Halloween merchandise distort significance of 'Undas'

MANILA, Philippines - Halloween merchandise distort the significance of All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day, a Masbate prelate said.

“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,” Masbate Bishop Joel Baylon was quoted by CBCPNews, the official news service of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines.

Over the years, Filipinos have adopted the United States-style of celebrating the pagan holiday, which falls today. Around this time, specialty shops are filled with masks and outfits that depict Western monsters, pop culture icons, creatures from Western folklore, or outlandish characters. Lately, shops have started to localize the holiday by creating masks and outfits that depict creatures from Filipino folklore and pop culture.

Baylon, chairman of the CBCP-Commission on Youth (CoY) said stores should provide positive alternatives that would not encourage bad behavior among children. He said children’s perception of Halloween depends largely on their parents, who he advised to be careful in choosing toys for their young ones.

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

CBCP president Jaro, Iloilo Archbishop Angel Lagdameo acknowledged that Halloween parties are “social parties” and not a tradition of the Catholic Church.

“This is actually a Pagan origin that became a social tradition.” This is often held on Oct. 31.

He said that while he would not take any action to stop this practice, he asked that the people not forget to pray for the saints on their feast day on Nov. 1 and for the dead on Nov. 2.

“Sometimes, the young people are very tired from attending the Halloween parties the whole day (on Oct. 31) that on November 1 and November 2, they no longer offer prayers and just sleep at home. They have already forgotten to pray,” Lagdameo said.