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Celebrate
harvest season by emphasizing the positive
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Courier, Saturday, Nov. 2, 2002 - Father Joseph L. Ziliak
Keeping customs simple is hardly possible. Keeping original purposes
and ideals of customs, likewise, is not an easy task. Home, schools
and churches will always be the places where the strongest values
are taught and practiced.
A few years ago, we heard discussion about Halloween as an instigator
of satanic practices and beliefs. The United States virtually had
a monopoly on the practice. This year in particular we have seen the
celebration of Halloween crop up strongly in Western European countries.
The little nursery students at San Giuliano de Puglia, Italy, were
celebrating a Halloween lunch when an earthquake shattered forever
their memories and many lives. The Catholic church in Paris, France,
encouraged a number of creative ways to keep people's minds and hearts
focused on the true meaning of Halloween as simply a prelude to the
Feast of All Saints.
We didn't hear of such stories in years past. This is but another
indication that customs and practices are quickly spreading across
the globe. We have seen the same thing is clothing styles. The thick
soled shoes are found on the streets of Florence as commonly as on
the streets of Evansville. The latest style of jeans with the worn
spots at various locations is as common on the streets of Weimar,
Germany, as in Newburgh.
So many of these externals of living are driven by marketing and economics.
It's money. It's sales. We are the ones who get bent out of shape
with what these things mean. Nothing wrong with that, but there is
also a simple solution. If you don't like what certain fads seem to
say, then don't go along with them.
Don't buy the faces and costumes that portray satanic characters.
Don't buy the items that merely reflect the latest fad. Do what you
believe. Let your externals express your internal values.
The family and home can do the most to determine the ways that children
express themselves. Celebrate that which is beautiful, real and true.
Celebrate the feasts and traditions in the ways that foster positive
attitudes. If nothing else, check the root meanings that have given
rise to certain customs. See if the true concept is being encouraged.
For instance, what about Halloween and the next day the Feast of All
Saints. St. Ephrem referred to the celebration of the feast of All
Martyrs in the 4th century. We know then that the feast of All Martyrs
was celebrated in the Eastern Roman Empire. Pope Gregory IV established
the celebration for the universal church in 835. The feast was originally
celebrated on the Friday of Easter week, then on May 13. The celebration
for All Saints was transferred to Nov. 1 because in Ireland the feast
was celebrated at that date. It's origin in Ireland was to counter
the Celtic pagan feast of the Druids.
Schools and churches have a wonderful opportunity of supporting positive
ways of remembering traditions, customs and feast days. Our youth
group sponsors a harvest party for the little ones. They give prizes
for the holiest, funniest and most original costumes. We celebrate
but encourage a positive attitude. We encourage costumes of saints.
New and creative ways will always be devised for people to be entertained
and celebrate life. Enjoy the good. Reject the evil.
