Samhain and the Church: Should Children Be Informed?

Every October, we all go about our lives celebrating Halloween without wondering where it came from. We simply collect our candy, dressing up in costumes, and embrace some of our darker sides for the night. The phrase “trick or treat” flies out of young children’s mouths without a thought of its meaning. Most people would be shocked to find out that the original holiday was a celtic pagan festival called “Samhain” to celebrate the new year. Costumes were worn to ward off spirits who visited the earth on that day. Even more surprising, the term Halloween came from the Catholic church renaming the day All Hallows Eve to celebrate the night before All Saints day on the 1st of November.

As a Catholic myself, I always understood that there was some vague connection between the church and that time of the year, but I did not understand the direct ties and implications of the relationship. From 2nd through 5th grade at my local catholic elementary school, I can vividly recall back to back days of dressing up during the end of October. One day, we were told to dress in any costume we wanted s long as it wasn’t “scary or evil”. Most students would simply go as a sports player or a benevolent movie character. The next day, which much more emphasis and effort was supposed to be put into, we would dress up as a very specific saint. In an ideal world, they all were supposed to be different ones and easily recognizable. For boys, it ended up usually being a brown cloak/robe with a prop that symbolized the saint (ex: St. Francis of Assisi = animal prop). We would then parade around the whole school for all of the other classes to see the “saints go marching in”. This was one of the best weeks to be a student because there were two days free from wearing your uniform.

Despite what a perfect opportunity this might have been to teach young and impressionable minds how the church was able to take over this pagan holiday, it was left untouched. We simply were left to think that one day was an American holiday to fit in with the culture around us and be like other students and public school. It wasn’t until further investigation into the holiday through this class that I was able to see the confusion in their decision. Once I reached high school (at an all-boys Jesuit school), we celebrated both holidays but an emphasis was placed on All Saints day as a religious celebration, rather than lumping it together with costumes. They taught us about its significance in the church, but once again failed to connect it to Halloween. 

I am unsure whether there was a deliberate choice by certain dioceses to avoid Halloween as a topic and distance the church from it, or whether all of this went over my head as a child. Regardless, I think it merits investigation as to the universal stance of the church in terms of what they should be teaching young followers during a time so filled with witchcraft and other spiritual lore.