Halloween should be holy

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    Children wearing costumes of saints for Halloween at the Holy Angel University in Angeles City. Photo courtesy of HAU

    ANGELES CITY- A Catholic university here has joined a local bishop in pushing a crusade against vampires and ghouls during Halloween throughout the country and replace them with “holy heroes.”

    For the third year now, the Holy Angel University (HAU) and Bishop Pablo Virgilio David, known locally as Bishop Ambo, of the Holy Rosary parish in this city, have been promoting Halloween as an opportunity for children to learn about saints by asking them to wear saintly costumes, instead of the attires of vampires and other fearful characters “It’s an advocacy that both HAU and Bishop Ambo would like to promote nationwide,” historian Robbie Tantingco, HAU vice president for external affairs and corporate communications, told Punto. Tantingco started the “Holy Halloween” practice among elementary pupils in his university way back in 2012.

    “What we want is a paradigm shift in pagan way Halloween is marked throughout the country,” Tantingco said, warning of “danger” in familiarizing children with images associated with evil. Tantingco said that HAU is pushing such  paradigm shift in other schools, while Bishop Ambo also wants it done in other parishes all over the country.

    “We just can’t be sure what happens in the minds of kids when they are exposed to costumes that are associated with evil and tend to bend beliefs that demons could be fun and friends,” he noted. Tantingco said that, on the other hand, encouraging children to wear costumes of saints would make them think about the heroism of such saints who are worthy of emulation.

    He described as “pagan” the practice of wearing fearful costumes during Halloween. This, he stressed, is a misplaced practice since the term “halloween” refers to the eve before All Saints’ Day on Nov. 1. At the HAU, some 650 pupils have again prepared costumes representing various saints such as Filipino Sts. Lorezo Ruiz and Pedro Calungsod, St. Therese of the Child Jesus with her bouquet of small roses, St. Peter with his key or roosters, and even the Blessed Virgin Mary.

    “There’s even a full costume representing our parish patron saint, Our Lady of the Holy Rosary who wears an elaborate gold gown with a crown of gold rays,” Tantingco noted. The pupils are given “stampitas” with a prayer for the departed printed on them.

    They then make the rounds on the HAU campus and recite the prayer at every stop before receiving their candy treats, he said. Bishop David holds a separate saintly Halloween event for kids in his parish before Nov. 11. Tantingco also observed that wearing saintly costumes for Halloween has also inspired parents to do research on their favored saints because their children often end up asking for explanations for the costumes depicting saints.

    “So the practice also leads to some catechism,” he noted. Tantingco said that the practice of having children sport costumes identified with saints was initiated even earlier in the 1970’s at the Benedictine Cariana monastery in Magalang, Pampanga.

    “It’s a lay monastic community inhabited by people who devoted themselves totally to God. They live a contemplative life cut off from the rest of the world, but they also equip themselves with skills that enhance their independence from the outside world,” he said.

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