creavit: Halloween.... The Night of the Damned

“Abandon hope, all ye who enter here”- Dante

Halloween, or All Hallow's Eve, is currently celebrated as an amalgamation of rituals and practices for festivals of the dead from the various immigrant communities who have made up the fabric the American nation. Much of the customs associated with the day come from the "christianized" Samhein celebrations of the pre-reformation Christians in England, Scotland, and Ireland. On this night in pre-reformation England, Scotland, and Ireland, bonfires and lanterns would be set ablaze in order to scare off the evil spirits believed to emerge from hell at midnight. From this practice we get the jack-o-lantern.

Although Peter,Paul, and Mary sing A Soulin' as a Christmas Song, it is actually a Halloween Song- a carol sang by children in pre-reformation times as they wandered from door to door asking for soul cakes for the dead. (of course herein lie some of the roots of trick-or-treating).

Soul, Soul, a soul cake!I pray thee, good missus, a soul cake!

One for Peter, two for Paul,three for Him what made us all!''

Soul Cake, soul cake, please good missus, a soul cake.

An apple, a plum, a peach, or a cherry,

anything good thing to make us merry.

One for Peter, one for Paul, & three for Him who made us all.

In time the night became associated with the damned souls in hell. Rituals evolved which both inculcated a fear of hell and provided a means of making light of the horrors of hell. I remember as a child my home parish would sponsor a Haunted Forest on Halloween Night. It was all a lot of fun- although I remember literally having the hell scared out of me- which I think was probably the point. It has recently become my custom to read scary stories to my son. One of our favorites is:

Little Orphant Annie
By James Whitcomb Riley

Little Orphant Annie's come to our house to stay,
An' wash the cups an' saucers up, an' brush the crumbs away,
An' shoo the chickens off the porch, an' dust the hearth, an' sweep,
An' make the fire, an' bake the bread, an' earn her board-an'-keep;
An' all us other childern, when the supper-things is done,
We set around the kitchen fire an' has the mostest fun
A-list'nin' to the witch-tales 'at Annie tells about,
An' the Gobble-uns 'at gits YOU
Ef you
Don't..
Watch..
Out!

Wunst they wuz a little boy wouldn't say his prayers,--
An' when he went to bed at night, away up-stairs,
His Mammy heerd him holler, an' his Daddy heerd him bawl,
An' when they turn't the kivvers down, he wuzn't there at all!
An' they seeked him in the rafter-room, an' cubby-hole, an' press,
An' seeked him up the chimbly-flue, an' ever'-wheres, I guess;
But all they ever found wuz thist his pants an' roundabout:--
An' the Gobble-uns 'll git you
Ef you
Don't..
Watch ..
Out!

An' one time a little girl 'ud allus laugh an' grin,
An' make fun of ever' one, an' all her blood-an'-kin;
An' wunst, when they was "company," an' ole folks wuz there,
She mocked 'em an' shocked 'em, an' said she didn't care!
An' thist as she kicked her heels, an' turn't to run an' hide,
They wuz two great big Black Things a-standin' by her side,
An' they snatched her through the ceilin' 'fore she knowed what she's about!
An' the Gobble-uns 'll git YOU
Ef you
Don't..
Watch..
Out!

An' little Orphant Annie says, when the blaze is blue,
An' the lamp-wick sputters, an' the wind goes woo-oo!
An' you hear the crickets quit, an' the moon is gray,
An' the lightnin'-bugs in dew is all squenched away,--
You better mind yer parunts, an' yer teachurs fond an' dear,
An' churish them 'at loves you, an' dry the orphant's tear,
An' he'p the pore an' needy ones 'at clusters all about,
Er the Gobble-uns 'll git YOU
Ef you
Don't..
Watch..
OUT!

Of course at the end of the night, after trick-or-treating and pallin' around with gobblins and ghosties, I remind my son that God's love is stronger than Evil, and that in the end God's Love will win. We bless ourselves with holy water, make the sign of the cross, pray that Michael and all the angels will be near through the night... and then pray one of my favorite Scottish prayers...

From ghoulies and ghosties

And long-leggedy beasties

And things that go bump in the night,

Good Lord, deliver us!

POST SCRIPT:

With many of the Church Fathers, I am not convinced that the souls in hell can be tormented forever, given a loving God, who in Jesus Christ is reconciling all things to Himself. (I'll post some quotes below, but a fuller discussion will have to wait for another time and space). So, on this day, I pray for those who may be suffering in hell- and in personal hells in their daily lives on earth. I pray that the mercy of God may bring them redemption, and an end to their sufferings. I pray that the love of God may find its way into the deepest places of their souls. I remember a few years ago when my son was younger when he asked: "Daddy, people don't really go to hell, do they? I mean if they for some reason went there, wouldn't Jesus fly down and take them away?"

I think he basically sums it up.

Quotes from the Fathers on hell:

We can set no limits to the agency of the Redeemer to redeem, to rescue, to discipline in his work, and so will he continue to operate after this life. –Clement of Alexandria

In the end and consummation of the Universe all are to be restored into their original harmonious state, and we all shall be made one body and be united once more into a perfect man and the prayer of our Savior shall be fulfilled that all may be one. --St. Jerome, 331-420

For the wicked there are punishments, not perpetural, however, lest the immortality prepared for them should be a disadvantage, but they are to be purified for a brief period according to the amount of malice in their works. They shall therefore suffer punishment for a short space, but immortal blessedness having no end awaits them...the penalties to be inflicted for their many and grave sins are very far surpassed by the magnitude of the mercy to be showed to them. --Diodore of Tarsus, 320-394 A.D.

And God showed great kindness to man, in this, that He did not suffer him to continue being in sin forever; but as it were, by a kind of banishement, cast him out of paradise in order that, having punishment expiated within an appointed time, and having been disciplined, he should afterwards be recalled...just as a vessel, when one being fashioned it has some flaw, is remoulded or remade that it may become new and entire; so also it happens to man by death. For he is broken up by force, that in the resurrection he may be found whole; I mean spotless, righteous and immortal. --Theophilus of Antioch (168 A.D.)