Happy Harvest Day!
theophilus October 31st, 2007
I’m looking through my little girl’s school materials for today and came across a note that her class is having a “Harvest Party” – that’s right, not a “Halloween Party” but a “Harvest Party”.
I now know why the number of kids coming to our door seems to pale in comparison to the number that always seemed to be out when I was young. Who is going to get all excited and dressed up over the harvest? If I was young again, I would have think, heck, I’ve got homework to do.
I guess we should expect that the complete secularization of our public institutions would be taken to some rather silly levels. I don’t remember Halloween ever being thought of as a religious observance of any kind. The day has a religious origin, but growing up, we just knew Halloween was a time to dress up and get some candy – the religious stuff waited until the next day.
What started with Christmas becoming the “Holidays” and Easter becoming “Spring Break” has now been taken to new levels. The Harvest Party and the ”Big Feast” (replacing Thanksgiving) are just two examples.
Another example is the trend towards celebrating the “4th of July” instead of “Independence Day”. This trend is a shame because it takes away from really celebrating the significance of that day, especially the reading and studying of the Declaration of Independence (where all would see reference after reference to God in relation to the founding of our nation).
But what’s next in this rush to remove God from anything remotely connected to national observances?
A large symbol of Memorial Day is the Tomb of the Unknown Solider – with the inscription “HERE RESTS IN HONORED GLORY AN AMERICAN SOLIDER KNOWN BUT TO GOD.” Valentine’s Day is held on the Feast of St. Valentine. St. Patrick’s Day is held, well, on the Feast of St. Patrick. Columbus Day commemorates the explorer who opened the door for Christianity to be brought to the New World. Heck, we celebrate New Year’s Day on a day set in accordance with the Gregorian Calendar as decreed by Pope Gregory XIII.
Religion used to be such a part of our popular culture that national observances are seaped through with religious origins, even as the observance itself has morphed into something completely secular.
I guess my main problem with all of this name-changing is that it’s just downright silly. ”Harvest Party”, “Big Feast” – come on.
I can’t get all worked up over forcing folks to observe religious holidays if they don’t believe the foundations of those observances. If they don’t want to call religious holidays by their real names, that’s fine with me - as long as, they don’t get upset when I call the day by its real name. But let’s not go overboard.
And there is one good thing about all of this name changing. Kids are going to get confused. “Mom, I thought we had Halloween this week. Why is my school having a Harvest Party?”. “Dad, you told me we were having people over for Thanksgiving, but my school is doing something about a big feast.”
These will be teaching opportunities. We will have the ability to educate them and ourselves on the real significance of these holidays and why folks started celebrating them in the first place. In the process, we will teach them about God and our faith.
In the meantime, let’s try to stay out of our kid’s candy tonight.
