When I was a kid, October was one of my favorite times of year. My dad incorporated all kinds of fun traditions for me and my siblings. He would hand-draw a Halloween calendar for me to mark off each day. Together, we scoured the Sunday newspaper TV guide looking for Halloween shows to watch like “Garfield’s Halloween” and “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.” When I got a little older, he introduced me to “The Ghost and Mr. Chicken” starring Don Knotts. My mom would attend my Halloween elementary school parties which were always so much fun. We knew how to do Halloween in the 80’s.
Come Halloween night, I was so excited to set out on my candy quest that I could barely eat supper. I loved roaming the streets and staying out in the crisp night air until all the front porch lights went out. Then, I would go home, dump out all my candy on the floor and lean down to smell all that yummy goodness blended together. There is a distinct Halloween candy pile smell that can bring back my youth in a second.
Once I had kids of my own, I knew I wanted to introduce them to all the traditions of my youth. We watch the movies, pick out excellent costumes, do a Halloween puzzle, make Halloween treats, and carve pumpkins. My top three favorite costumes for my oldest have been: Dorothy of “The Wizard of Oz,” a mime, and a 50’s girl. My favorites for my middle daughter have been: Mary Poppins, a pirate princess (her idea), and a gypsy. So far, for my son, my favorite has been when he was Indiana Jones. I’ve never allowed my kids to be anything grotesque. Their father and I have always encouraged creativity and what they’ve come up with over the years has made for great memories.
But, something started to change about ten years back. I started to notice lots of moms decrying the dangers of Halloween, e.g. poisoned candy, razor blades embedded in candy bars, strangers lurking to snatch children, and “scary” decorations. Soon, “trunk or treats” were all the rage as a safer alternative and streets lost the magic of having costumed kids running from door-to-door. Then, some in the Protestant community attempted to show that Halloween has evil origins and it wasn’t long after that that many Catholics were heralding the same message. I went to Hobby Lobby last year to get some Halloween decorations and there were none. They don’t sell Halloween decorations anymore because of its “pagan” origins.
So, the other day, a request came in to write on the topic of whether we can celebrate Halloween as Catholics. At first, I was loathe to write this because, inevitably, I’m going to get link after link from people trying to prove to me that we shouldn’t and should, alternatively, board up our houses and hide out while the demons lurk in the streets on the 31st. I’ll also get people questioning if I’m truly Catholic because I have some pumpkins and friendly ghosts up around my house.
Look, when it comes to these kinds of things, I think the answer often lies in the middle. Firstly, the Church doesn’t tell us that we can’t celebrate Halloween, so it is wrong to condemn something if the Church allows for it. I’d be surprised to see the Church outright condemn Halloween as its origins come from the Catholic Feast of “All Hallow’s Eve.” Secondly, is the issue of the corruption of the holiday by the secular culture. I’ll be the first to raise my hand and acknowledge that there has been definite corruption. As with most American holidays, commercialization has cloaked it in material and monetary greed. In addition, aspects of Halloween culture are legitimately evil and demonic. There’s also the issue I take with making EVERY. SINGLE. FEMALE. costume looking like a Las Vegas burlesque outfit. Sexy CandyCorn Girl? Come on.
Thirdly, I would say that we have to weigh whether Halloween is truly evil in and of itself. Is it? Obviously, the completely innocent version of running around getting candy is not evil. Most importantly, the Catholic practice of honoring those that came before us is not evil. Consider this, music has raunchy, deplorable songs out there. Does this mean because some people have corrupted music that we can’t listen to it at all? Well, no. As with anything that isn’t inherently evil, we engage in things with dignity and integrity becoming of our Catholic Faith. My Protestant upbringing meant that Halloween was purely secular, however, all the practices we engaged in were innocent and fun. It wasn’t until I became Catholic that I even keyed in on the origins of the holiday. It’s wonderful to celebrate Halloween with the full, original purposes in mind. Last year, my family attended a special All Hallow’s Eve event at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton’s Shrine.
If you don’t want to celebrate Halloween and you are uncomfortable with it, then don’t celebrate it. No harm, no foul. If, as a family, you enjoy the simply fun of the season, go for it. Don’t glorify evil. Don’t engage in the occult. Be sure to tell your kids about the significance of the night and why it started in the first place. The answer is, in my opinion, not to shun it entirely like it’s devoid of anything positive, but, also, not to indulge in everything Halloween offers up. The middle ground is probably a little bit of both/and, religious and secular. The secular being only those things which are positive and innocently fun.
With regards to this topic, my husband said, “The answer is not to toss Halloween away and run off in a Puritanical manner. The answer is to take it back and make it right.” Though I’m biased, I’d have to agree.
Live the Faith boldly, Catholic Pilgrims, and travel well.
6 responses to “Halloween: To Celebrate or Not? That Is the Question.”
I couldn’t agree with you more!!!
Thank you for the request. Like I said, I was a little hesitant to write it, but I actually enjoyed it.
Wonderful and so true and joyful!
Thank you!
Thank you! I always struggle a bit because we do Halloween as Catholics, but we are very intentional about how we do it. We read great literature, watch great movies, and we discuss theology and good and evil. Our kids range from 1 to 18. We even allow the older ones to dress in evil characters if they are part of our classic story theme. (We always have a family theme, and an evil character in that context is fine, much like a play or a painting with good and evil.) For example, we did Hansel and Gretel this year, and my 16-year-old daughter was the witch in the story. That has been our only witch ever. Last year, we did Dracula, a very Catholic classic, and my two oldest teens were Dracula and Lucy while the younger ones were other characters in the book. But we never allow vampires just for fun, and we never make an evil character good or misunderstood or sexy. We never twist symbolism.
But even with this huge explanation in your comment box, I always wonder what my friends will think when they see some of my teens dressed as the evil characters of our story. Yet I am sure all of them would allow their kids to be part of a play or to make artwork that portrays the truth of good and evil. I feel like I have to apologize and explain! I appreciate the post. (And when I do explain, I feel like I am passively aggressively chastising my Catholic friends who do let their kids dress as cute dragons or cute random witches, which I do not agree with. Such a challenging holiday in our culture!)
You know, Jimmy Akin, a Catholic apologist has a great explanation for this. We don’t glorify evil, as Catholics, but we do acknowledge its existence and we must prepare our children to fight against it. We do that in role-playing by maybe dressing up as a bad guy in order to have him conquered by the good guy. Boys play this out the time when they “play” at war. To hide children from all evil until they turn 18 would leave them woefully unprepared to handle it. The great villains of our great Classics help our children see and recognize evil and then, in turn, see how the good guy defeats him. You should like you are preparing your children well.