Family Time

Our family seems to be in a season in life where we remain in perpetual motion. Although the weekends are no exception, I look forward to having everyone together, and our activities are more family centric, rather than everyone moving in separate directions.
Victoria and Madilyn went to stay the night with their Grandpa and Grandma Di's, and Rodney was fast asleep by the time I finished all my errands this evening. So, I picked up a Redbox movie for Chandler and I.
Tomorrow we are getting out our fall decorations and cleaning up the outside of the house. I also have a lot of catching up to do on the inside cleaning (especially in the laundry room). Chandler has a soccer game in the afternoon. I really hope to have all our work done tomorrow, so Sunday we can go to Mass, Faith Formation, then spend the rest of the day relaxing, well, at least for a few hours before Victoria has to go to youth.
Victoria finished up her first season of tennis and I am so glad she really enjoyed playing. Homeschooling is going okay, it's such a huge adjustment and I am constantly worried that I am not doing a good enough job. Also, with this being our first year I am finding that a lot of material I purchased it not quite what I expected. We normally spend about 3 to 4 hours Mon, Tues, Wed, and Fri doing class work, then Thursday we spend all day at the church for Mass, activities and playtime with other Catholic homeschoolers (Maddie and I both look really forward to Thursdays).
I am off to enjoy the movie with my son. Have a great weekend!

Halloween and it's Christian (not pagan, roots).....

We've all heard it: "Halloween is a pagan rite dating back to the Celtic harvest festival of Samhain , (or some other variation of this holiday's supposedly pagan roots,) but that is absolutely NOT the truth! Halloween, the name itself coming from the old English words, "Hallow" (meaning consecrated to God [or Saint]), and "Even" (meaning evening) is the vigil before All Saints Day (it's properly spelled Hallowe'en (for "Halloweven") and it's TOTALLY Catholic!

It is true that ancient Celts celebrated a harvest festival called Samhain on November 1st, (not the night before), and it is true that early Catholics often "baptized" local festivals to give new converts reasons to still celebrate but now for a Christian purpose, but that's NOT what happened with Halloween.

The earliest church tried to celebrate every martyr with a special solemnity on the anniversary of their martyrdom but, as that list began to grow (especially during the Diocletian persecution), they realized they needed a special day set aside to venerate ALL of these holy people, known and unknown.

Around the year 400, this day was set as the Sunday after Pentecost (obviously having nothing to do with harvest time) and it remained there until hundreds of years later when Pope Gregory III (731-741) consecrated a chapel in the Basilica of St. Peter to all the saints and thus, moved All Saints Day to November 1st (because we already had a big day for the apostles on May 1st so the saints on May 13 was a bit close). Pope Gregory IV (827-844) extended the celebration to the Universal Church by making it a Holy Day of Obligation (currently abrogated [meaning temporarily waived] in the United States).

So, where do we get all the traditions? Well, it seems it was the "melting pot" of America that created most of them. First, in 998, St. Odilo set aside November 2nd to honor all souls and it's believed that among Irish Catholic peasants there was some fear that since we had a day to honor the souls in heaven and one for those in purgatory, maybe the souls in hell would make trouble, so they began a strange custom of banging pots on All Hallow's Even to assure the damned they weren't forgotten either.



Also, it was common for poor people to go door to door on Hallowmas (All Saints Day) and beg for food in exchange for their prayers for your dead family and friends during Masses on All Souls Day (the next day).

Then, in 14th and 15th century France, bubonic plague gave many people reason to be very concerned with the afterlife. Artists worked hard to remind people of their mortality and often painted scenes where the devil led long chains of people, including church leaders, kings, peasants and lepers, into the tomb and sometimes these scenes were presented live on All Souls Day with people dressing up in the garb of various levels of society and acting out their part.

Finally, England had a "penal period" from the 1500-1700s, where being Catholic was severely punished and offering Mass was a capital offense that cost many priests their life. During this time, a Catholic resister named Guy Fawkes, participated in a plot to blow up parliament and kill the Protestant King James I, in hopes of freeing Catholics from government burdens. On November 5, 1605, he was discovered, tortured and later hanged but the day the plot was foiled became a celebration in all of England (still is).

Puritans couldn't resist another chance to harass the Faithful, so bands of Guy Fawkes Day revelers would put on masks and visit local Catholics in the dead of night demanding beer and cakes for their celebration of the now dead Catholic (as opposed to the asking done on Hallowmas—this was not a nice knock) . This practice gave birth to the term, "Trick or Treat" (though I suspect it was menacingly said in reverse). Note: Some countries have twisted this and require that the beggar provide the trick (some riddle or magic trick or something) in order to earn the treat…neat idea!

It was in America that all of these customs morphed together to become what we now call "Halloween". The English's November 5th, celebration of Guy Fawkes day with its demands for treats, the French masquerade and obsession with death, the Irish pot banging and worrying about the damned in hell (and probably some harvest customs of making candle lights but now using pumpkins instead of the original turnip lights [as the Irish were not long from their superstitious and pagan roots).

The dark side crept into the day starting with the greeting card industry in the late 1800's when some ill-informed folklorist added witches and black cats (because it was believed that witches could "shape-shift" into cats) and other dark symbols. Of course the evil side has just continued to grow but the original intention of this vigil is to HONOR the saints! Let us reclaim our vigil!!

This year I encourage you to have a REAL Halloween (saint) party and require saint costumes (or at least block evil costumes). Let's bring this day back to Jesus and those who have served Him well. Be creative with your games, such as bobbing for apples being called the "Martyrs dunk" (as it was common to use water torture to make people confess to anything—even being Catholic!), be sure to make the children tell you something about a saint to earn each candy they get, etc.

Let's try to find a balance between the modern fun parts of Halloween—the merrymaking and candy, and even some ghoulishness (there's some seriously repulsive stuff in the Saint's truth!) , and the real Catholic reasons for this day. When she was younger, my girl used to go "Trick or Treating" but IN her saint costumes. Over several years, she took Saints Francis of Assisi, Mother Cabrini and Mother Seton door to door right next to the evil costumes of other children. That's what we are called to be, the person carrying the Light in the middle of a dark world (I was very blessed as she *wanted* to wear them, your children may not be so inclined but you could ask them!).

Use this day as a reason to tell the truth about the Saints—really dig into your saint books and find ways to make those saints into games. I use baseball hats that I've attached strips of clear plastic above the bill so I can slip in little laminated cards with a saint's name. Each child gets up and asks, "Who am I?" and the other children give clues to that saint until the child correctly guesses which saint is on their hat.

I find that using the first person really helps the children "connect" with that saint and retain the knowledge longer. We start with, "In what century did I live?", then "Where was I born?", then friends (many saints have saint friends), and finally the things that will give it away like, "What am I famous for?", or other facts about the individual saint's life. Points (gold plastic coins) are given based on how quickly the child figures out which saint they are.

If you want to entertain older children, search the internet for pictures of incorrupt saints – they are amazing and terribly ghoulish at the same time. If you dispense candy to the neighbor children, attach a note to it that says, "Jesus is the light of the word…do not be afraid!", or some other Christian message that declares Halloween is a day to honor those that honored Him.

There is a worldwide movement to bring this day back to its REAL roots. Check out this website for inspiration: www. NightofLight.org and let's be the first to bring the movement to America!

*source-unknown parish bulletin article)

Put Your Pin's to Work

For all of you who "Pin" you know how addicting it can be. I am also assuming, that like me, you spend a lot more more time pinning than using what you've learned. Starting this week I have decided to do a Pinterest Challenge. For the next year I will use one of my Pins each week. If you are not familiar with Pinterest people use it to gain ideas on decorating, crafting, recipes, books to read and much more. Every week I will post my results here. Wish me luck!

Maddie's New Glasses