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insegnante
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I'm sure there have been threads in the past. I'm doing pretty much the same thing I did with my First Communion notebook thread. Asking, you could say shamelessly, for a good and convincing but simple and comprehensive guide to "Halloween traditions, if any, that a Catholic needn't hesitate to incorporate into her family's life."
I always get so overwhelmed with the prospect of all the research... it's easier just to observe All Saints' Day and ignore Halloween. If only some reliable publisher put out a script, "Here, say exactly this stuff to and do exactly this stuff with your kids for a good Catholic Halloween. No creativity or post-kindergarten-level craft skills required." And my husband and I have determined that we do seriously want to keep the focus on All Saints' Day and its eve. But is there a way to integrate just a little of the "spooky" stuff I did find fun as a child? I fondly remember the big paper spider I made in kindergarten hanging from our dining room chandelier -- but what's the connection I can present to my kids between spiders and the saints? Or bats?
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Theresa
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folklaur
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insegnante wrote:
| but what's the connection I can present to my kids between spiders and the saints? Or bats? |
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i'm confused   (that's pretty standard for me, tho, i guess!)
do you *have to* tie in spiders and slightly spooky stuff to the saints? as catholics, we *can* celebrate the secular aspects of a holiday, i think. i mean, we don't try to Catholicize 4th of July, right? but we still go and watch fireworks and have BBQs.
as you said, you have happy memories of doing the spider, etc. your kids will too. they won't confuse the playful fun of Halloween and its spiders and pumpkins with the Feast of All Saints Day, unless we adults muddy the water, imo.
i hope you find what works best for your family!
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sarahb
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I would check out Sister Mary Martha's blog on the topic. I always enjoy her.
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MaryM
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insegnante wrote:
Asking, you could say shamelessly, for a good and convincing but simple and comprehensive guide to "Halloween traditions, if any, that a Catholic needn't hesitate to incorporate into her family's life."
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I could see having something like that would be a helpful guide in some ways... my thoughts though are that different families have varied ideas of what works for their individual families. I know good and holy Catholic families that fall in various places on that spectrum of how to deal with Halloween.
Like Laura, I would think that it isn't necessary to tie those fun yet a little creepy aspects of Halloween, like bats, spiders, jack-o-lanterns to anything else. I just think of them as autumn-y.
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insegnante
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In a bit of a hurry, but:
Sarah, thanks, I will!
Laura, as someone who is actively battling (with the help of a regular confessor) a tendency toward scrupulosity, I want to make clear that I'm not designating anything the Church doesn't require as a "have to" or condemning anything the Church doesn't forbid as a sin. In fact, I said something to my husband like, "I'm scrupulous and you're the head of the household, so let's revisit this Halloween thing." We do, however, want to avoid our kids ending up considering All Saints' Day the less-fun part of the observance. My eyes are on my own work here and not focused on other families' kids dressing up as "secular" things, etc. We're just actually quite happy with a lot of the way we've observed All Saints' Day in our kids' lives so far, and I'm wondering if there is any way to add a little of the "slightly spooky" fun to the mix without at all taking away from the saintly focus.
Does that make sense? If anything, I really wanted to act against my "scrupulosity," but in doing so, my husband and I have found that the emphasis we had before on one and lack of emphasist onhe other isn't really based in scruples and wrongheaded fear, but in having found something that does work for our family. However, I'd like to see if there is more of "Halloween" we can integrate into All Saints' Day/"All Hallows' Eve" without losing any of that "flavor" to something that is less important to our mission as a family but may be more overtly appealing to our kids.
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JodieLyn
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Well, first of all realize we live in a SMALL town in an area that really gives you the feeling that you've moved about 30 years in the past. Halloween here is as safe or safer than when I was a child. Teens aren't out of control, you dont' hear of horrible things happening etc.
So my kids participate in Halloween with the pretty standard, dressing up and trick or treating. My decorations are jack-o'lanterns that the kids do a lot of the work on though dh and I often get to do one that can be more intricate  and a couple of scarcrows.. a small one on a hanging sign that says happy harvest and a bigger one... AND those saint candles in the mexican section of grocery stores.. I get several to put in the big front window and light (moving curtains well out of the way) while trick or treat is happening.
And while halloween costumes take a good portion of their attention.. they're also very excited and asking about what sort of party will be on All Saints and how that will work this year being on a Sunday etc. So I haven't found that the one takes away from the other.
Think of a birthday near a holiday.. both can be eagerly anticipated and celebrated without taking away from each other.
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Maddie
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In Once Upon A Time Saints, there is a story about a spider who saved a Pope from being discovered by his enemies...maybe you could tell that story and do a spider craft? We do trick or treating and Jack O' Lanterns, no witches.
There's the book Father Phillips tells a Ghost Story, of course, and my favorite by Father Gerald Brennan, The Ghost of Kingdom Come.
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organiclilac
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I really like this article:
How Halloween Can Be Redeemed
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MaryM
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A connection to present:
Saint associated with spiders - often pictured with web - St. Felix of Nola
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Mary M. in Denver
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Mary K
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Just a warning, don't read Sister Mary Martha's blog while having a drink! She's hilarious!!
God bless,
Mary-NY
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ekbell
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My five year old was assembling a "silly skeleton" this morning for her science and my eleven year old was there and we discussed this very topic!
We discussed how having slightly scary stuff around on All Saint's eve, just before celebrating All Saint's Day and All Souls day can remind us of what we don't need to be scared of anymore.
Skeletons and ghosts are a scary partly because they can represent the separation of the body and soul upon death. BUT we need not be scared of this separation because we know that one day our bodies and souls will be reunited just like Jesus and Mary's!
We need not be scared of spirits and those who call upon them because Our Lord will protect us. I did point out that many stories about so-called witches aren't really about the sort of witches who call upon spirits and many people who do call upon spirits don't intend to call upon evil ones.
And so on.
I didn't try to tie the theme of dangers overcome through Our Lord ito the stories of the Saints although I easily could do so. I just tied it into the theme of death being overcome (as celebrated by All Saints and All Souls days).
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allegiance_mom
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Fr. Phillip Tells a Ghost Story
We read this today and it was great. Explains about the Holy Souls and Divine Mercy in relation to Hallowe'en, and in particular to "ghosts." My boys liked it.
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molly
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I love All Hallows Eve and celebrating All Saints and the Day of the Dead. These are all wonderful Catholic feast days, that all Catholics should feel free to celebrate. Take time to read up on Hispanic traditions for Day of the Dead- All Souls Day! When doing so you will understand why scary stuff IS very Catholic  This can be tricky as many good floks have turned over the feast to the pagans, but as Catholics we are called to baptize or re baptize these amazing feast. Have fun, enjoy Holy Mother Church's wisdom and enjoy the feast.
As for the spider issue Was'nt there receently a spider crawling on Pope Benedict? I don't think he swatted it away as evil 
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Kathryn
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Our former priest asked in the past to not include witches, ghosts, devils and the like in our children's Halloween celebrations so that's been my guideline of what NOT to include (as well as the scantily clad children's costumes present in many party stores too.) Although we have been known to make ghost-y sounds and then shout BOO! 
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melmc
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This article came across our homeschool link. It's long, but tells the history of Halloween that really began as a Christian holiday and is written by a priest.
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Michiel
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my younger ds starts planning halloween on Nov. 1, seriously, and keeps it up for the entire year. He just loves costumes and spooky, and etc. I would just hate to spoil his innocent fun in the whole thing. All Saints' Day is, to him, another separate holiday and also his dad's bday. i don't get all evil and demonic, keeping halloween pretty tame, but I would hate to spoil the costume and spooky, and free candy fun for him.
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CrunchyMom
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Just throwing this out there: it seems an analogy of the spooky stuff would be like reindeer, snowmen, and sleighs at Christmas. They are decoration, fun, and in our home, we enjoy having them around in the background with the focus still being on Christmas.
We don't really get into Halloween as of yet because neither my husband or I really got into it much as children and its just not our thing. I did, however, just read a story to the boys from the Angel Food books (which are older and don't shy away from telling children about the dangers of sin and their need to work to save their souls), and the priest told a story about a little boy coming to visit him dressed as a devil for Halloween and he invited him in to visit for treats. The whole point of the story was that he didn't know who the boy was (but God knew). The fact that he was doing Halloween or even that he was dressed as a devil seemed normal and acceptable.
I do think that as humans, we are fascinated with death and dying and scariness, and as Christians, we couple that with the virtue of Hope and a pondering of the life in the world to come. I am reminded of how many Christian writers of the past century also wrote murder mysteries (of which I am a fan). It is not because they are just morbid, it is an extreme act that provides a means of exploring human nature. It seems that traditionally, spookiness has been a means of reminding us of the reality of hell and how truly scary sin is. It should horrify us. Part of the challenge in balancing this in recent years is the visual media that has desensitized us through horror flicks and the like so that people feel the need to raise the bar higher and higher. To me, the challenge is discerning where the line is for "acceptable" scariness since, as in matters of sexuality and other aspects of our children's innocence, current societal and cultural norms do not assist us. And of course, parents have to make prudent judgments about their individual children regarding their temperaments and maturity.
There is a church in Rome that is made from skeletons. Crypt of the Capuchin FriarsSkeletons are just kind of scary on their own, but they take on new meaning when they remind us of the scariness of purgatory and inspire us to pray for the suffering souls there. There is also the matter of saints relics and incorruptables which are pretty creepy. Also, certain miracles are quite eery in a Halloween sort of way, like consecrated hosts turning into flesh. These types of stories might be a way to explore scary stuff as it relates to the mystical part of our faith.
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glinNC
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sarahb wrote:
| I would check out Sister Mary Martha's blog on the topic. I always enjoy her. |
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Does anybody have the link, by chance? Thanks.
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RA's Mom
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For me this is less a question about the day itself and which traditions we adopt in our families than it is of putting the holiday into perspective.
In commercial culture people prepare for holidays by buying things to be consumed in a single day of excess. Before I became Catholic I was always depressed after Christmas with all of the unmet promises of that single day. Now that my husband I celebrate Christmas as a season, which we prepare for spiritually I don't feel that disappointment. I look forward to the next phase of the liturgical calendar.
All Saints', All Souls' and by extension Halloween fit beautifully into the year. They are (apologies to those who live in the Southern hemisphere and equatorial climes) harvest festivals. Ordinary times with all of the agricultural parables climaxes in the celebration of the gathering of souls, not just on the feast days but through the month of November when we pray for the dead.
It seems like there are also parallels between Halloween and the other festival of the masquerade - Carnival (Mardi Gras). Everyone has their own approach and boundaries, but I think it's good to let loose a little, pretending to be something were not, just before launching into the austerity, waiting and reflection of Advent and Lent.
Although it doesn't address Halloween I love _Around the Year with the Von Trapp Family_, which was introduced to me by this forum http://www.ewtn.com/library/FAMILY/TRAPP.TXT Maria makes the point that Americans don't prepare and celebrate enough but just rush from purchase to purchase, day to day. That's the cycle we're trying to break.
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Gloria JMJ
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If you continue the liturgical year theme, the fact that this is the end of the year, and the liturgy alludes to the end of the world, death and spooky stuff are pretty appropriate. I have even allowed a grim reaper in our costume box as something that you need not be scared of if in the state of grace . Plus all of the saints have met with death, kind of a requirement , and spiders, owls, cats, and bats tie into the nightime of life, seeing that that is the time of day they prefer, Just like eggs, bunnies, chickies, and flowers tie in with the springtime of life at Easter. All very catholic . Happy All Hollows Eve!
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4Real Forums : Domestic Church
Topic: Halloween for Catholics
