Trick or treat?

Will there be any children asking “trick or treat?” on Balzan doorsteps tomorrow? The one-day mini carnival, where children and young people dress up as witches, skeletons, or with just a white sheet with eye holes in order to appear scary and ‘trick’ people into giving them sweets (treat), is just a bit of harmless fun. Yet, parents in Balzan have been warned by its parish that allowing their children to take part in the Halloween fun tomorrow will “expose them to sadism, sexual violence, Satanism, torture, mutilation and strange killing”. Overkill, springs to mind. Has the parish priest been watching too many programmes on the telly, which have all the above horrid and chilling aspects and which might in fact expose children to violence and ghoulishness? Those are what glamorise violence, the occult and macabre rather than kids dressing up for “Trick or Treat”. Sensationalism is not something we used to associate with the Church. But it seems that ever since the divorce campaign got on the road, parish priests have gone Maverick and started using shock posters and notices posted in letterboxes to put their point across. Unfortunately for them though, the divorce over-alarmist messages had the opposite effect to what was desired by the Church. Yet, even after that grand fiasco, some have still not got the message that people are much more sophisticated these days and are not cowered by shocking, melodramatic and lurid warnings, especially when they are so obviously an exaggerated versions of events. The leaflet sent to households in Balzan, which warned against the “serious danger” of Halloween and said it celebrates a culture of death and attacks that which is holy, carried an illustration of a skull and pumpkin. What I found really amusing was that right next to the report in The Times, an advert depicting witches on broomsticks, bats and a full moon urged readers to buy “crazy, glowing, freaky contact lenses”. I wondered what wearing those might lead to. Now a message to partygoers to watch out for the risks involved in drug taking and overindulgence in alcohol would have been more sensible and apt. Parish priest Fr Kalcidon Vassallo “insisted his message was not overly alarmist” and he was just stating the facts. “References to sexual violence, torture and sadism were there as warnings on what dabbling in the occult could lead to,” he explained. “Children dressing up or trick-or-treating do so innocently. But it is good for parents to know that doing so might lead to these things,” Fr Vassallo said. What facts? How many cases of murder, sadism, Satanism, sexual violence and mutilation have been reported as result of children dressing up and trick-or-treating on Halloween night? As for “dabbling in the occult”, unless, whoever uses the term clearly defines what they mean by it, they can only confuse. Surely the parish priest of Balzan does not believe that children dressing up as witches will lead them to practising witchcraft and sorcery? Will he be sending a note asking parents to stop their children from reading any J. K. Rowling Harry Potter books, watching the film series, or Disney’s The Sorcerers Apprentice next? Meanwhile, the report stated that the Curia “avoided any direct reference to the note, but reiterated its central tenets”. Now is that ambiguous or what? Which “central tenets” exactly? That children dressing up can lead to Satanism, sexual violence, torture, mutilation and killing? Just like it did with the alarmist anti-divorce posters. It seems the Curia cannot make up its mind on whether alarmist tactics work or not. Fr Hector Scerri, president of the Church’s Theological Commission explained further that Halloween is focused on darkness and the occult, evil spirits and the macabre presentation of skeletons and bones, which he said contrasted with the Church’s theology, which was based on light, eternal life and the beauty and goodness of God. Well, does he really think that Halloween revellers here focus on the occult and evil spirits? It is true that the macabre such as skeletons are depicted, but it is in fun and the wearers of such costumes have no intention of partying with evil spirits or embracing the “culture of death”. Of course the Church sees it as its duty to make a statement on non-Christian festivals and which in its eyes might lead to evil. But it does itself no favours by exaggerating to the point of hilarity. Really, the only harm that can happen to children dressing up and trick-or-treating on Halloween night is to their teeth, through eating too many sweets. Article published in The Malta Independent on Sunday on 30 October 2011