As many of you may know I am a former youth minister, and high school and college chaplain. One question I get a lot of, “Is it ok for a Catholic to celebrate Halloween?” The answer is “Yes,” as long as it is in the spirit that it was started.
Halloween actually means “All Hallows Eve” (to be Holy) and is traditionally a Catholic holiday because it celebrates the eve of All Saints. Catholics historically believed that on these “Days of the Dead,” “All Saints and All Souls Day,” the veil between heaven, hell, and purgatory is the thinnest and at this time one is more likely to experience visits from the dead and their communication with the dead is stronger. In order to celebrate and evangelize the reality of purgatory and that demons and evil are real, medieval Catholics would dress up and, in a sense, act out this struggle through putting on plays and even visiting houses.
The truth is that Halloween does not have its origins in Paganism, Samhain, Celtic/Druidic festivals, the occult, or Satanism. This common misconception is modern anti-Catholic propaganda, with roots going back to the Protestant Reformation, and has no basis in historical fact.
The true origins come from the English, Irish, and French Catholic immigrants who brought their variety of local Catholic customs with them to America. Dressing up for Halloween comes from the French; Jack-o-Lanterns come from the Irish (originally carved turnips); and the English begged from door-to-door for “Soul Cakes,” promising to pray for the departed loved ones of those who gave them these treats. These traditions converged in the American melting pot.
I do admit that a misconception of Halloween has developed in culture, and some Catholics, even though they mean well, take Halloween too far and almost appear to appreciate the demonic side by glorifying witchcraft, etc. That we must never do. Witchcraft, the occult, and sorcery etc., are dangerous aids of evil and can compromise the soul.
Another misconception is from other Catholics who have gone in the other direction and have boycotted Halloween all together. This approach tends towards the misconception that anytime we make any mention of the demonic or spirits we are committing a sin. While I do see some reasoning behind it because we should be cautious, that belief is far from what the original reason why Catholics celebrated Halloween.
The reason behind Halloween is to bring light to the reality of truth that there is another place that exists, “Purgatory, Heaven and Hell” where the dead go and that we need to pray for the ones that go to purgatory so they can go to heaven and become saints, and that there are real agents of good and evil.
So, what can a Catholic do? What we need to do is celebrate Halloween appropriately. Not celebrating Halloween can rob the children of an opportunity to celebrate the feast and teach them what our faith is really about.
For this reason, I have taken the kids on trips to the Lake Compounce Haunted Graveyard and hosted Halloween parties so that they celebrate Halloween in a healthy way, and stay aware that there is evil but, that Jesus conquered it. For example, on one of my trips, a girl was dressed as a witch, and it led to a real
conversation about witches, and that witchcraft is bad, and there is a difference between innocent costumes and dress-up, which is participating in fantasy and trying to imitate or emulate something that is evil in reality.
The fact is that even if you do not promote Halloween, your kids are still exposed to it. Therefore, do the best you can to teach them the real meaning behind Halloween and the right way to celebrate it, because if you do not, someone will teach them the wrong way