Like many youngsters in the month of October, our son is on a countdown to Halloween and Trick-or-Treat. Last year was his first experience going out around the neighborhood dressed up and getting candy, and he couldn’t have been a happier little guy. As we approach Halloween this year, he proudly tells everyone that he is going to be a pirate when someone asks him how he is going to dress up.
As a Catholic family, though, this spooky season is one that can cause us as parents to take pause at times. Is it okay to celebrate Halloween with how it is often depicted around us? While there are definitely some common practices within this season that I would avoid, there is still a lot that can be done and celebrated within the Catholic worldview.
Jesus reminds us that His apostles do not belong to the world, despite living in the world (John 17:14–16). In much the same way, we as faithful Christians are called to live lives full of Christ, not just the things of this world. We could avoid this season altogether, but what an opportunity we have to show our children that a life of faith connects to everything we do. It is not something we only do on Sundays, but who we are every day of our lives.
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In fact, the term “Halloween” has connection to our Catholic faith in that “All Hallows Eve” marks the vigil of All Saints Day, when we as a Church celebrate all those who have entered the kingdom of heaven. In our household, we have a banner hanging with pictures of saints this month and the phrase, “Pray for us!”
Here and there, as we approach Halloween, our goal is to ask these different saints to pray for us and have conversations about how these saints loved the Lord. To our son, this is just part of our Halloween decorations, but it will be an opportunity for us to also have faith-focused conversations. When it comes to costumes for Halloween, this is another area we can reflect on as parents, as we help our children pick out costumes.
For our son, a pirate is a fun costume that he is excited about, as pretending to be a pirate is part of his imaginative play. He always makes sure to remind us too that he is a “good pirate,” which we love as parents.
Much to his own sentiment of wanting to be a “good pirate,” it’s important for us as parents to help our children pick costumes that are appropriate and not contrary to our Catholic beliefs. This is something that I would encourage all families to discern and pray on, if a suggested costume idea is one that you are wrestling with.
Another fun way to dress up this season, whether on Halloween or otherwise, is to dress as a favorite saint. At our parish on All Saints Day, we have a saints costume parade and festivities following some of our Masses. This is a chance to come together as a parish community, especially those with young children, to celebrate the saints in heaven and engage in this season of Halloween while pointing directly to our Catholic faith.
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Whether your parish has such celebrations or not, this season can be a chance to find some new saints to learn about at home as well. With a wide variety of online Catholic resources for parents, things like coloring pages, online saint stories and activities are readily available and often free to download.
Talking about the saints can also be an opportunity to talk about loved ones who have passed as All Souls Day approaches. While this can be an uncomfortable topic to approach with children, we should celebrate those who came before us and the impact they left. Much in the same way that we have had conversations about being named after a family member who has passed in our household, I am sure our family will develop new traditions related to All Souls Day, especially as our children grow older and have more questions.
Halloween can be shown as creepy or scary, especially when topics related to death come up, but let us take this as a chance to open conversations about the kingdom of heaven that awaits us. Further, having these conversations can lay a foundation for Easter when we talk about our Lord’s life, death and resurrection.
At the end of the day, we cannot control how the media and others portray the Halloween season—and there is plenty we will want to avoid in the years to come. We can, however, reflect on how we celebrate the Halloween season while living in the world but not being of it.