Tea at Trianon: The Controversies of Halloween

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Monday, October 27, 2008

The Controversies of Halloween

Scott Richert explores the matter and his conclusions are quite interesting. Halloween was originally attacked for being too papist.

The current attacks on Halloween aren't the first. In post-Reformation England, All Saints Day and its vigil were suppressed, and the Celtic peasant customs associated with Halloween were outlawed. Christmas, and the traditions surrounding that feast, were similarly attacked, and the Puritan Parliament banned Christmas outright in 1647. In America, Puritans outlawed the celebration of both Christmas and Halloween, which were revived largely by German Catholic (in the case of Christmas) and Irish Catholic (in the case of Halloween) immigrants in the 19th century....

A new backlash against Halloween by non-Catholic Christians began in the 1980's, in part because of claims that Halloween was the devil's night; in part because of urban legends about poisons and razor blades in Halloween candy; and in part because of an explicit opposition to Catholicism. Jack Chick, a rabidly anti-Catholic fundamentalist who distributes Bible tracts in the form of small comic books, helped lead the charge.
By the late 1990's, many Catholic parents, unaware of the anti-Catholic origins of the attack on Halloween, had begun to question Halloween as well, and alternative celebrations became popular.

Alexandra said...: I knew these origins, but maybe Catholics see the culture of Halloween changing. It does not seem as innocent as it once was - just look at the costumes, movies, and commercialism. It has lost its focus which had been on innocent fun(fairy tale goblins and such) for small children, and taken on a sinister edge. To some extent it's been changed by the New Age and magical arts subculture. It's taken on the culture of death.

The excess bothers me. People spend way too much on costumes these days. When I was a child we threw a sheet over our heads, and called it day.; October 27, 2008 at 12:56:00 PM EDT
elena maria vidal said...: That is true, Alexandra. It is sad. But I do not let those New Age weirdos ruin my fun. It is certainly possible to celebrate All Hallows Eve in an innocent and festive manner, and as a prelude to the great solemnity.; October 27, 2008 at 1:51:00 PM EDT
Nathan said...: Here is why this Christian doesn't celebrate Halloween. Maybe my reasoning will resonate with you!; October 29, 2008 at 5:08:00 PM EDT