I’m surprised at the number of articles supporting this idea of taking back Halloween. I thought I had a truly unique idea on this subject. It is, after all, All Hallows Eve or the eve of All Saints Day and traditionally a holy day of obligation (because it is a Saturday this year you are off the hook). Yes indeed, we stole someone else’s holiday, pagan or Celtic depending on whom you listen to, but we (the Catholic Church) absolutely moved All Saints Day to land on a pre-existing festival and we did this sometime in the 9th century. It was most likely done to replace some form of worshiping others Gods that the church wanted to discourage so rather than try to abolish it we changed it up. So it’s ours been ours for 1100 years; no denying it.

Or at least I was pretty sure of this fact until a few days ago. I started questioning it. Even though Kirk Cameron and my pastor had pretty much said the same thing.

 

I was on a flight from Denver to San Francisco and struck up a conversation with the woman sitting next to me. We had a lot in common and spoke for quite a while as we waited – what seemed like forever – for our plane to Queue. (I’ve been traveling a lot and it seems the entire English speaking world uses this term for standing in line except Americans. Who knew?) Finally the plane started down the runway and soon enough we felt the effects of an incoming snow storm. The turbulence sent me straight for a rosary; the woman next to me said “I’m saying a little prayer”. I said “oh, me too. I’m grabbing a rosary”. She looked a bit bewildered and didn’t speak to me again for quite some time.

 

I finally tried to strike up a conversation, only this time I was met with some resistance. I asked her what she was doing once we landed and she said she was spending some time with friends and they might go to a festival on Halloween. “There will be a real witch there and she will try to connect us with our dead loved ones.”

 

Now you have to understand I was in the midst of writing my blog post about how Halloween isn’t a bad thing. And I’m suddenly starting to doubt my premise. Could I have been wrong all these years? Because this doesn’t sound good.

 

Then I could hear a little voice inside me; no it wasn’t God, it was Carla, the hospitalera I volunteered with in Spain last spring. I was remembering what she said one day when a man walked in with a great big deep scare running down his face. He wasn’t dressed like a pilgrim, but he did have on hiking boots and a backpack and he even had a pilgrims pass. His manner was aggressive and we were a bit scared. Carla slapped a smile on her face and began speaking to him in Spanish. Later I asked her what she was talking to him about, she said he had been homeless for some time but he was doing better now. The night before he had a disagreement with other pilgrims in the pilgrim’s hostel where he was staying. Carla spent time with him and asked him about his life. Later in the conversation she asked him to dinner and a shocked look came over his face. He said no one had invited him to dinner before. The other pilgrim in the room was pretty shocked too. The next morning he left with new found hope and the aggression was gone. I asked Carla how she did that and she said she could see him getting aggressive but she just pushed through it trying to calm him.

 

Now I’m praying “Lord what do you want me to say to this woman.” And all I hear is “She’s being aggressive. Don’t take the bait. Slap a smile on your face and push through it”.

 

“Oh that’s interesting”, I said and started asking about her family. Pretty soon the conversation got a little lighter and she mentioned to me that she spent three years backpacking around the world when she was younger. This of course opened the door for me to mention hiking across Spain (to the tomb of Santiago – which I deliberately failed to mention) and how it is the best thing I ever did. And there is even a movie about it with Martin Sheen. It’s called The Way. She was grateful and we chatted all the way to baggage claim.

 

My point is that the Church does take pagan holidays and displaces them with its own. That is what the church does – displaces evil with good, displaces darkness with light – and a conversation can be the same way. Displace aggression with a smile. Replace the desire to stir up an argument with the desire to connect.

 

So this Halloween don’t hide your light under a bushel, put it a Jack-O-Lantern or two, or string it across the front porch. Let your five-year-old dress like a Disney princess and let it go! Keep your light on and take back Halloween before the darkness overcomes the light.