Celebration in the Domestic Church
As Catholics — and as parents — our job is to make clear the real meaning of the Hallowed Evening and its link to the Communion of Saints to our families and our communities. Celebrating Hallowe'en in the "domestic Church" can help restore the link with All Saints and All Souls. Hallowe'en, like Valentine's Day, and even Christmas, is a big commercial "holiday". But if the original religious significance of these celebrations is restored, this could have a beneficial effect on the religious formation of youngsters.
Hallowe'en is chiefly celebrated in America, and principally as a children's festival. As with many holidays (holy days), pagan elements have been part of the tradition most of us associate with Hallowe'en. In a culture that has lost its Christian moorings, there is a serious risk that the "paganizing" of holy days will lead to further loss of belief.
Consciously anti-Christian Hallowe'en celebrations in recent years have led many Christian families to believe that participation in any Hallowe'en festivity — even kids trick-or-treating and dressing up in costumes — should be avoided.
But our task, as laity — as Catholics — is to evangelize our culture. In this case, we might say "re-evangelize", because, as we have seen, Hallowe'en is really a completely Christian festival.
There is something nostalgic and cheerful about our memories of celebrating Hallowe'en — even if our celebration was completely disconnected from the real holy day that inspired it. The same could be said of Mardi Gras, which is now detached from the authentic observence of Lent; and even jolly Santa Claus, who bears no resemblance to the Middle-Eastern bishop, Saint Nicholas, and adds nothing to the real meaning of Christmas. Saint Valentine's Day and Saint Patrick's Day celebrations have also become almost entirely secular and commercialized.
Do we want to abolish all these secular holiday customs? No, we don't. They are truly a part of our culture. But as Catholics, we should see in these celebrations an opportunity "inculturate" the vestiges of truth in the customs, and to integrate these customs with some fresh ways to instill the real meaning of the holiday.
Understanding our customs and traditions
Trick-or-Treating on Hallowe'en — like Santa Claus and his "eight tiny reindeer", is fun — and an authentic part of our own culture. The naughty and destructive tricks once associated with Hallowe'en seem mostly to have disappeared.
What about children dressing as devils and witches and ghosts?
We think dressing children to look like devils or demons is not a good idea. Is it harmful? Probably not. But at the very least it tends to reduce evil to something cute or fun, and this is certainly off-base. Talking with kids about choosing Hallowe'en costumes can give Christian parents an opportunity to make it clear that there is a real personal Devil, and he is truly evil — something people nowadays are inclined to forget.
Until very recently, witches seemed entirely fanciful — like fairies or leprechauns. Witches were comically wicked, like the Wicked Witch of the West in The Wizard of Oz, or Samantha on the old TV series Bewitched. Now, however, some very misguided people actually claim to be witches, and they practice fabricated religions based on magic and the occult. Some even claim to worship Satan. This is not funny. It is seriously wrong and it changes the picture considerably. Again, this can be a teaching moment when we talk with our children about this.
Jack-o'-lanterns are different. Although the big orange pumpkins with glowing scary faces are uniquely American, this is our remake of an old Irish custom, based on a folk tale about a man who was so miserly that, after he died, his ghost had to walk about at night with a lantern made from a hollowed-out turnip, in order to make amends for his sins by warning the living to repent. As the story goes, people later began to carve the miser's ghostly features in the turnips as a reminder of his message.
(This tale of the repentant miser's ghost reminds me a bit of Scrooge's ghostly partner, Jacob Marley, in Dickens's A Christmas Carol, who had to drag heavy chains forged in life by his sins. Remember? Marley's ghost visited Scrooge in order to scare him into changing his sinful ways before it was too late.)
But the story of the miserly Irishman and his penance was lost over time, and Jack-o'-lanterns grin fiercely from our American pumpkins, not turnips. This custom has become a memorable part of American childhood.
Picking out the pumpkins can be an excuse for arranging a nice family outing in the fall. And carving them is an activity that can involve almost all members of the family.
While we're helping small children carve the pumpkin, we might tell them the Jack-o'-lantern legend — and we can even relate it to authentic Catholic teaching about Purgatory and the need for every soul's purification from the effects of sin before entering Heaven.
Symbolism of Hallowe'en colors
Did you ever wonder why the traditional colors of Hallowe'en are black and orange?
Orange is the color the color of ripe pumpkins, falling leaves and glowing sunsets and candlelight. The color represents harvest and autumn, the pleasant warmth of bonfires and blazing hearths, and the harvest moon of the year's waning days. As days are growing shorter and colder, and the creatures of the earth prepare for winter, we, too, are reminded of the "last things" of life.
But perhaps the main reason that this color came to be associated with with death and mourning – thus to Hallowe’en and All Soul’s – is related to the dusky yellowish-orange color of the unbleached beeswax candles used at Requiem Masses (also during Holy Week, especially on Good Friday). These dark “mourning” candles contrast sharply with the much whiter candles made of refined and purified beeswax that are used at Easter and other feasts. At funeral Masses, four to six tall lighted unbleached wax candles were always placed around the catafalque holding the casket covered by a black pall.
Black is the traditional color of mourning in the West. Black signifies sins, evil (as in "black-hearted"), the occult or hidden (as in "black magic"). Many people may think this nearly universal association of darkness with evil comes only from the irrational childish fear of the dark, of the unseen. But there is more to it than that. Jesus is the Sun of Righteousness; the Light of the World. Black — the absence of light — is the opposite of this Light of Christ. For this Light penetrates and overcomes spiritual darkness, ignorance, sin. In the words of the prophet Isaiah, "The people that walked in darkness have seen a great Light. And they that walked in the valley of the shadow of death, upon them hath a light shined.” (Isaiah 9:2)
Throughout most of Christian history, black was always the liturgical color used for funerals, for requiem Masses, Mass on All Souls and on Good Friday – along with the dark yellow wax “mourning” candles. Although since the Second Vatican Council, priests now often wear white vestments at funeral Masses, to symbolize the Resurrection, black vestments are still proper for funerals and for All Souls Masses. (Violet is also approved for funerals, and red for Good Friday.)
Suggestions for family celebration - Costumes - Parties - Games
- Help kids create Hallowe'en costumes drawn from Church history -- saints of the past, who are examples (witness/martyr) for Christian life. The children might choose their own name-saint.
- Get together with other families (perhaps in your childrens' school) and have a pageant of saints. This could be as simple as a procession, where the children tell about the saints portrayed by the costumes they are wearing. It could also be more elaborately organized, with props and children acting out the saints' lives -- either with spoken parts or a narration. (Obviously, this idea needs active adult planning and organizing.) This pageant could be held in the early evening, so that children could go trick-or-treating afterwards.
- Have an All Hallow's Eve party with several families. Begin with the children's "saints procession" with parents and grandparents as the audience.
- Play classic parlor games together. Some examples: Charades, Twenty Questions, The Minister's Cat, Musical Chairs, Blind Man's Bluff. If you don't remember these games, ask your parents or grandparents! In the days before television, many families entertained themselves by playing games involving the entire family -- from the toddler to the great-grandma.
- Other family activities for Hallowe'en parties could be making taffy or fudge or popcorn balls or candy apples. Messy but memorable!
- When making decorations or invitations for Hallowe'en parties, have the children help. Instead of black cats and bats, or cute little witches and ghosts, you might consider gluing real autumn leaves to a black or orange construction paper card, cut to fit ordinary envelopes.
Stickers of autumn leaves or pumpkins or scarecrows also fit the autumn/harvest season.
And remember -- this is the Vigil of a solemn feast of the Church. So the inside of your party invitation could say something like "To celebrate the Vigil of All Saints Day, we invite you to join us for a Hallowe'en party on ------", etc. - While you're making black and orange decorations with crepe paper streamers, or blowing up black and orange balloons, you can explain what the colors signify.
- Refreshments can be very simple. Apple cider or cocoa with marshmallows would be good with bowls of popcorn. Children like to help frost cupcakes and cookies. Black and orange candy sprinkles on either chocolate or orange frosting are effective and fun. Use chocolate chips or raisins to make Jack-o'-lantern faces on cookies (before baking) or on the orange icing on cupcakes.
- For party favors, get an assortment of holy cards representing the patron saints of each guest. You could fasten the cards to ribbons for guests to wear around their necks.
- At the end of the party, just before the guests leave, assemble everyone to say together the Prayer to Saint Michael, composed by Pope Leo XIII (1878-1903) after he had a vision of terrible evils to come in the twentieth century.
Saint Michael, Archangel, defend us in battle;
Be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the Devil.
May God rebuke him, we humbly pray;
And do thou, O prince of the heavenly host,
by the power of God, thrust into hell Satan
and all the other evil spirits who prowl about the world
seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.
Follow this prayer with the traditional invocation of the Sacred Heart of Jesus:
Most Sacred Heart of Jesus: Have mercy on us.
Most Sacred Heart of Jesus: Have mercy on us.
Most Sacred Heart of Jesus: Have mercy on us.
+ In the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost. Amen.
