Ponder for October #John1:5
It’s that time of year, the time our thoughts turn to ghosts, ghouls, and things that go bump in the night. Yards turn into haunting grounds, pumpkins are carved with sinister faces, and the littlest among us have the option to channel their inner goblin. Halloween’s roots are based in the ancient Celtic festival called Samhain, which marked the end of the harvest and the beginning of winter. The pagan Celts believed that at on this final day of October, the veil between the living and the dead thinned, allowing ethereal spirits to travel freely among them. The custom of donning dread-like costumes was done to prevent the roaming spirits from distinguishing between the living soul and their fellow dead-mate-wanderers. Families left treats, called soul cakes, on their doorsteps to appease the evilest of spirits; should the soul cakes not meet the demon’s standard, a trick would ensue.
Towns lit huge bonfires to both repel these spirits and to offer animals as a thanksgiving sacrifice for the harvest-given and the harvest-to-come. There was also a myth about a man named “Jack” who made a pact with the devil… but was so deceitful that the devil banned him from hell and God from heaven, so he was condemned to roam the darkness with only a burning coal in a carved-out turnip to light the way. Jack-with-a-lantern, as it were. [Beverly D’Silva, October 2024, BBC news article].
Like all good Catholic thought, the Church saw what was good in the pagan practice of Samhain and adopted it for a nobler purpose. Pope Gregory I (590-604) goes on a mission-trip to Britian to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He watches the Samhain festivals and thinks… yes, evil spirits wander throughout the world seeking the ruin of souls, tricking us into sin and exploiting our weaknesses. And yes, we do call on the dead to aid us in our earthly journey. So he decides to incorporate Catholic practices into the Samhain festivals by stating that folks should call on the saints to ward off the roaming spirits.
A hot minute later, back in Rome, Pope Boniface IV dedicates the Pantheon in honor of all the martyrs who have died within its walls: All Martyrs Day (May 13). Next-in-line Pope Gregory III (690-741) then expands the honor by including all saints and martyrs – the most hallowed among us - and moves the celebration to November 1.
As things of the Catholic world are always interconnected and Christianity expanded and exploded throughout Britain, the festival of Samhein fell by the wayside (mostly) at the turn of the first century replaced by our current configuration: All Saints Day on November 1 and, like all good Catholic feast days [eat, drink, and make very merry!], having the both/and option of celebrating the feast the night before: All Hallowed’s Eve on October 31.
That’s the Good News. There are a ton of sinners-turned-saints that we can identify with and seek to improve ourselves by imitating their earthly actions and asking for them to talk to Jesus on our behalf in the heavenly realm. And two days to celebrate that delightful gift!
And the not-so-good news? It seems as though Samhein is mounting a comeback. Culture has lost this idea of saints-in-the-making and living-in-light-of-joy and embraced the idea of celebrating-evil-spirit and lurking-in-the-darkness-of-fear. Where does leave us, as Christians?
It leaves us with the opportunity to evangelize, of course! Carve your pumpkins with crosses. Dress the kiddos as princesses and soccer players or Saints. Give out candy with a saint sticker slapped on the wrapper. Decorate with hay-bales and sand-bag-candles. The possibilities are endless, but the point is to let your Catholic light shine against the darkness this October. #John1:5