Keep God in Halloween

Throughout the years I have created a few traditions that we follow as a way to make Halloween a little Christian.  This weekend my nephew and I spent moments of fun getting ready for my former favorite holiday.  As a child we were dirt poor in addition we didn’t have a car, so going places or spending money on non-essentials just didn’t happen.  Thus, getting to make up for it via my nephew makes the little child in me dance with happiness.  We started Friday afternoon, by spending sometime at our local pumpkin patch choosing the best pumpkin for our gospel carving activity.

"The Pumpkin Gospel"

 It's all about Harry Potter this year!

As I have shared before, there’s this great little book that uses the process of carving a jack-o-lantern to talk about how God works in us.  It’s called the “The Pumpkin Gospel.”  The short glow-in-the-dark book is one that I have used every year.  My nephew and I read it before we begin our creative process.  I refer to it as the pumpkin carving instructions because it goes step by step of the carving a pumpkin process giving each step a spiritual meaning.  The pumpkin goes through a sort of allegorical conversion from pumpkin to happy jack-o-lantern with God’s light shining thru. 

Then we tag our candy with stickers I usually purchase at my local Christian Store.  Stickers that have a smiley face with the words, “Smile, God loves you!” Tagging each of our two-hundred mini candy bars is always a fun process.  This year my nephew’s little friend came over and asked why we tagged our candy and I told her so that everyone knows that God loves them.  At which she said, “you know not everyone believes in God,” and we had a good discussion on the subject…  I’ve also heard some people will have saint cards to give along with the candy.  The goal is to evangelize (smile).

We also attend our parish’s Fall Fest- in which my nephew and I dress as saints and participate in the fun activities.  This year I was preoccupied with celebrating my brother-in-heaven’s memorial mass- that I completely forgot about Fall Fest!  Sunday morning after a stroll in the park, giving the lecture at RCIA class, making sure I got everyone to church for the memorial mass, then spending sometime at the cemetery – the Fall Fest slipped out of my mind.  This year my nephew and I were both going to be patron saints of the impossible: he, Saint Jude Thaddeus and I, Saint Rita.  In all the activity we all forgot.

Halloween is a day we dedicate to celebrating fear.  There’s fun in getting spooked as long as we know that it’s pretend.  Nevertheless, life gives us scarier scares and it’s great to know that we have God to guard us during the real terrifying moments.  Thus, keeping God in Halloween should always be the objective- just like we want Him in our lives everyday. Have a Happy Halloween!