Halloween and Our Catholic Faith
Halloween is celebrated annually on 31 October and has become increasingly popular in Australia. This is reflected through the decoration of homes and preparations made for “trick or treating”, with some suburbs gaining a reputation for being the best places to visit. Many children and adults dress up in scary costumes and participate in the rituals of this event. Ghosts, demons, witches and other ghoulish characters or themes often feature.
Some may question what this has to do with Catholicism and see it as a commercialised sugar fest based on paganism. There are in fact many links that can be made between Halloween and our Catholic faith. In 2016, Bishop Peter Ingham wrote a letter about this very topic and conveyed how Halloween can be understood and appreciated as a “Godly” event. Some of the key points he addressed concerned the meaning of the event. Halloween is observed on the "een" or "eve" of All Hallows Day (All Saints Day) on 1 November. The word “hallow” means holy as made clear when it occurs in the Lord's Prayer – "hallowed be thy name" (may God's name be held holy). All Saints Day is a solemn holy day of the Catholic Church dedicated to the saints of the Church, that is, all those who have attained heaven. Bishop Ingham explained in his letter that Catholics can celebrate Halloween but they need to ensure that they make connections between what they are doing on Halloween and All Saints Day. He argued that “to celebrate Halloween without connecting it to All Saints Day would be like celebrating Christmas Eve without a Christmas Day”. It is also important to remember All Souls Day as a holy day celebrated on 2 November to remember and pray for all of those who have died.
Some suggestions made by Bishop Ingham, who referenced Father William Bausch, of ways to make these connections include:
- before going out “trick or treating,” gather the family to offer a prayer for deceased members and friends, people of our past who meant something to us and whose influence is still with us
- bring out the family album for the triduum of Halloween, All Saints and All Souls; put it on the coffee table with a little lit candle in front of it. This makes a statement that we all come from a long line of people who loved us and that Halloween is a sacred time as well as a fun time, that we are part of their journey, as they are of ours
- on All Saints Day, possibly around the dinner table, have family members research the saint after whom they are named and tell everyone something about him or her
- bring some of the things you may get by going around tricking or treating to a nursing home or send to the St Vincent de Paul Society
Louise East - Religious Studies Coordinator