Author Topic: Halloween (Read 905 times)

Kephapaulos · « **on:** October 31, 2014, 07:29:26 PM »

So what's the real story about Halloween? Is it just an American thing? I find it so sad that the Vigil of All Saints was removed from the Roman Missal in 1955. It would have been a nice way to counter all the ghoulishness and diabolical undertone of the celebration of Halloween today. I made sure to pray First Vespers and Compline for the Feast Day of All Saints tomorrow. Do you all have anything special you do during this time of year?

Mabel · « **Reply #1 on:** October 31, 2014, 08:07:09 PM »

I think Halloween can be as innocent or as sinister as you make it. I know that even Catholic schools before the council celebrated it on an innocent basic level. My grandma went to parties with her friends and they bobbed for apples and played games, people who were good Catholcis with good reputations participated, so I don't really worry about what other families do.

We do not celebrate in our home. Tomorrow, we will set up a small home altar in honor of the Holy Souls. We will make a list of faithful departed, pray, and sacrifice for them for the whole month. I have a system for anonymously tracking good works and extra prayers, so we can see our collective spiritual bouquet at the end of the month. In less busy years, we dress up like saints and attend or host a party.

I bake a lot of stuff with pumpkin in the fall. I'm thinking about having a traditional Martinmas party next year. That's about it.

LaramieHirsch · « **Reply #2 on:** October 31, 2014, 09:08:26 PM »

Yesterday was an awesome day for the season. We made beans and cornbread with fried potatoes. We put on Charlie Brown and tried baking soul cakes. The weather's nice this year. Kind of wanted to break out the cherry tobacco, but didn't have the time.

RomanCatholic1953 · « **Reply #3 on:** October 31, 2014, 10:56:11 PM »

what is crazy is that adults take Halloween seriously. Cannot believe that they go out
in a Halloween costumes and parade at night at the city cemetery. Bazaar and the
lack of religion.
They will sleep in on All Saints Day.

2Vermont · « **Reply #4 on:** November 01, 2014, 06:34:15 AM »

For me, if there was no Halloween I wouldn't miss it.

Ursus · « **Reply #5 on:** November 03, 2014, 01:04:22 PM »

Quote from: RomanCatholic1953

what is crazy is that adults take Halloween seriously. Cannot believe that they go out
in a Halloween costumes and parade at night at the city cemetery. Bazaar and the
lack of religion.
They will sleep in on All Saints Day.

Seems any excuse these days to drink until drunk and makes fools of themselves.

SoldierOfChrist · « **Reply #6 on:** November 03, 2014, 01:52:25 PM »

The idea of trick or treat is alive and well in modern Halloween practices. Try being one of the unpopular houses that doesn't give out treats and you might end up having the exterior of your house vandalized. It seems clear that a lot of bad things are done on Halloween. Houses invaded, people robbed and beaten, women encouraged to dress extremely inappropriately. I find it hard to defend taking part in the festivities, yet coming from a family where this was always accepted, I also find it hard to discern the proper way of resisting it without causing undue strife in the family. As a dad who's new to Tradition, with a two year old and a kid on the way, I'd be interested to know how other parents address the issue. Maybe we should open up discussion in the anonymous section.

RomanCatholic1953 · « **Reply #7 on:** November 03, 2014, 05:23:28 PM »

However, Halloween is special to me. It is my Mother's Birthday.
She is now 91.

Mabel · « **Reply #8 on:** November 03, 2014, 07:14:07 PM »

Quote from: SoldierOfChrist

The idea of trick or treat is alive and well in modern Halloween practices. Try being one of the unpopular houses that doesn't give out treats and you might end up having the exterior of your house vandalized. It seems clear that a lot of bad things are done on Halloween. Houses invaded, people robbed and beaten, women encouraged to dress extremely inappropriately. I find it hard to defend taking part in the festivities, yet coming from a family where this was always accepted, I also find it hard to discern the proper way of resisting it without causing undue strife in the family. As a dad who's new to Tradition, with a two year old and a kid on the way, I'd be interested to know how other parents address the issue. Maybe we should open up discussion in the anonymous section.

In short, we just ignore it and focus on All Saint's Day. Actually, we bought a bunch of clearance dress up items for the kids today so that should be fun.

People ask the kids about Halloween and if they went Trick-or-treating, I just try to teach them to say responses that are true but do not insult the person asking (usually an elderly person). So someone might say "what are you going to be for Halloween?" they might say "Ask my mother." Or there is the ever popular "did you get a lot of candy?" they will say how much they like candy and what their favorite kind might be. No one has to know and they don't have to be unnecessarily offended.

Cantarella · « **Reply #9 on:** November 03, 2014, 07:44:53 PM »

Quote from: SoldierOfChrist

The idea of trick or treat is alive and well in modern Halloween practices. Try being one of the unpopular houses that doesn't give out treats and you might end up having the exterior of your house vandalized. It seems clear that a lot of bad things are done on Halloween. Houses invaded, people robbed and beaten, women encouraged to dress extremely inappropriately. I find it hard to defend taking part in the festivities, yet coming from a family where this was always accepted, I also find it hard to discern the proper way of resisting it without causing undue strife in the family. As a dad who's new to Tradition, with a two year old and a kid on the way, I'd be interested to know how other parents address the issue. Maybe we should open up discussion in the anonymous section.

As Catholics, we must re-institute all of our Catholic customs and celebrate happy and holy All Saints and All Souls feast days. We need to avoid entering into the neo-pagan commemorations of Halloween and emphasize the Catholic feasts instead. Specially in America, Halloween really represents a reverse process: the return to Paganism and outright Satanism and should be - not really avoided as the Puritans do- but resisted and fought against.