Author Topic: Halloween (Read 2847 times)

Viva Cristo Rey · « **on:** October 20, 2022, 08:07:57 AM »

I went back to my home town to visit my parents. It was a very sad experience to see a demonic pumpkin hanging by the door. In the past, there would be cheerful Halloween Germanic cutouts of pumpkins, scarecrows, etc.

Driving through the area there was elaborate demonic Halloween decorated homes with witches in a circle , bloody butchered zombies, goat skulls. Etc. very violent , satanic and graphic decorations that should anger the many Catholics in the area.

Seraphina · « **Reply #1 on:** October 20, 2022, 08:53:04 AM »

Quote from: Viva Cristo Rey on October 20, 2022, 08:07:57 AM

I went back to my home town to visit my parents. It was a very sad experience to see a demonic pumpkin hanging by the door. In the past, there would be cheerful Halloween Germanic cutouts of pumpkins, scarecrows, etc.

Driving through the area there was elaborate demonic Halloween decorated homes with witches in a circle , bloody butchered zombies, goat skulls. Etc. very violent , satanic and graphic decorations that should anger the many Catholics in the area.

A lot of them are rather gruesome, and expensive! Offend the many Catholics? Sadly, a lot of them ARE Catholics, in name only. Most church-going Protestants don’t celebrate Halloween any longer, and it’s certainly not Jehovah’s Witnesses, Seven Day Adventists, Mormons, Jews, Muslims, Sikhs, or other people of other religions decorating their homes in demonic looking stuff. That kind of leaves the irreligious, non-religious, and fallen away, most of whom were “christian” of some sort unless you live among Satanists.

Matthew · « **Reply #2 on:** October 20, 2022, 09:15:28 AM »

Quote from: Viva Cristo Rey on October 20, 2022, 08:07:57 AM

Driving through the area there was elaborate demonic Halloween decorated homes with witches in a circle , bloody butchered zombies, goat skulls. Etc. very violent , satanic and graphic decorations that should anger the many Catholics in the area.

Yes, this is the part of the American Halloween experience that Catholics should be avoiding. Anything gruesome, satanic/occult, witchcraft, devils, etc.

You can dress up as all kinds of random things that are morally neutral or even good. There are plenty of Catholic-friendly things for children to "go as" for Halloween.

It's simple: just don't glorify satan and the satanic.

But some good "Memento Mori" (remember death) is great from a Catholic standpoint: skulls, skeletons, graves, dead bodies. Even ghosts are a reminder that we have immortal souls.

And there's nothing evil about any family of produce, including Cucurbita pepo and Cucurbita maxima (the Pumpkin). Gourds, squash, pumpkins, apples, the harvest, and celebrating "Fall" in general is another department of Halloween that is just fine for Catholics. And I don't see any sin, or temptations to sin, by carving a smiley face into a pumpkin. I made jack-o-lanterns as a kid and that never led me into any sins or problems. Totally harmless.

Stacks of hay, hayrides, etc. are also great fun for Catholics at halloween.

And there's certainly nothing wrong with spiders or spiderwebs -- God created them! Every time you see a spider and/or web decoration at Halloween, raise your mind to God with a short prayer, "Glory to God for designing such an ingenious and intricate creature!"

But another thing: Halloween -- or even the day it is the vigil for, All Saints Day, is not supposed to be on par with Christmas or Easter. They are NOT 1 or 2 month celebrations. It's a DAY, people. Not a season! Easter, the Resurrection of Our Lord, has 40-day Lent to prepare for it. Christmas has 4 weeks of Advent. Halloween is ONE DAY. But pagan/atheist/agnostic stores put out Halloween stuff starting in late August or early September! That is stupid to the max.

DigitalLogos · « **Reply #3 on:** October 20, 2022, 09:45:05 AM »

Quote from: Matthew on October 20, 2022, 09:15:28 AM

Yes, this is the part of the American Halloween experience that Catholics should be avoiding. Anything gruesome, satanic/occult, witchcraft, devils, etc.

You can dress up as all kinds of random things that are morally neutral or even good. There are plenty of Catholic-friendly things for children to "go as" for Halloween.

It's simple: just don't glorify satan and the satanic.

But some good "Memento Mori" (remember death) is great from a Catholic standpoint: skulls, skeletons, graves, dead bodies. Even ghosts are a reminder that we have immortal souls.

And there's nothing evil about any family of produce, including Cucurbita pepo and Cucurbita maxima (the Pumpkin). Gourds, squash, pumpkins, apples, the harvest, and celebrating "Fall" in general is another department of Halloween that is just fine for Catholics. And I don't see any sin, or temptations to sin, by carving a smiley face into a pumpkin. I made jack-o-lanterns as a kid and that never led me into any sins or problems. Totally harmless.

Stacks of hay, hayrides, etc. are also great fun for Catholics at halloween.

And there's certainly nothing wrong with spiders or spiderwebs -- God created them! Every time you see a spider and/or web decoration at Halloween, raise your mind to God with a short prayer, "Glory to God for designing such an ingenious and intricate creature!"

But another thing: Halloween -- or even the day it is the vigil for, All Saints Day, is not supposed to be on par with Christmas or Easter. They are NOT 1 or 2 month celebrations. It's a DAY, people. Not a season! Easter, the Resurrection of Our Lord, has 40-day Lent to prepare for it. Christmas has 4 weeks of Advent. Halloween is ONE DAY. But pagan/atheist/agnostic stores put out Halloween stuff starting in late August or early September! That is stupid to the max.

A very agreeable and reasonable way to look at it. Celebrate, if you want, but don't make it satanic.

My wife and kids love Halloween, and I'm partial to it since I grew up celebrating it and love the memento mori of some aspects. The scariest thing we have are Jack Skellington and Sally pumpkin lights and some cheesy, cute decorations in the window. That's about it. The wife is taking the kids out and they have a "garden" theme going with my oldest as a butterfly, son as a flower and baby as a bumble bee and, as usual, I'll be at work. They can have their innocent fun and some candy and leave it at that.

Cera · « **Reply #4 on:** October 20, 2022, 01:46:59 PM »

Various neighbors have:
a "dead body" hanging from a tree,
an 18 ft high skeleton,
a life-size skelton with splattered blood and a knife in its chest,
and too many witches to count.

We decorate for Fall and celebrate All Souls Day and All Saints Day.
We do give out candy, but not after 9 p.m. which brings out older teens not in costume, just out for candy.

Kazimierz · « **Reply #5 on:** October 20, 2022, 02:11:11 PM »

I will attempt to remember to light my beeswax tapers whilst prayer Vespers and Compline on the 31st. That and pray to St Michael and St Benedict. I will likely carve a few cheery faced Jack o Lanterns and string up simple orange mini lights. We get mostly small kids around our place. Nothing ghoulish anywhere near us.
Watching It’s the Great Pumpkin 🎃 Charlie Brown and Garfield will be the major extent of my viewing.

The one visit to MS that was around Halloween was interesting. One of the Baptist churches held a Fall festival, but it was a non-gruesome Halloween in reality.

If our neoSSPX mission had an All Saints party, I would be costumed in my full Templar apparel.

Chain mail coiffe, dagger, sword and all!

Matthew · « **Reply #6 on:** October 20, 2022, 02:13:46 PM »

Quote from: Kazimierz on October 20, 2022, 02:11:11 PM

If our neoSSPX mission had an All Saints party, I would be costumed in my full Templar apparel. Chain mail coiffe, dagger, sword and all!

Ah, the fully functional Crusader outfit, of which no part had to be procured or borrowed! hahaha

Ladislaus · « **Reply #7 on:** October 20, 2022, 02:15:30 PM »

Quote from: Matthew on October 20, 2022, 09:15:28 AM

It's simple: just don't glorify satan and the satanic.

Agreed. I've seen solid evidence that trick-or-treating is derived from Catholic custom / practice in England.

Ladislaus · « **Reply #8 on:** October 20, 2022, 02:18:43 PM »

Quote from: Seraphina on October 20, 2022, 08:53:04 AM

Most church-going Protestants don’t celebrate Halloween any longer, and it’s certainly not Jehovah’s Witnesses, Seven Day Adventists, Mormons, Jєωs, Muslims, Sikhs, or other people of other religions decorating their homes in demonic looking stuff.

Recall that these are the same Prots who accuse the Catholic Church of becoming pagan due to their appropriation / assimiliation of pagan culture, and the same Prots who claim that we're guilty of paganism by praying to Our Lady and the saints, etc.

MiracleOfTheSun · « **Reply #9 on:** October 20, 2022, 02:32:07 PM »

So far, in my neighborhood, some guy has a large, black, ten-foot spider crawling up the side of his house. Plus, some cobweb 'tinsel' strung about the place. But that's about it.

Ladislaus · « **Reply #10 on:** October 20, 2022, 02:43:35 PM »

Quote from: Viva Cristo Rey on October 20, 2022, 08:07:57 AM

It was a very sad experience to see a demonic pumpkin hanging by the door.

How is this pumpkin demonic? Does it have devil horns on it? Or is is just a menacing / unpleasant scowel?

So, an interesting topic of discussion might be whether the following is "demonic". Not sure what you actually saw.

Is this demonic? If so, why? If not, why? I would say no because not every menacing scowel is per se demonic. Looks like it might have murderous intent, but not necessarily diabolical.

Yeti · « **Reply #11 on:** October 20, 2022, 03:48:08 PM »

I heard it said once that conservatives celebrate Christmas, while liberals celebrate Halloween.

If you pay attention to the houses that put up decorations for either one or the other, you will probably notice that almost all the houses in your neighborhood celebrate either one or the other, but hardly ever both. I don't think this is a coincidence.

Charity · « **Reply #12 on:** October 20, 2022, 03:53:46 PM »

This (or one extremely similar) is the 9 foot or taller dragon (cf: Revelation 12:9 "And that great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, who seduceth the whole world; and he was cast unto the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.")

that is set up on the front yard of a house directly across the street and facing the SSPX Sisters Sacred Heart Novitiate Chapel (540 West 8th St., Browerville, MN) which is open for public attendance 7 days a week. The gaze of the dragon if it followed a straight line would probably go straight to the actual tabernacle on the altar in the Chapel. The monstrosity lights up and self inflates and then its wings start flapping. The tongue of the dragon is constantly waving as if it's sending blasphemous curses straight at the Chapel. Truly bizarre to say the least. I don't believe there is a single other display in the whole town of Browerville which comes close to being as demonic as this one.

DigitalLogos · « **Reply #13 on:** October 20, 2022, 03:55:51 PM »

Quote from: Ladislaus on October 20, 2022, 02:18:43 PM

Recall that these are the same Prots who accuse the Catholic Church of becoming pagan due to their appropriation / assimiliation of pagan culture, and the same Prots who claim that we're guilty of paganism by praying to Our Lady and the saints, etc.

Now known more or less as "folk culture", which is basically what Halloween is. There's a lot of claims swarming around about "Samhain" and all that, but the general holiday isn't meant to be that at all. I mean, if you don't want to celebrate it, then don't celebrate it. But I wouldn't go as far as to outright say it's a demonic holiday unless one specifically makes it about satan in their own celebration of it. I honestly see it as a mockery of evil and reminder of death, showing the triumph of Christ over satan and belittling the devils especially given its proximity to All Saints and All Souls Day.

I think with the flowery, soft imagery of Catholicism that arose in the 18th-19th centuries (I think to the almost "effeminate" rosy-cheeked depictions of Our Lord and the saints) we lost the notion that Catholic imagery can be pretty morbid and terrifying. We literally have entire chapels in the catacombs built from human skulls and bones; and horrifying medieval depictions of devils and hell; we have saints who would carry around actual human skulls to remind them of mortality. Today, especially among Protestant heretics, such a practice would be seen as pagan or witchcraft because they do not have supernatural Faith, just superstition.

Just because something is spooky or scary doesn't automatically mean it is demonic. Showing evil as grotesque, dark and frightening is actually a truth about its nature and can be beneficial as you don't want to mimic it.

I've seen some get in an uproar about the Hocus Pocus movies because it depicts witches that want to cook and eat children. Good, I say. It shows the ugly nature of witchcraft in a form that children can understand without traumatizing them. What's more insidious is the flowery glorification of these practices in media which makes children want to imitate them, rather than shun them. There's a reason that the sodomites to go around in bright colors, rather than "Goth" garb; because it can attract children to their evil ways. If they were expressing the true nature of their souls, then it would be grotesque and terrifying; not something that comforts and promotes imitation.

I'm not advocating one way or the other here for Halloween. I'm indifferent to it, as it depends on the expression of individuals celebrating it. It can be harmless fun for children, or something darker. As can all things. I think we err greatly looking to the superstitious, faithless Protestants for any expression of piety.

Ladislaus · « **Reply #14 on:** October 20, 2022, 04:00:29 PM »

Quote from: Yeti on October 20, 2022, 03:48:08 PM

I heard it said once that conservatives celebrate Christmas, while liberals celebrate Halloween.

If you pay attention to the houses that put up decorations for either one or the other, you will probably notice that almost all the houses in your neighborhood celebrate either one or the other, but hardly ever both. I don't think this is a coincidence.

There are a couple exceptions in my neighborhood where they decorate with equal effort for both ... and one who puts in remarkable effort for every minor holiday in between.

Author Topic: Halloween (Read 2847 times)

Viva Cristo Rey

Halloween

Seraphina

Re: Halloween

Matthew

Re: Halloween

DigitalLogos

Re: Halloween

Cera

Re: Halloween

Kazimierz

Re: Halloween

Matthew

Re: Halloween

Ladislaus

Re: Halloween

Ladislaus

Re: Halloween

MiracleOfTheSun

Re: Halloween

Ladislaus

Re: Halloween

Yeti

Re: Halloween

Charity

Re: Halloween

DigitalLogos

Re: Halloween

Ladislaus

Re: Halloween