THE CATHOLIC KNIGHT: The word Halloween comes from an abbreviation of the phrase 'All Hallows Eve.' The word 'hallow' is the old English version of 'holy' or 'saint'. All Hallows Eve (or Halloween) is the eve before a high feast day in the Catholic Church (November 1st) called 'All Hallows Day' or more commonly known as 'All Saints Day.' It is the day on which the Church commemorates all the Saints of heaven, both canonised and uncanonised by the Church. The Catholic Church has special feast days for various individual Saints who stand out for various reasons. All Hallows (or All Saints) is the day when we remember them all -- millions of them!
It is particularly in the United States, where the commercialisation of all Christian holy days has been perfected to an exact science, the Halloween celebration has taken on a particularly non-religious and macabre character, where in the occult is more glorified than the faith of Christians. Perhaps we should not be surprised by this, for it is in America where Christmas has become more a celebration of the mythical Santa Clause than the birth of Jesus Christ. America has almost nearly succeeded in turning the celebration of Christ's resurrection, Easter, into the glorification of a rabbit who hides coloured eggs. It's an eye-opener really, as the United States seems to lead the way in the de-christianising of Christian holy days. Nowhere is this more evident than in the observance of Halloween. I find it odd really, that Americans would revel in the gross perversion of a Catholic holy day -- a holy day not shared by most of America's Protestant majority.
Americans are not alone however. The macabre Americanised version of Halloween is now being picked up in other countries around the world, as the United States exports a celebration of death and the occult on the eve of a day that is supposed to honour the holiness of those who's bodies may sleep, but who's souls are fully alive in Jesus Christ.
So what do we do now? Do we take the Protestant Fundamentalist solution, and lock ourselves in our houses on Halloween, cursing the darkness and hiding from children in costumes? Do we follow the Evangelical example of handing out gospel tracts, instead of candy, to those poor lost souls shouting 'Trick or Treat' all night? Or do we, as Catholics, TAKE BACK what is rightfully ours to begin with!?! I vote for the last option. Will you join me?
The nice thing about reclaiming Halloween is it doesn't take anymore than a family effort. There is no community organising to do, no propaganda to spread (unless of course you want to share this article), and no convincing that needs to happen. Just follow these five simple steps....
- Decorate your home (both interior and exterior) with the theme of the Autumn season, celebrating life and abundance. Scarecrows are fun, and even Jack-O-Lanterns, provided they are not macabre in nature. There should be no macabre decor whatsoever.
- Dress your kids up in the theme of the holy day. It's ALL SAINTS DAY! So think of angels, Saints and Bible characters. (Please no Jesus costumes.) The Blessed Virgin Mary might even be appropriate in some circumstances, but please be careful to be tasteful. The theme of All Saints, is to recognize those who usually don't get much recognition, such as Old Testament and Medieval saints. But it doesn't have to be recognised saints per se.' It could be general Bible characters, such as shepherds and soldiers. It could even be holy men and women from the Church as well, brothers and sisters, fathers and bishops. Of course, dress up in harmless characters of a non-religious sort would be acceptable too, so long as it celebrates life (all life) in some way. The possibilities are endless. Just avoid the occult and macabre.
- Go ahead and give out candy to the kids instead of literature. There is no need to turn the day into an opportunity to spread propaganda. Keep in mind, that many parents will simply throw literature away when they go through their bag, that is, if the kids haven't thrown it away already.
- Avoid 'haunted houses' and scary attractions, attending church bizarres and festivities instead. In a comment below, reader Jonathan Prester shared a tradition in his parish wherein Catholic liturgy and prayers are given by his priest in a local cemetery on Halloween night, complete with torches (lanterns), incense and vestments. Perhaps something like this could be organised in your parish to reclaim the true meaning of All Hallows Eve.
- Finally, stop calling it Halloween. Start using the more proper (and ancient) term "All Hallows Eve" or just "All Hallows" for short.
23 comments; post here:
i saw a picture that offended me yesterday of how some of our lay people are being protrayed during halloween i would have to show you the picture to show you what i am talking about and my comment about it is no wonder we catholics get a bad name.
Sir Knight:
For the Latino readers of this blog,
what's your take of Day of the Dead?
As for the Latino celebration of the 'Day of the Dead' I actually believe it is easier to reclaim that than Halloween, as the celebration is already so closely connected to All Saints an All Souls days. My only advice to the Latino celebrations is to make every effort to keep them doctrinally sound, according to authentic Catholic teaching as seen in the Catechism. Be on guard against those who try to introduce anything macabre, violent, Pagan or occult into the celebration. Of course we know there are those who have already done this, but that can be turned around. Ultimately, like Halloween, the Latino 'Day of the Dead' is supposed to be a celebration of life. So my advice is to do everything to emphasise that. I suspect American Catholics have a much more uphill battle with Halloween than Latino Catholics do with the Day of the Dead. That being said however, we must always be on guard to insure that nothing in our celebrations opens the door to anything that would subvert the REAL meaning of the celebration.
Sir Knight, the "Day of the Dead" in this country has been repaganized by non-Catholics who have no understanding of the holyday. The devout Mexican-American Catholics are understandingly upset at this profaning of thrir Catholic culture.
The adoration of the so-called Santo Muerte by many Meicans is also troubling. Thankflly, many priest and bishops have spoken ot against it.
As well they should speak out against it. The problem here is that as our societies become more secularised, Non-Christians (and some Non-Catholic Christians), are taking over our holy days. It is telling that when they do this, the celebration takes on elements of Paganism, the occult, and the macabre glorification of death.
The problem here is that there is nothing we can do about them. We can't stop them, and we can't hardly tell them what to do. So this leaves only two options available for us. 1.) Reclaim the holy days for ourselves and celebrate them properly according to the teachings of the Catholic Church. 2.) Try to evangelise our neighbours with the full gospel as taught to us by the Catholic Church.
That's it. There really is nothing else to do, other than to run and hide. As a knight, the run and hide option is not available to me.
Sir Knight,
Respectfully, I will say that for families with young children, these suggestions are worthwhile. However I do disagree with two of your suggestions:
1. If the jack o' lanterns are dressed up like the ones in your article's picture, there's a likelihood stupid teenagers will see this as an invitation for Catholic, er, pumpkin bashings. And you will be left on All Saints Day to enjoy the cleanup.
2. Bible/All Saints parties may be great for the young kids, but two points: a. They are generally poorly attended. Who wants to attend a "party for saints" and most Catholics don't even care for this feast day anyways. In fact the CCCB in Canada HAVE NEVER made All Saints a day of obligation(Unlike the USA). b. Age and relevance of costume. Guarateed the older the kids get, the less likely they will attend such an event and dress up as a saint (not to mention rebel against their parents). While I've seen a saint party being advertized at my local university's Newman center, who's really going to attend besides the Newman residents/student campus ministers when there's "perfectly good" halloween parties at the local university bars? On top of that as a teen/young adult, why dress up as a saint when you can dress up as Snooki or what I got to see yesterday on the subway coming home from Latin Mass practice: a slutty nurse, a slutty kitty/tiger with leaopard print "booty/boy shorts", and a trashy bunny rabbit (not Playboy(tm), but close enough in tight clothing). Only 1 girl was dressed semi-modestly(I personally detest leggings) of her friends in a Minnie mouse costume of a skirt with black leggings (not tights/hose), a red round neck top and a small black overcoat, and necessary Minnie Mouse ears. This point correlates with what Tabitha says.
Regardless of my quibbles, thanks for this post.
It would behoove us to do some detective work and find the root causative factors of the de- Christianization of America. Who specifically has been promoting this; the names of those elites from the top of the US food chain. Then they must be confronted more directly. Rather than just accept cultural and social engineering it would be more effective to understand who and what (and why) is behind it and then develop strategies to defuse it.
Anonymous, unfortunately I know who is behind it, and that's the subject of a whole new article. However, I've been more than hinting at it here for a very long time. Unfortunately, they have been confronted by our parents' generation, and what was found is they could not be touched. The American system of politics and justice is not equipped to handle them. To break up these groups, nothing short of a monarch is necessary. So I am afraid we are stuck with them for now.
I've been telling people here on this blog to stop trying to save America and the West. Neither can be saved. They have to just be allowed to collapse, and when they do, their enemies will be flushed out in the open for all to see. Then justice will be done. What is important now is that we create micro-colonies of Catholic orthodoxy to prepare for the eventual rebuilding process.
Sir Knight,
This Anglican thanks you for the article on All Hallows Eve. I hope many take your advice and claim the day for it's rightful purpose.
Sir Knight!
Excellent idea! I do want to reclaim Halloween and will do so next year with a banner available for purchase.
This year a group of us are reclaiming Christmas with a holy and traditional banner.
You don/t have to put this on the comment section., but I would like your opinion: www.thenativitybanner.com
Thank you and God Bless YOU and your family.
Jeanne
Very nice Jeanne. Keep up the good work!
yes what i saw was my cousin dressed as a priest but is girlfriend was potraying a slutty nun thats what i saw and has me offended
The Catholic Knight said...
"Anonymous, unfortunately I know who is behind it...,...they have been confronted by our parents' generation, and what was found is they could not be touched."
Sir knight, for those of us who are skeptical of Masonic and Communist conspiracy theories, but open to any evidence presented, could you please state who exactly is behind this and where do we find evidence to support it.
Deo Vindice
well i am researching female saints now cause im thinking about dressing up as a saint for halloween our trick or treat is on a monday im trying to figure out which saint i want to be.
Anonymous, I do not want to go into that too deeply here. That is another discussion for another article. For now, suffice it to say, that I was referencing the communists. While I understand there are many who see a connection between communism and freemasonry, I wasn't making reference to that alleged connection in the above comment.
The writings of Friedrich Engels are more than enough to damn communism by their own founder's words. Senator Joseph McCarthy was right in his suspicion that communists were secretly working in the United States, and he was right in assuming they were taking over the education and entertainment industries. However, he was wrong in his theory of HOW these communists intended to take over. He assumed they were working to effect a Russian style Bolshevik revolution in the United States. He couldn't be further from the truth. American communists were (and still are) far more sophisticated than the Bolsheviks. They knew America could not be overthrown by a political uprising, but that it must slowly decay by falling from within. The writings of Friedrich Engels pointed the way. The last forty-plus years have been a perfect example of Engel's theories in motion, and it was the education and entertainment industries that drove it.
Mr Knight,
Insightful analysis as always. I agree, the strategy is not a military revolution but political destruction through cultural change (which takes a lot longer but is arguably more effective i.e. permanent). It has been going on my whole life (I am in my forties).
I love your practical idealism. It is such a tonic when so many others sit around hand-wringing.
Blessings in Our Lord,
Luciana (another practical idealist)
Our parish gathers in the graveyard in the dark on Halloween, replete with torches, thurible, candles, &c. We walk in a cruciform path reading Scripture and offering prayer (some in Latin), while presenting the Church's traditional teachings on the afterlife. With cassocks, smells and bells it proves to be a rather popular service, and I assure you, it's completely orthodox. For the curious it seems to satisfy their "creepy factor" with evening solemnity and a bold reading of St. Patrick's Breastplate against "the dark laws of pagandom" and whatnot. I find it a wonderful way to reclaim the day for the faithful and seeking alike.
Indeed. Every Catholic parish should do something like this on All Hallows Eve. Thank you for sharing.
well today i dressed up as the patron saint of the family, sick people, poverty, lourdes, and shepards i even posted a picture on the facebook group
Another Anglican would like to thank you for this post.
I was raised in a Southern Baptist family were we turned off all the lights and hide from the trick-or-treaters as you described above. Halloween was viewed as at best Satanic and at worst Catholic (tongue in cheek) and a thing to be avoided completely. However, about the same time as my conversion to Anglicanism five years ago I began to realize the importance of All Saints and the vigil before it and the need for Christians to "take it back." I wrote an editorial on the subject for a newspaper I worked for a few years back.
We know that what Satan intends for evil God can use for good and Halloween is no exception, in fact it is a marvelous opportunity. Evil and death are two of the most stringently avoided subjects in our culture where all people are basically good and the sick and elderly die in hospitals and are buried in parks outside the city limits. The one day a year where these subjects are on people's minds is a great teaching opportunity.
Acknowledging the reality of evil and death is a prerequisite to understanding the need for a Savior. What is needed is to take the focus off glorification of evil and death on the one hand and cartoonish sanitization on the other and back to orthodox Christian teaching. We must capitalize on this one time of the year where it is on people's minds.
Mindfulness of death not only puts people in mind of their own mortality and eternal destination, but remembering our dead ancestors, both physical and spiritual, promotes an appreciation of history and tradition, two things our secular culture (and even Evangelical culture) are sorely lacking.
Timothy
Well Sir Knight I must admit I have a different take on this as I am a Druid.
In my eyes Samhain eve has been reclaimed perfectly as has the day of the dead. An now we are working on Yule.
But unto each there own.
The Druid has a point that many Christian holidays were put in place of ancient pagan holidays. Christmas for example, replaced the winter solstice celebration. However, we need to ask whether society is better off or not for having replaced pagan religions with Christianity. Did we become more civilized, Godly, enlightened and humane? In the case of the old Roman Empire the answer to all of the above is a strong yes. The ancient Romans had no deities that modeled compassion or even justice. Christianity was an improvement from Greek and Roman pagan religions. I would guess that the same goes for ancient Celtic cultures as well.
We have an Altar in the center of our cemetery dedicated to our veterans and every All Hallows' Eve we have a Mass and place candles on the graves/tombs. We have been doing this since 1997 and it grows each year. On All Saints the Mass is said in the cemetery and all graves are blessed. Catholics in the New Orleans Archdioceses go all out for All Saints Day.
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