Say hello to my little friend! Every year I declare my desire to carve a Jack-o-lantern like the fellow at left, and every year the wife intervenes. Bless her.
Anyway, today is Halloween, a most glorious holiday. A good Catholic holiday, for this is the day that we honor the age-old truth that the devil, like all who are besotted with pride, cannot stand being mocked. So we mock him, with silly costumes and mischievous pranks and door-to-door begging, and have a wild old time doing so. Tomorrow we go to Mass to honor the saints in the Church Triumphant and ask their intercession for us in the Church Militant; and we will spend the rest of November offering up suffrages for the poor souls in Purgatory -- the Church Suffering. But tonight, we celebrate our mortality, as Rod Bennett explains so well here, while not forgetting that even in death we retain hope in the Resurrection.
Happy Halloween, everyone!
PS. I apologize for the dearth of posting lately. The recent Harry Potter "Buckbeak Mountain" scandal left me little time and even less energy for posting.
PPS. Mark Shea also has a timely essay on the subject of Halloween, puritanism, and secularism:
The materialist recognizes some of this supernatural glory pertaining to matter (in his unaccountable worship of the intellect which is, on his own reckoning, a mere function of an unusually clever piece of meat). The Fundamentalist recognizes this glory in other flawed ways. But only the Catholic Faith grasps this truth in completeness. This Halloween, celebrate the sacraments, the intersection of the Spirit of God and Creation and help undermine HellCo's corporate propaganda a little bit.
Don't forget your Halloween candy. Even more important: don't forget your toilet paper for decorating neighbors' trees with!
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Happy Halloween!
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9 comments:
Thank you! Hmm, I do think I'm linking the new above post also. You've said it so well!
Just think of Halloween as one big penny dreadful. ;^)
~Cob, maker of Cob's Webs?
Well said.
I've always found it weird when folks work themselves into a lather arguing against Halloween per se.
At least you can celebrate Halloween properly. Here in WI we have Trick or Treat on the Sunday before. DURING THE DAY.
Okay, that just sucks!!!
On Sunday? In daylight?? WTF???
Pardon me, but what is it with adults? And who is worse: the hand-wringing worry warts who enact such evil, or the hand-wringing worry warts who go along with it? I just do not understand it. Have today's rulers forgotten their own experiences?
All this started back in the 70s. I still remember my third grade teacher telling us horror stories, not of ghosts and monsters, but of razor blades in apples and poisoned candy bars. It was nothing we ever heard on the news, it was just one of those "I heard abouit...!" tales that people share in breathless tones.
It was all urban legend. To date, not one true case of tainted Halloween treats has ever been reported. Or, there may be one, I think, but it may have turned out to be a hoax.
In any case, all this sickening nonsense -- trick-or-treating in daylight; moving the trick-or-treating to a different day -- is basically the result of rumors, not of any real event.
It is times like this that I really hate what a collection of mushy losers we of the post-Christian West have become.
My sympathies, Diana.
The pumpkin photo reminds me of Calvin's brilliant snowmen he'd build every winter. My, do I miss that strip.
How foolish. As long as any werewolfs take their sanity potion before nightfall, there's nothing to be afraid of. Plus fear is one of the Devil's favorite tactics, and so sissiness is really a big failing on the night we're supposed to put him down.
Sean,
I has been like that since I was little or even before I was born...a little girl named Lisa French was trick or treating. She went to a neighbor's house, who was also a family friend, and was murdered. Everyone overreacted as usual and ever since, Halloween is the pits.
Did you ever see King of the Hill's "Hilloween"? http://www.geocities.com/
arlen_texas/hilloween.htm
for some quotes.
Some Puritanical Christian had a city ordinance passed to stop Halloween trick or treat after Hank toliet papered her house. Hank rebels. It was too funny!
I like the idea of mocking satan. Well put.
We have a strange and growing trend in the Army. (I'm currently at Ft. Leavenworth - the post not the jail.) We have a significant Fundamentalist population that is militantly opposed to Halloween. Easily 15% of the houses in my neighborhood were shuttered last night. At my last assignment there was an organized "Reformation Day" as an alternative for those who wished to avoid the "P&Ps" (papist and pagans).
Thank you bill!
Missy, I miss Calvin & Hobbes too. :-(
Thanks for the link, Diana! I'll check it out. And that's an awful story about that girl. But it is still an over-reaction.
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