Editorial

Banning the Holiday Spirit

By Joseph Parish

The principle Mr. David Castelline, was apprehensive because a handful of parents criticized the annual school Halloween activities. The principal stated the school's traditional Halloween party was "offensive to the religious beliefs of some members of our community."  Little do these individuals grasp that the Halloween tradition is strongly allied to their convention religions.

The chronicles of Halloween is very remarkable as it reflect how Halloween has evolved thru the years and how customs and traditions have changed over time and locality. Perhaps a modest background on the holiday of Halloween is in order here.

Many historians maintain that the tradition began with the Celts, who lived thousands of years ago in what are now Ireland, the United Kingdom and northern France. The Celts celebrated their new year on November 1, which marked the end of summer and the beginning of the dark, cold winter. To help protect themselves and their crops during the long winter, the Celts staged a joyous harvest celebration called Samhain which means "summer's end."

There are countless ideas regarding Halloween's origins. The word itself advocates roots embedded from within the Catholic Church. During the 5^th century B. C., Christianity had spread into Celtic lands and Pope Boniface IV named November 1 "All Saints' Day." It was a day to honor those who died for their beliefs. The expression Halloween is an interesting juxtaposition of a Christian and a pagan festival contracted as All Hallows Eve, November 1, "All Hollows Day" (or "All Saints Day"), so one can clearly see that this holiday stems from a Catholic day of observance in honor of saints.

In the fourth decade of the 8^th century, Pope Gregory III assigned this date for celebrating the feast when he consecrated a chapel in St. Peter's basilica to all the saints. Gregory IV extended the feast to the entire church in 834. In Latin countries the evening of October 31 is observed only as a religious occasion, but in Great Britain, Ireland, and the United States, ancient Halloween folk customs persist alongside the ecclesiastical observance. People began to call the night before it "All-hallows Eve." This name eventually became Halloween.

The one line of reasoning most agree upon is that Halloween's original focus was more about harvests than horror.

Dressing up in costumes also has European origins. Hundreds of years ago, people believed that ghosts roamed the streets on Halloween night, so they wore masks when leaving their homes in an effort to deceive ghosts into thinking they were other spirits.

On Halloween, people would also position bowls of food outside their homes to please the ghosts and discourage them from entering their houses. Over the course of several centuries, people gradually began to eat these goodies themselves.

The custom of trick or treat is thought to date back to early All Souls day European custom called souling. On 2nd Nov..."All Saints Day", the poor early Christians went from door to door begging for 'soul cakes' (square pieces of bread made with currents). The more cakes a person gave the more prayers were said for the soul of those dead in that house. It was believed that the souls did not receive entry into heaven till prayers even by strangers were uttered on behalf of the dead.

Hence contrary to modern popular belief Halloween did not grow out of evil practices. Today Halloween is celebrated in a jovial mood. Children dress up in different costumes and go from door to door calling out trick or treat. They are given candies and sweets. There is nothing evil about this day.

Although some cults may have adopted Halloween as their favorite "holiday," the day itself did not grow out of evil practices. It grew out of the rituals of Celts celebrating a new year, and out of medieval prayer rituals of Europeans. And today, even many churches have Halloween parties for the kids. After all, the day itself is only as evil as one cares to make it.

I salute the parents who are considering staging a protest by donning costumes and standing in front of the school. Possibly it will wake up people. When all it takes is one uninformed person to be offended, and our schools begin to ban events something is wrong.

Although Castelline has said he has alternative plans in regards to holding a ''celebration of fall" and eventually a costume celebration that in no way alleviates him of the offense of minority rule making. Isn’t it about time authorities stopped catering to the few and let the majority resolve the issues?

This problem is not about religion beliefs for the kids; Halloween is about tradition and fun.  I am dumbfounded that a man who is entrusted in a position to nurture creative thinking in young minds bends so easily to the whims of a few. It’s about time we place the desires and good of the many in place of the few. It appears that the minority with their louder wheel gets the attention and compliance over the silent majority.

It seems that Mr. Castelline and those “Concerned Parents” aspirate to make learning and school attendance boring and unimaginative. It should not be so. Early school years should be a fun time for young children and present a process where the learning ability can be nurtured.

Our current public officials are more centered on covering their you know what then they are of fostering the principles of democratic rule to our youths. If these people do not desire to support the mainstream activities and want to keep their children home during these events let them. If this trend continues we may be seeing the last of President’s day, Christmas activities, etc. Can the atheist demand the end of the annual Christmas celebrations since it offends them?

Mr. Castelline why don’t you and the boisterous few do your homework and let the children enjoy being children!