Halloween is just a few days away, and the question arise again this year, “Should Catholic children be allowed to celebrate Halloween? Isn’t it really a pagan/satanic holiday?” Looking at the history of Halloween might help us answer the question, and it probably surprise people that it is a 1300 year Catholic holiday.
The word “Halloween” really means nothing. It is a contraction of “All Hallows Eve.” “Hallow” is an old English word for “saint.” In the 8thcentury Pope Gregory III started celebrating in Rome All Saints Day on November 1, and like many Catholic holy days, it began at sundown the night before, so October 31, or “All Hallows Eve.” About a century later, Pope Gregory IV, extended the celebration to the whole Church, and now All Saints Day is a universal Holy Day of Obligation.
Recently, some Christians (some Catholics included) have claimed that Halloween has its roots in the pagan, Celtic celebration of Samhain, which was a harvest festival. However, there is no evidence that this is true. After St. Patrick brought the Faith to Ireland, in the 5thcentury, the Celts in Ireland were converted, and they stopped celebrating Samhain. Since the celebration of Samhain had stopped for over 200 years prior to Pope Gregory III made All Saints Day a holy day in Rome, it is not likely that either he, or Pope Gregory IV a hundred years later had ever even hear of the pagan Celtic holiday.
Some Celtic elements from Samhain that are still used at modern Halloween celebrations include lighting bonfires, carving turnips (and, in America, pumpkins), and going from house to house collecting treats, as carolers do at Christmas. But the supposed "occult" aspects of Halloween—ghosts and demons—actually have their roots in Catholic belief. Christians believed that, at certain times of the year (Christmas is another), the veil separating earth from Purgatory, Heaven, and even Hell becomes thinner, and the souls in Purgatory (ghosts) and demons can be more readily seen. Thus the tradition of Halloween costumes owes as much, if not more, to Christian belief as to Celtic tradition.
The modern attacks on Halloween aren't the first. In post-Reformation England, All Saints Day and its vigil were suppressed, and the Celtic peasant customs associated with Halloween were outlawed. Christmas and the traditions surrounding it were similarly attacked, and the Puritan Parliament banned Christmas outright in 1647. In the Northeastern United States, Puritans outlawed the celebration of both Christmas and Halloween. The celebration of Christmas in the United States was revived largely by German Catholic immigrants in the 19th century; Irish Catholic immigrants brought with them the celebration of Halloween.
In the end, the choice is yours to make as a parent. If you choose to let your children participate in Halloween, simply stress the need for physical safety, including checking over their candy when they return home, and explain the Christian origins of Halloween to your children. Before you send them off trick-or-treating, recite together the Prayer to Saint Michael the Archangel, and explain that, as Catholics, we believe in the reality of evil. Tie the vigil explicitly to the Feast of All Saints, and explain to your children why we celebrate that feast, so that they won't view All Saints Day as "the boring day when we have to go to church before we can eat some more candy."
Let's reclaim Halloween for Christians, by returning to its roots in the Catholic Church!