It’s that time of year. The time where Traditional Catholics like to rub shoulders and ask each other, “What are your thoughts on Halloween?” Is it really a pagan Holiday? Should I be concerned about all the obsession with death in popular culture tied to Halloween? Should ghosts and goblins be treated as whimsical things? How edifying is a slasher or a horror movie, really? Why are adults celebrating Halloween so hard and why are all the women’s costumes so scandalous? And finally, should I expose my children to the disturbing images associated with all of this?
Let’s start by considering the origins of Halloween. In ancient times, the Gaelic pagans celebrated a three day harvest festival known as Samhain (proounced Sow-win). It ran from what would now be dated as October 31- November 2. In ancient times, many cultures would tie in the “death” of summer and the entering into the colder and barren months of the winter with reflection and festivities centered around human life and death. Some cultures, like the Gaelic, went as far as to believe that during this three day period, the barrier between the material living world and the immaterial world of the dead was compromised. Many would attempt to contact dead relatives during Samhain.
After the fall of Rome and during the European dark ages, there was mass conversion of people from what is now known as the British Isles. Like other peoples who have converted to the Universal Church, many Irish and Scottish had a hard time giving up long standing cultural practices that were sacred to them. The Church, desiring to smooth the transition of converting peoples, often takes practices that they find sacred and sees where she can co-op traditions and direct converts to something holier and more legitimately Catholic. In the case of the Chinese, their ancestor worship was simply incompatible with Catholic faith. But in the case of the culturally Gaelic converts, Pope Gregory II (731-741) saw an opportunity with Samhain.
Pope Gregory II announced that from October 31st through November 2nd, Christians would be celebrating a three day Holiday called “All Hallowtide”. November 1st would be dedicated to honoring the saints (the Hallowed), especially those not canonized. November 2nd would be a day dedicated to remembering the souls who are in purgatory, and could use our prayers for the remission of temporal punishment due for sins. As November 1st is “All Hallows Day”, October 31st marks the evening before (Hallows Eve, or Halloween).
What a brilliant move by Pope Gregory II. He took a pagan and unholy obsession with death and used it to direct these people to the real Theology of the faith on death and eternal life. We can credit All Hallowide as a means for catechizing generations of Christians around the world on the Church Suffering and the Church Triumphant! I bet many souls in purgatory have been thankful for such a next level chess move by the Holy Father.
But why do people walk around playing dress up and asking for candy on Halloween? Specifically, why do so many dress up like disturbing, grotesque, and sometimes demonic things? There are a few factors that have played into the evolution of All Hallows Eve to the modern and mainstream practice of Halloween. For one, some habits die hard. Despite the institution of All Hallowtide, many throughout Europe continued to dress in masks and to obsess about the dead in ways that were more within the spirit of Samhain and less within the spirit of All Hallowtide. As for trick or treating, many scholars argue that this is based upon a practice many in Europe took up after the institution of All Hallowtide to use the Holiday to beg for food. On All Souls day, some peasants families would sing songs and hymns in the streets imploring that the better off “have pity on all poor souls”, and give food to the poor. Eventually, some prepared for this phenomenon by making “soul cakes” (fruitcakes) to have at the door for such beggars. Somewhere along the way, people began doing this on Hallows Eve. When the Irish mass-immigrated to North America in the 19th and 20th centuries, they brought the All Hallowtide and “Trick or Treating” with them. Eventually retailers figured out how to commercialize the holiday of All Hallows Eve and sell mass amounts of candy and costumes to all families, Irish Catholic or not.
Where are we now? Unfortunately, Hollywood also figured out how to capitalize on Halloween. Thanks to many horror and slasher type movies in the 70’s and 80’s, people became much more accustomed to associating Halloween with gore, psychotic murder, and terror. Additionally, with the rise in open mainstream pagan practice, it is clear that many pagans think they can steal their Holiday back.
To make matters even sadder, many “check the box Catholics” are pretty fuzzy on their understanding of All Hallowtide, especially in regards to the Holy Day of obligation attached to All Saints Day, and the indulgences that are attached to praying for the dead on All Souls day. It used to be far more customary for Catholics to celebrate All Hallows Eve by attending mass and praying at a cemetery for loved ones.
So what do we do? Halloween can be celebrated in a way that gives glory to God and is more within the spirit of what was intended at the inception of All Hallowtide. Good traditional Catholic families don’t let their children enjoy all the commercialized aspects of Christmas without first putting in a good Advent Season, and saving the bulk of the celebration for after Christmas mass. I would argue that if you are going to take your kids trick or treating, the same practice would be good here. Make a point to take your family to mass on Halloween, pray for the souls in purgatory, especially your relatives, and then walk your kids around for some candy. My kids are going as cowboys and cowgirls this year. And we plan on going to mass on All Saints Day and playing an extended game of “Holy Saints Flash Cards” at the diner table that evening. On all souls day, we will visit a Catholic cemetery.
For those who refuse to take their kids trick or treating, all the more power to you. If you don’t believe that your children should be exposed at all to hyper and unhealthy obsession with death and creepy thing (and the occasional demonic), then that’s your judgment call and you are probably making the right one for your family.
As I understand, there is a famous scene In the 1978 movie “Halloween” where Lonnie attempts to scare a younger child, Tommy by asking him, “Don’t you know what happens on Halloween??” To which Tommy simply responds, “Yeah… we get candy!”
For those who are sadly uncultured on the beauty of All Hallowtide, I think there are some who fall into camp Lonnie (let’s make it scary ghost and goblin day) and others who simply fall in camp Tommy (None of it means anything to me, just give me candy). I propose the camp where we celebrate the All Hallow triduum the way it was meant to be celebrated, and then families should decide for themselves whether the weird and sick stuff is worth tolerating if your kids also want to dress as something benign (or maybe even as a saint!) and just get some candy while people are willing to openly give it away. Because I refuse to let pagans think for a moment that they can steal back their Holiday, I will be taking my kids trick or treating. But I will be selective about what houses they will be visiting. This will be in part to control what they are exposed to, and also just to limit how much damn candy they bring home. As far as I’m concerned, it’s when the kids eat Halloween candy every night for a week straight that the real demonic activity takes place.
No matter what you choose, it’s not too early to do real preparation for the All Hallowtide. Start praying for your faithful departed relatives now. Make saint costumes for your kids now if you choose to celebrate an All Saints festival with other Catholic families. And if you can carve a pumpkin semi-decently, a Catholic symbol on a lit pumpkin might make for a good witness to those trick-or-treating on Halloween night.