Much Ado About Halloween

Sometimes, the Filipino Catholic priests spew out countless opinions on issues which, I believe, are better left undiscussed by anyone from their faction. And there are those which are inevitably laughable that you just have to bring them up for discussion.

Take this one, for example, from CBCPNews.com:

Shops which sell Halloween merchandise have been accused by a leading churchman of encouraging bad behavior.The Bishop of Masbate said retailers are helping to promote negative impact on All Saints’ Day and creating a “climate of fear” especially among the children.

The Most Rev. Joel Baylon called on retailers to rethink the way their stores promote Halloween and offer children “positive” alternatives alongside their witch costumes and skeleton masks.

“I’m worried that Halloween has the potential to trivialize the realities of evil in the world and occult practices should not be condoned, even if they are only being presented like toys,” he said.

Baylon said huge task still goes to the parents by not encouraging children to dress up for Halloween, saying they should instead focus on the positive messages of All Saints’ Day.

“Instead of focusing on the spiritual meaning of the occasion, children’s attentions are often diverted to the Halloween which is not good,” Baylon said.

He insists he is no killjoy, but says parents should not be pressured into buying goods promoting the “negative side of Halloween.”

“Let’s assume that it’s not harmful to the adults but for the young minds, we are giving them the wrong perceptions about the dead. We are teaching them the wrong values,” said the prelate.

Bishop Baylon reiterated he is not being spoilsport, but he is simply reflecting the concerns of many parents and teachers to across the country.

US-style celebrations of Halloween—including “trick or treat”—have become increasingly popular in the Philippines, especially in Metro Manila, over recent years.

Well, I have to give him credit for trying to insistently mention he is not a killjoy. At least he gets the feel that people will dismiss him as one otherwise. But much like video games, not all children are gullible enough to take into form what they see, much less what they are dressed up as.

I am aware of the point he is driving at, though. Because of all of these scary representations which freely pop up once a year, these children may take October 31 as nothing more than a “celebration” of the ghoulish and the unknown.

But I believe it is only the hardcore children who would go for a costume like this:

Because, at most, they would just go for something like this:

Maybe I am just missing out on something, I don’t know.

Okay, just to have this done and over with, just let your kid don an Iron Man costume if you really want your kid to be up to geeky par. That goes the same for the girls. Princesses, fairies and mermaids are definitely not geeky and won’t measure up to Jason right there.

Or you can let the boy wear some thick, square-rimmed specs and a coat, and have his forehead drawn with some squiggly line. Curly locks for the girls.

Oops.

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