I used to be the family pumpkin carver when our children were young. In recent years Ruth has taken over and chosen a more whimsical and edible approach to pumpkin art. In fact we realized on Sunday morning that the squirrels were munching on some of the facial features of this year's edition.
Did you hear that this year the Roman Catholic church in Spain declared Hallowe'en to be anti- Christian and dangerous?
A statement from the Episcopal Conference, and its Director of Liturgy, Joan María Canals, released a week before this year’s Halloween, warned of the risk that ‘pagan and imported’ customs could see other ‘deeply rooted and beneficial’ Christian customs disappear.They say the Catholic fiesta held in Spain on November 1 for All Saints is fine, because ‘it celebrates life, and not death’.The Church goes on to blame Hollywood and the parents who favour their children dressing up as witches, vampires and ghosts, playing with elements of death.
It's interesting because there is a tendency to secularize religious festivals, Christmas and Easter included. I brace myself for the onslaught of commercialism every Christmas and watch the erosion of the basic message of the birth of Christ.
That said, All Saint's, Christmas, and Easter were all "borrowed" from pagan traditions originally. Some religious groups don't acknowledge Christmas or Easter for that reason. We probably have to accept that our attempts to honour significant moments in our life in faith will always be imperfect.
Thoughts?
I was just thinking about how the number of children who come to our door at Halloween dwindles each year, and I found it kind of sad. But regarding Christmas, I feel more and more overwhelmed each year by the sense of the "shopping season" which seems to replace even the watered down "happy holidays" and it feels harder and harder to filter out all that chaos from the real meaning of the day.
ReplyDeleteYes pupil, as someone who attempts to uphold the Christian focus of our "high days and holy days" it seems like an increasingly steep uphill push.
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