop celebrating Halloween because one theologian said he doesn’t like it. I probably don’t like many of the same parts of this day as him, so, I won’t partake in them! How does everyone else feel about it?

 

[rlg94086]

As it is the eve of All Saints’ Day, our parish has “trunk or treat” at the parish. The kids dress as saints and go around the decorated trunks for candy. Most of them still go trick or treating in other costumes later (or earlier).

I agree that it has become a secular holiday, but so has Christmas in many, many ways. As Catholics, we have to do our best to keep our faith traditions alive.

 

[Sailor_Kenshin]

When I was a kid, Halloween was quite charming, innocent, and loads of fun. The candy lasted till Christmas!

I do see a tendency today towards turning it into an occultist nightmare, but it doesn’t have to be like that. Parents just have to act like parents, not pals.

 

[dixieagle]

I was surprised to hear this story about a Vatican theologian’s public opinion on Halloween, but as my husband suggested, it’s possibly due to the fact that the “holiday” is new to Italy and all that’s being emphasized are witches and demons.

Sure there are secular aspects of Halloween that are anti-Christian, but the same is true for Advent (which is practically non-existant in this culture) and Christmas. I don’t think I need to stop celebrating Halloween because one theologian said he doesn’t like it. I probably don’t like many of the same parts of this day as him, so, I won’t partake in them! How does everyone else feel about it?

As it turns out the “Vatican theologian” is some Spanish liturgical expert - hardly a top-rank Vatican insider!

While I concur with the idea that there is often too much emphasis on the macabre, the articles that have appeared have generally got it all wrong, even attributing this priest’s words to the Pope, and assuming that everything that comes from L’Osservatore Romano is dogma. Makes for good headlines though: “Pope Condemns Halloween”!!!

 

[Scottgun]

UPDATE: A commentor sent this link here: andthesethygifts.com/2009/10/30/lets-blame-the-pope-for-this-one-too/ that suggests that this is old hat from last year being recycled.

 

[Sailor_Kenshin]

The media, getting things wrong? Say it ain’t so!

 

[JReducation]

The whole problem with Halloween is that we have taken a children’s fun day and turned it into something that it’s not. There was a time when this was a kids’ day. It was fun. The kdis would try to scare us and we acted scared. They got their candy treat and that was that. Everyone, the kids and the adults all understood that it was fun and it was all fake.

Today, adults have become involved in the day and have ruined it. They have brought all kinds of occult, new age and other stuff to it. There there are the adult parties that are not so innocent. They are parties where people get drunk, use drugs and engage in all kinds of immoral behaviors. Finally, there are the sick people out there who put razors into kids’ apples and so forth.

We need to go back to kids’ day. It should be a fund day where kids pretend to scare or impress adults and everyone laughts and gets sick to their stomach with so much candy.

It’s not kids who are making this day a macabre and occult day. It’s adults. They are scary. Not the kids. We have to protect the kids from exposure to such people.

Fraternally,

Br. JR, OSF

 

[Sonic]

Some of the secular Halloween traditions have a Christian aspect to them, such as the story behind the Jack O’ Lantern, which is a good moral one. Yes, the origins of Halloween sprang from the Celtic new year celebration of pagan times, but the term Halloween is Christian: All Hallows Eve. For details on the Christian side of Halloween please visit: americancatholic.org/Features/Halloween/

I would even go so far as to suggest that nothing is really known about the Irish pagan celebration of Samhain… beyond the lighting of a bonfire upon the Hill of Tlachtgha in County Munster, Ireland.

Most of what is said to be the celebration of Celtic New Year, is based on a consensus of information from what is known about the Celts and other pagan European new year celebrations. It’s mostly speculation, and recent archaeological and historical data suggests that the Celtic tribes were very diverse in their beliefs and customs. What holds true for Ireland, does not hold true for Britain or Gaul (modern day France). One need also remember that some people have applied the same logic to Christmas (our Christian New Year… beginning of the church calender) being a Roman pagan celebration.

A lot of the explanations (accusations), for a pagan origin for All Hallows Eve, have their basis in the time of Elizabethan England. Queen Elizabeth had a hatred of All Hallows Eve, and even went so far as to ban the ringing of Church bells because it kept her awake that night. All Hallows Eve was labeled papist, and much of the accusations of pagan practices were made against Catholic beliefs associated with All Souls and All Saints day. There was an attempt to purge these practices, along with those from other Catholic Holy Days, from the British consciousness. Outlawing these practices allowed them to decline as they became secularized and severed from Catholic tradition. Claims of pagan origins contributed to this decline, because the vigil night became associated with the concept of evil. To be sure, there is a distinct difference between the original Catholic Halloween and the secular Halloween that exists today.

People might be surprised that giving treats on Halloween did not originate from offerings made to pagan Celtic gods. It originated with the practice of giving alms to the poor of the community. Faithful Catholics would lay a table in remembrance of the souls in purgatory, and poor members of the community were invited to take what they wished from the table. It was one of the few times when many poor people received meat, and people would save up to give this offering of food (something we still do at Thanksgiving and Christmas). This was not a practice that was exclusive to Halloween, and this was done on several holy days throughout the year. It was still in practice in Ireland during the 1800’s.

As an example, I’ll cite another Holy Day where food was given to the poor.

From The Year in Ireland by Kevin Danaher…

Amhlaoibh O Suilleabhain, in his Diary, comments upon this custom in county Kilkenny in 1830:

'The tenth day, Wednesday, Martinmas Eve (eve of the feast of St. Martin)…

It is usual to shed blood , on Martinmas Eve; this is to say, blood of a goose or gander, hen or cock, pullet or chicken, duck or drake, fat porker or great and good beef, big wether or bleating kid; blood of sprightly lamb or gentle sheep or ragged goat or of some other good meat. It is a good old custom, which out to be kept up, wherever no butcher’s meat is to be had. Every strong farmer or gentleman ought to kill a sheep or a beef or a porker, and share it with the hovel dwellers of the neighborhood, and with God’s poor. Today, the poor wandering labourer has his back to the bush; perhaps without breaking his fast.’

There are many more examples in Danaher’s book. I should mention that many folklorists often neglect to mention the meat was given as alms to the poor, and instead fabricate fantasies of possible human and animal sacrifice as an origin for the customs associated with St. Martin’s eve. Never mind that St. Patrick is the originator for this custom in Ireland.

I suggest people get a copy of The Year in Ireland: Irish Calendar Customs by Kevin Danaher. Another good book is Irish Folk Ways by E. Estyn Evans. Both of these books will give anyone a good working knowledge of the Irish customs of Halloween and it’s connection with All Hallows Eve in the rest of Europe.

I would really love to see CAF produce an well researched article about this. I’d even be willing to write it myself.

Halloween should not be abandoned to secularism or the realm of evil. Catholics have a rich heritage in connection with vigil of All Hallows Eve. It’s time to reclaim it.

 

[Sonic]

One need also remember that some people have applied the same logic to Christmas (our Christian New Year… beginning of the church calender) being a Roman pagan celebration.

I wanted to clarify my statement above…

One need also remember that some people have applied the same speculative reasoning to Christmas (our Christian New Year… the beginning of the Church calender) in an attempt at proving it originated as a Roman pagan celebration.

 

[JReducation]

I still hold that adults should stay out of Halloween and let the little kids have fun. The adults should limit themselves to enjoying the cute kids and laughing with them. The more that adults go into this the more they take the fun out of it for the little ones and the more they bring a macabre sense to the whole day, which the litle kids do not understand and are not looking into. They just want to dress up and have fun.

Why do some adults feel the need to over analyze and run every innocent form of fun that children enjoy? Then we wonder where they go this macabre ideas when they become young adults. They get it from us. We introduce the macbre into the discussion. It has not been there since who knows when. It was just a fun day when children and parents had a lot of fun. Maybe some adults would have a party with some dancing and music.

Now it has been clouded with new age nonsense, the resurrection of ancient cultic practices and Hollywood had helped with bloody and macabre films to go along with it.

Fraternally,

Br. JR, OSF

 

[JReducation]

I wanted to clarify my statement above…

One need also remember that some people have applied the same speculative reasoning to Christmas (our Christian New Year… the beginning of the Church calender) in an attempt at proving it originated as a Roman pagan celebration.

Which is not true. They were celebratred concomittantly. The one did not give birth to the other. Many Christian holy days were strategically placed on the same day or week as pagan feast to protect the Christians by giving them a feast of their own. That is not the same as saying that the Christian feast has its origins in a pagan feast.

Fraternally,

Br. JR, OSF

 

[Sonic]

Which is not true. They were celebratred concomittantly. The one did not give birth to the other. Many Christian holy days were strategically placed on the same day or week as pagan feast to protect the Christians by giving them a feast of their own. That is not the same as saying that the Christian feast has its origins in a pagan feast.

That is correct, which illustrates my point. Most of the what we recognize as Halloween originated in Catholic tradition, but has been twisted or lost since the Protestant Reformation. The very same mechanism that contributed to the twisting of Halloween into what it is today also lead to people thinking Christmas originated in a pagan Roman festival. Since the holiday has become so completely secularized, the darkness has crept in to fill the void.

 

[joannazenobia]

I still hold that adults should stay out of Halloween and let the little kids have fun. The adults should limit themselves to enjoying the cute kids and laughing with them. The more that adults go into this the more they take the fun out of it for the little ones and the more they bring a macabre sense to the whole day, which the litle kids do not understand and are not looking into. They just want to dress up and have fun.

Why do some adults feel the need to over analyze and run every innocent form of fun that children enjoy? Then we wonder where they go this macabre ideas when they become young adults. They get it from us. We introduce the macbre into the discussion. It has not been there since who knows when. It was just a fun day when children and parents had a lot of fun. Maybe some adults would have a party with some dancing and music.

Now it has been clouded with new age nonsense, the resurrection of ancient cultic practices and Hollywood had helped with bloody and macabre films to go along with it.

Fraternally,

Br. JR, OSF

That’s just what my husband said today. That people just need to keep it innocent, and keep it for kids only.

It seems adults don’t understand what Halloween is, I know a woman who claims to be Christians say she doesn’t like Halloween because of the pagan influence. That’s how misunderstood and misguided our society has become about Halloween where grown adult don’t even know the meaning of the word, “halloween”.

 

[JReducation]

We must raise children according to the principals of Christian perfection and Christian hope. What we are doing is taking everything that was once innocent and childlike and turning it into something evil and hedious. It is the adults who are putting ideas into the minds of children. Children are born innocent. They do not have a desire to find evil. They are born without fear.

Watch a child taking his fist steps in the world. He is curious. He first discovers his body by playing with his hands and little feet. Later he tries to walk and climb. He is fearless. We adults have instuted fear. I say instituted, because we have made fear into a social institution. We not only have not only introduced the occult into the lives of children, but also terroris, paranoia in the face of people who are different, and even social isolationism through the use of technology. Children trust gadgets and TV more than they trust human beings.

It’s time that adults examine their own motives behind their analysis and their statements. It’s time that adults learn to respect childhood.

Fraternally,

Br. JR, OSF

 

[Yellow_Belle]

I would even go so far as to suggest that nothing is really known about the Irish pagan celebration of Samhain… beyond the lighting of a bonfire upon the Hill of Tlachtgha in County Munster, Ireland.

Where? Do you mean County Meath? Munster is a province, not a county.

 

[Sailor_Kenshin]

The whole problem with Halloween is that we have taken a children’s fun day and turned it into something that it’s not. There was a time when this was a kids’ day. It was fun. The kdis would try to scare us and we acted scared. They got their candy treat and that was that. Everyone, the kids and the adults all understood that it was fun and it was all fake.

Today, adults have become involved in the day and have ruined it. They have brought all kinds of occult, new age and other stuff to it. There there are the adult parties that are not so innocent. They are parties where people get drunk, use drugs and engage in all kinds of immoral behaviors. Finally, there are the sick people out there who put razors into kids’ apples and so forth.

We need to go back to kids’ day. It should be a fund day where kids pretend to scare or impress adults and everyone laughts and gets sick to their stomach with so much candy.

It’s not kids who are making this day a macabre and occult day. It’s adults. They are scary. Not the kids. We have to protect the kids from exposure to such people.

Fraternally,

Br. JR, OSF

I remember those days.

And in those days, you wouldn’t be caught dead with your parents in tow! Older kids looked after younger ones, and we didn’t begin the door-to-door stuff until late afternoon, or early evening.

This past Halloween, though I’m glad we got so many kids (we almost ran outta candy!), I couldn’t help but feel sorrow as, in broad daylight, in this perfectly safe neighborhood, each child was flanked by a squadron of parents.

Yet we slay our young in the womb.

Something’s out of balance here.

 

[Sonic]

Where? Do you mean County Meath? Munster is a province, not a county.

Sorry… it was a typo from typing to quickly. I meant the province of Midhe (Meath). If you remember Midhe was formed from each of the four provinces of Ireland: Leinster, Munster, Connaught, and Ulster. From these sections was created a province, which belonged to the High King of Ireland.

Throughout the year, the Irish held festivals in each quarter of the royal province… and each of those festivals was sponsored by one of the provinces.

Only two bonfires were lit during the year…

1. The Fire of Tlachtgha - Samhain (Munster section of Midhe)
2. The Fire of Uisneach - Beltane (Connaught section of Midhe)

The High King actually gave gifts to each of the Kings of the four provinces, for the use of their section of Midhe, during these festivals.

The King of Munster received a screaball (equivalent value of three-pence) for every hearth fire lit from the fire at Tlachtgha.

Edit: As for the other two festivals…

1. Fair of Tailte - was held yearly in the Ulster section of Midhe
2. Feis of Tara - was held every three years in the Leinster section of Midhe… after the fire of Tlachtgha.

 

[Havard]

At least in my part of the U.S., there’s a lot of adolescents who use the holiday as an occasion to cause trouble, whether by covering houses in toilet paper (teepeeing), throwing eggs at children, or just generally being obnoxious. Sadly I feel that adult chaperones are needed, at least until those “traditions” die off.