Concerning Halloween...

So... If you're a Catholic (or really any more rooted Christian), you've probably, at least once, run into the controversy of celebrating Halloween. You may only vaguely remember it and what it's about, or you may be so thoroughly sick of it at this point that you ignore that very existence of Halloween. Either way, it's worth another look. Why? Because I believe that there are too many "you're wrong, I'm right," approaches to the discussion (not meaning, of course, that there isn't a solid truth to the matter, but, rather, that people tend to talk over each other for whatever side of the debate they're on, and very rarely try to even understand the other opinion).

For those who don't remember as well, the debate mostly parts into two paths - no, you should not celebrate Halloween (or if you should, do not acknowledge it as Halloween, but merely an early All Saint's Day) because, you know, demonic influence and such; yes, you should absolutely celebrate Halloween (even if detached from All Saint's/Soul's Day) and it's all in good fun and there's nothing harmful about dressing up as human nightmares and pleasuring in darkness. Well. If you're on one side, I apologize for the bluntness, but, in all honesty, I cannot stand either argument a lick. They're both wrong.

Let's tackle the easier one first. If you're a traditional Christian, you're probably already looking at the latter description above and thinking "Eh, duh! - of course there's something wrong with dressing up as human nightmares and pleasuring in darkness - what is wrong with this world?!". You are right. But I have definitely met people who think otherwise. Because the line is so fine between celebrating harmless and harmful Halloween, many people tend to think that, as long as it's not serious, anything goes. Sure, you can have your silly costumes. Sure, you can put up your little cartoon ghost picture. Sure, you can go and tp houses at night. Sure, you can rope up a bloody, misshapen, raggedy doll on our tree outside so that it looks like it's hanging. Ahem. You get the point; it gets out of hand fast.

There is (as I will demonstrate later) absolutely nothing wrong with dressing up or having cartoon figures around the house during Halloween. Both, in fact, are at their root very Christian traditions. What's wrong is making a celebration of all things dark, ugly, and macabre. If you find putting fake bloody fingerprints on your window fun, then you've got a problem. Because we don't understand the difference between mocking and celebrating evil, we often stray towards the latter, patronizing nightmares, fictional mass-murderers, and demons. We can't just say, "you know, some things about Halloween are harmless, so that must mean I can celebrate everything about Halloween!". It just doesn't work that way.

Now. If you're in the other camp, you might already be disagreeing with me that there are some harmless things about Halloween. Well, disagree with major Vatican exorcist, Fr. Vincent Lampert:

"Ultimately I don't think there's anything wrong with the kids putting on a costume, dressing up as a cowboy or Cinderella, and going through the neighborhood and asking for candy; that's all good clean fun."

Fr. Lampert does not in any fashion mean that there is nothing wrong with the current celebration of Halloween; in fact, his point he leads up to in this statement is that it's not cowboys or Cinderella that are walking through the neighborhoods these days; look around Halloween night, and see if you don't find witches, serial killers, and bloody ghosts any way you look. Is that good clean fun? I don't know about you, but Fr. Lampert (and I) would say no. 

In truth, it is actually the kinship with evil that is accomplished which is the true crime oft committed on Halloween: we watch scary, unhealthily gruesome movies, we, in all seriousness, try to dress up as the most grotesque of figures, and we play games invoking a demonic theme (or even, directly, the demonic). Not only this, but, even those of us who merely engage in harmless, cartoonified revelry forget the point of Halloween - God. Halloween is a mockery of evil, a day to triumph, for we know that many have smitten the devil and gotten to Heaven, and many yet may. If we cannot keep in mind the purpose of a celebration, then that celebration becomes mere gluttony. If we're eating candy and dressing up and all such things without even a thought of why we're doing it, then we've just become blind pigs, eating without need for survival, and reveling without joy.

For ages, Christians have celebrated Halloween - we've celebrated it longer than the seculars, and we've celebrated it (despite common belief) longer than the pagans (the pagans did not celebrate All Hallow's Eve, a day for thoughts of Heaven, but, rather like today's common celebrations, merely celebrated a liberation of and communication with evil spirits on a similar date, which, by the bye, they did at the end of every month, and not specifically October). The reasons to not celebrate Halloween are similar to those who might advocate the end of Christmas celebration:

• Bad people, and, in fact, most people now celebrate it wrongly.
• It's become so secularized.
• There was a pagan holiday vaguely associated with its date.
• It's an occasion for evil influence. (Every day with an occult-curious, atheistic, or badly faith-formed person is an occasion for evil influence!)
• Not only God, but morality in general has disappeared from it. 
• Nobody goes to Mass that day anymore.
• And other similarly related reasons of its religious lacking.

Just because a holiday (holy-day) has become abused, we do not have to boycott it. In fact, I would say that is all the more reason to celebrate it - if people are celebrating it wrongly, then let us do it justice. Use the occasion to gain graces available that day, and make spiritual amends for the wrong done by the rest of the world. 

In fact, in addition to condemning the mainstream materialist and occult celebrations of Halloween, the Vatican-endorsed International Association of Exorcists in 2014 encouraged celebrating what they called "Holy-ween" - a vigil with prayer and remembrance of Our Lord's death and Resurrection, as well as a celebration of the saints.

I absolutely love this idea. Whoever thought this up is a genius. My toddler sister saw it and immediately exclaimed "It's a pumpkin Mama Mary - so pretty!"

If there is a harmless Halloween and a spiritual Halloween, then, I believe, we should be celebrating it. If your kid wants to dress up as a superhero, a princess, or, better yet, a saint, let them, and even encourage them! As a fairly recent Catholic article suggested, we should use the occasion to teach children about Halloween, its true meaning, and its opposite, not pretend it doesn't exist. Because Satan has no influence unless we give it to him, we've got to reclaim the holiday as Christian - don't let the seculars take a Christian holiday, and certainly don't let the demonically-inclined do so! Halloween will only get better if we're actually making it what it's supposed to be.

That's it for me. Your thoughts? Agree? Disagree? Anything to add or comment on? Do you celebrate Halloween? Or, more importantly, how do you celebrate Halloween? Are you getting frustrated with the number of slasher villains running around your neighborhood on Halloween? Or perhaps are you (lucky dog) preparing to go to an All Hallow's Eve Mass or saint-oriented costume party?