Question:
“Hi Marisa. Thank you for your blog. My question concerns Halloween. I recently heard a short clip from a former Satanist Priest, now Catholic, that no Christian should ever celebrate or take part in Halloween. As Catholics, can we celebrate Halloween or are we doing something wrong or sinful by celebrating the holiday. Can my kids go trick-or-treating or should I not allow them to?” -Matthew
Answer:
First of all, thank you Matthew for your question. This is one I have wrestled with, for quite some time, myself and I would like to start with Church teachings. I will be referencing Sacred Scripture (the Bible) and Sacred Tradition (within the Catechism of the Catholic Church). It is very important when discerning or studying matters such as this to look at both Scripture and Tradition and compare the two. If they seem to contradict one another then we are misunderstanding one or both. The two must support each other for us to be confident we are understanding God’s Word.
Secondly, I am aware of the video you are referring to. I am not linking it on my page as I personally find it very creepy with the music they have overlayed in the video and if I had young children I would not want them watching it. You can easily search for it on your own and pull it up if you so wish to see it.
Where Does Halloween Come From?
First of all, Let’s look at the name and the definition of a few words.
Halloween- is a shortened form of “All Hallows Eve
Holiday- is a conjunction of “Holy Day”.
Vigil- derives from the Latin vigilia which means, “a night to watch” a celebration held the night before a feast day to usher in the greater celebration to be had the next day.
Triduum- 3 days of holy celebration.
So what is All Hallows Eve? All Hallows Eve is the Vigil celebration of All Saints Day (Hallowmas aka Holy Mass). Click here to read a lovely article about vigil mass and how it began. All Saints Day (November 1) is an Obligatory celebration in the church to remember all those who lived faithful lives on Earth and have passed on to their eternal life in Heaven. All Souls’ Day (November 2) is then the day we celebrate all those who have passed from this life and are in the cleansing state of Purgatory, awaiting their entry into Heaven. These 3 days together make up the Triduum of “Allhallowtide” (Days of the Dead).
From this, we can see that All Hallows Eve is the Vigil celebration of All Saints Day. While All Hallows Eve Vigil Mass has become less common in recent decades, most certainly due to the desire for parties and collecting sugary treats, the night was created to usher in The Feast of All Saints Day.
Halloween is a Catholic holiday. It does not have origins in paganism, Samhain, Druidic festivals, the occult, or Satanism. This common misconception is relatively new anti-Catholic propaganda, with roots going back to the Protestant Reformation. It has no basis in historical fact.
Many people see the coincidence of dates between Samhain and All Saints Day and presume a connection. However, it turns out the date is just that: a coincidence.
The Catholic Company www.thecatholiccompany.com
Where Did Halloween Traditions Originate?
Well; as America is the Great Melting Pot, so too is Halloween. As immigrants from other countries settled here they brought along with them their traditions of celebrating.
The French were the originators of dressing up for All Hallows Eve. Our Irish brothers and sisters traditionally carved turnips which morphed into carving pumpkins and those traveling from England traditionally went door to door in their towns promising to pray for the departed loved ones of those that would give them “soul cakes”. This metamorphosed into today’s “trick or treat”
What is the Purpose or Intent of Halloween Today?
Most commonly, in secular society, Halloween is a time to decorate ones home and themselves with scary, goulish, haunting images, and take their kids around to strangers houses to beg for candy. One can argue that they only allow their children to dress as friendly characters or angels or even Christian Saints and only trick-or-treat at homes of those they know or at church. So, shouldn’t that be OK? Well, let’s look a little deeper.
To reference the video you spoke about, this man speaks very clearly about his 25 years as a Satanist and ultimately a “General” in the church. He also tells the dangers of Halloween. Here are his top 5 reasons that no Christian should take part in Halloween.
- You give legal rights to Satan. When you dress up, putting on a mask and costume (even if you are dressing as an angel or figure of Scripture), you are concealing your identity and giving Lucifer permission to change your identity. You are creating “soul ties” by partaking in these practices. He states a Christian who celebrates Halloween is “Cheating on God on Halloween.” He even states that dressing up as angels or cute characters is no safer.
- Eternal Mistake. By celebrating Halloween, Lucifer then not only owns you but also your family, marriage, home, and finances because you have opened the door to him.
- Satanists Celebrate. Lucifer is thankful to every Christian who celebrates him on his one holiday a year.
- We Bring it into Our Churches. Many folks don their costumes and go to church. People also dress their homes and churches with Jack-o-Lanterns filled with candles. This practice is telling Lucifer I have prepared my home for you and you are welcome here.
- Demonic Candies. It is common practice for Satanists to pray over candy and costumes being sold at stores thereby consecrating them to Lucifer. Often Halloween Stores and Costume Stores are being rented out for $30,000 a month by practicing Satanists in order to pray over and consecrate all of the inventory to Lucifer. If you are a Christian who celebrated Halloween and your children are now wavering in the faith or leaving the faith, you need to cut those soul ties and sever the cord with Lucifer so that you all may begin to heal.
I will add that I have seen countless news reports of Ner’do’wells tampering with candy before passing it out to children: hypodermic needles in Twizzlers, powdered drugs in pixie sticks, etc. I personally would not risk it with my own children unless I personally knew each and every person they were visiting. It seems as though each year someone comes up with new and grotesque ways to do harm to our precious children.
What is the Occult?
The word “occult” comes from Latin, and the root meaning is to conceal or to cover over (occultare). Occult practices are intended to gain supernatural knowledge over our lives, future, health, etc. and use this to our advantage.
Here is occult defined by Wikipedia. The following is a clear and concise description of the Occult…
The word “occult” is generally associated with secret knowledge and practices dealing with the supernatural or “psychic” phenomena, often for the purpose of obtaining personal power. Some occult practices rely on demons or “spirits” to achieve their goals.
Christian Answers
The occult includes any practice or activity which transfers the focus and source of power from Almighty God to another entity (ones self or another). Most often it is an attempt to claim personal powers or abilities not bestowed by God. Engaging in or being a part of occult practices creates avenues for Satan to take hold of your life, family, and soul, placing a disconnect between you and God. Many occult practices have been shown to cause grave illness in a person such as cancer, epilepsy, autoimmune disease, etc. (This is not to say all illness is a result of demonic influence but rather is often a symptom of demonic involvement.) A few examples of practicing the occult include…
- magic
- witchcraft
- wizardry
- satanism
- calling up the dead (Ouija Boards or seances)
- channeling
- enchantments
- fortune telling
- horoscopes
- incantations
- spell casting
- tarot cards
- oracles
- reading tea leaves
- Freemasonry
- hydromancy (water divination)
For a more extensive list of occult practices click here.
When you come into the land which the LORD your God gives you, you shall not learn to follow the abominable practices of those nations. There shall not be found among you any one who burns his son or his daughter as an offering, any one who practices divination, a soothsayer, or an augur, or a sorcerer, or a charmer, or a medium, or a wizard, or a necromancer. For whoever does these things is an abomination to the LORD; and because of these abominable practices the LORD your God is driving them out before you.
Deuteronomy 18: 9-12
2117 All practices of magic or sorcery, by which one attempts to tame occult powers, so as to place them at one’s service and have a supernatural power over others — even if this were for the sake of restoring their health — are gravely contrary to the virtue of religion. These practices are even more to be condemned when accompanied by the intention of harming someone, or when they have recourse to the intervention of demons. Wearing charms is also reprehensible. Spiritism often implies divination or magical practices; the Church for her part warns the faithful against it. Recourse to so-called traditional cures does not justify either the invocation of evil powers or the exploitation of another’s credulity.
Catechism of the Catholic Church Second Edition
“Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we are not contending against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.”
Ephesians 6:11-12
Conclusion
Now you must make the choice for yourself and your family. To Halloween or Not to Halloween?
Based on all this information, Halloween was never created for, intended for, nor should it be celebrated by the use of costumes, trick-or-treating, decorating our homes with evil or creepy images, or any occult practices. Halloween is, however, a beautiful Christian Holiday in its intended practice.
Ideas For Celebrating All Hallows Eve aka Halloween
- Hand out holy cards of a beloved saint
- Go to Mass
- Go to a cemetery and pray for the souls of those departed. (note*: You may want to go during the day to avoid anyone up to mischief.
- Poland has the most beautiful tradition of lighting up the cemeteries with candles (I would probably use battery operated candles) and praying for the dead. I would love to make this a tradition in my town.
- Emphasize Christian generosity and the tradition of Catholic social justice by encouraging your children to “trick-or-treat” for UNICEF. For over 50 years, UNICEF has encouraged children to collect pennies on Halloween to enhance the quality of life for the world’s underprivileged children.” If you have another charity you prefer that is fine too. You could organize your friends and family to hand out pennies and prayer cards of their favorite saints. Perhaps we can come up with a name other than “Trick or Treat” for this. “Prayers and Pennies”? I would love to hear your suggestions.
- Host an All Hallows Eve party where all the children make their own costumes (not bought) dressing as their favorite saint. You could even give away small prizes for the best made costume or have a contest to guess the saint.
- Decorate your home for Fall; pumpkin, gourds and fall leaves.
- Have Fall games at your All Hallows Eve Party. Bobbing for apples… Create a pile of leaves for the little ones to jump and play in…
- Offer prayers renouncing Satan and all his works. Here are a couple for you Here and Here
Peace of Our Lord Jesus