I thought this might be an interesting point of discussion. We have not yet done the "Trick-or Treat" thing with Rose Marie, but we are revisiting the topic this year. We are still in the process of discovering what our family will do during these holy days of All Saints and All Souls. What are your thoughts on Halloween? Do you participate? What traditions do you have for these Feast Days?
Here is an interesting link that I thought I would share: http://www.fisheaters.com/customstimeafterpentecost12aa.html
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7 comments:
I was raised with both sides - the secular trick or treating and the spiritual of saints, and souls. So, we raise our kids with both. We take note, celebrate and thank God for all his bounty at this time of year (being on a farm and having fresh local produce delivered by friends who grew it helps) - seeds and berries for the birds, corn for the squirrels and deer, squash, pumpkins and jalapenos for us. The beginnings literally seeds for the upcoming year. The time of spiritual wealth to harvest and 'store' (we include advent in this) before we go into our hibernation (Lent). The kids dress up, but our emphasis is not the decorations (we only use fall/nature things like gourds pumpkins and leaves and occasionally bats b/c of the sesame street 'batty bat song ;) or gross stuff, but on *giving* (the kids help hand out candy to other kids who come to our home), saying "please and thank you" and just having wholesome fun as a family.
We do the spiritual as well, by attending Mass for All Saints, talking/reading about our saints, and making a plenary indugence for someone who's passed away already when we visit the cemetary on All Souls.
I think everything in moderation, and honestly, don't inherently find anything wrong with Halloween.
Lol, sorry for my tome ;)
PS Our celebration of the spiritual side (All Saints/ All Souls) has led to some wonderful discussions with our children increasing their knowledge of the faith :)
You might enjoy the conversation going on over here:
http://buildingcathedrals.blogspot.com/2009/10/open-for-debate-halloween.html
Thought you might enjoy this article. Kinda straightens things out between who is responcible for what in Halloween festivites:
http://catholicism.about.com/od/thecatholicfamily/p/Halloween.htm
Thank you all so much for your input!!! Things have gotten pretty crazy around here...hence the unintended silence. :) Everyone had some fantastic ideas about celebrating Halloween.
We have been doing a lot of praying and thinking about this issue. I think that in the future, we may enter into the "dressing up," and "trick-or-treating" part, but not just yet. As we have been thinking it over, I think I would want to be sure that I am giving the same kind of emphasis on both All Souls and All Saints days. I know how I want to proceed, but am not quite there yet. I need to get a few more ducks in a row before that happens. :)
I have so enjoyed all of this reading and research! Thank you all for sharing in this journey with me!
Sounds like you have a good plan! :) Hope you post your All Saints/ All Souls activities so I can get some more ideas! :) Can't wait to see them!
Hi Jessica!
I just got your address update and followed the link here. Mark and have been in the same spot with Halloween. On one side we have learned a lot about spiritual warfare and witchcraft in the past year and how easily satan can get a foothold in one's life. On the other side the trick or treating and candy is pretty innocent. A couple things that people have mentioned to me-as far a costumes you can be just about anything and be a saint. A farm animal can be from the Nativity, a farmer St. Isadore, a prisoner, St. Maximilian Kolbe.
A priest one told us it was one of his favorite holidays because the rest of the year we put on our "good masks' for everyone to see and thought that the ugly things we can dress up as can reflect what we often are really like. So the thought we should dress our children up in the ugliest costumes and then burn them at the end of the night and talk to our kids about what Christ's redemption does for us-transforming us into saints-which we celebrate and hope for the next day.
So far we've done trick or treating, but not sure if we will stick with it.
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