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Halloween, when bone fires became bonfires and why a drunk named Jack is lighting your porch. Americans spend more money on candy at Halloween than they do at Easter. How did this Celtic festival infiltrate our modern culture? Fr. Neil, a Scottish priest shares history and insite.

Celtic Festival:

Since the early centuries, Celt's celebrated "Samhain," a festival meaning summer's end. This day fell on the 31st October and the Celtic people believed that time almost stood still. The farmers would go from door to door and collect food and drink for the celebration that evening. This is the origin of trick or treat. If the family contributed to the feast, they would have the blessing for the year ahead, if not, a curse would follow. This tradition came from Ireland and similar practices took place in the north of Scotland, Wales, and Brittany where the Celts lived.

Animals were slaughtered for the Samhain feast and their bones were thrown onto the fire as sign of gratitude to mother earth. This is where we get the phrase bonfires, literally bone-fires.

This Samhain was a contest between the God of Summer and the God of Winter for the Goddess of the earth. They believed that the sun might never return when the winter arrived, each family would take a light for the house fire. This was a sign of their unity. We do something similar at the Easter vigil when each candle is lit from the Paschal candle. It symbolizes our unity in Christ and recognizes him as the light of our life.

"Look Mom, I'm Your Dead Uncle"

This night was also the night when the dead could come back and visit their loved ones or their homes. The Celts would leave food out for them to help them on their way. The children would dress in garish costume and try to frighten the adults, claiming to be dead relatives.

The Celts also believed that many spirits were evil and came to harm the people, so they hollowed turnips and carved faces on them and placed hot coals inside to scare away evil spirits. When the Irish came to America, they brought this tradition with them. In time, the turnip became less popular and the pumpkin took over. But, there is a more significant meaning to "Jack O' Lanterns" We'll come back to that.

Apples, Peanuts, then Toothaches

When the Romans conquered the Celts the nature of the feast changed. Roman customs of drinking cider and eating apples and peanuts were added. This eventually became what is known as "bobbing for apples." In Scotland and Ireland children still play those games and often come home with apples and peanuts especially from the older people in the community. Candy has been a more recent addition.

Jack, the Selfish Man

So, what about Jack? Well, tradition tells us that he spent his time drinking and never did a selfless act for another human being in his life. The devil came to claim his soul one evening and when Jack was drunk. Jack challenged the devil to change himself into a shilling (about 5 cents). Because of an old injury, Jack's hand was shaped like a cross and the devil was trapped by his challenge. The devil came back a year later, and Jack tricked him again.

It didn't do much good, because Jack died anyway and hiked to heaven. But because he never did one single act of kindness in his whole life, heaven didn't want him. When he got to hell the devil was so mad at being tricked, he didn't want him either. Jack was in the cold with nothing to light his way. The devil threw him a piece of burning coal that he put into an old turnip and made it into a lantern. He wandered the earth, a poor lost soul. Halloween is the night Jack would come to warn people not to be like him.

The moral of the story was very powerful among Irish children. The lanterns are reminders that they should not be selfish or you might end up like Jack. I suppose the story has lost some of its impact in contemporary Western culture: no one is afraid of anyone like Jack. Movies make us numb to the horrific and spooky.

But what about Harry?

Movies like Harry Potter at one level are fun. However, on another level they can be dangerous. They honor witches and wizards and implicitly teach that sorcery is acceptable to the Christian. It is not acceptable! This obsessive preoccupation and morbid fascination with superstition leads us away from God. This was why in 837AD Pope Gregory IV moved the feast of All Saints from May 13th to November 1st. He hoped to draw our attention away from the pagan towards the spiritual.

Halloween can be fun, but you must understand that there are other forces at work that night. You can deny the evil, but that doesn't change the fact that it is real. Keep the horror freaks out of Halloween. Scream masks and other images like that undermine the beauty of the human person. They undercut the dignity we share as brothers and sisters in faith who should be building a community of love and forgiveness. Anything that evokes terror and spreads fear cannot be good in the mind of God.

The Celts say, "What you honor you become." The choice is clear. Let's keep it simple, let's keep it fun. Let kids dress up as Saints or Spiderman or something fun. We are called to be children of the Light, not of the dark.

If Halloween means Holy night, then make it a Holy night.

Whatever you do this Halloween be safe and remember that God gives us the Church to protect us from the influence of evil. Have a bonfire with some friends and drink some hot chocolate. Share about ways you need to be more like Christ and less like Jack. Pray a special rosary around the fire using the Mysteries of light, praying for all those caught up in the occult. Pray for all who practice witchcraft that they maybe delivered. Baptize this time of the year using your imagination.

Come to Mass on All Saints and give thanks for all who give their lives to God. Speak to your Youth Minister about ways you can honor your Catholic faith with other teens. Remember how good you are and not on how bad you might be.

-Fr. Neil

Fr. Neil McGarity recently returned from Scotland to become the associate pastor of St. Timothy in Mesa, Arizona. He's as funny as his head is bald. Legend has it, Fr. Neil drove a ball over 300 yards in a LIFE TEEN golf tournament, circa 2002.

See this article at: Halloween, a Holy Night?