Comments on: All Saints' Day Costume Backlash: only neat and tidy saints need apply?

By: Costumes for All Saints Day AND Halloween: One Part Catholic, Two Parts Awesome - Catholic All Year

Tue, 01 Sep 2020 17:59:41 +0000

[…] All Saints’ Day Costume Backlash: only neat and tidy saints need apply? […]

By: That's Mrs. Tierney to You, Squirt (here's why) - Catholic All Year

That's Mrs. Tierney to You, Squirt (here's why) - Catholic All Year — Fri, 28 Aug 2020 16:39:03 +0000

[…] All Saints’ Day Costume Backlash: only neat and tidy saints need apply? […]

By: Julie Matte

Julie Matte — Sat, 06 Oct 2018 16:38:23 +0000

I think dressing up as a saint in a gory fashion — showing the death the martyrs endured — is distasteful. Yes, it is important to share how the martyrs were willing to suffer and die because of their faith in Jesus; however, to make light of torture by dressing up with their skin hanging from them or their breasts cut out and blood pouring down, etc., is conforming to this world of glorifying gore. I'd bet there is a lot of laughter when someone comes up with an innovative costume that depicts a saint's death in a realistic way. A lot of 'Oh wow, that is awesome!' Can you truthfully say that there isn't more celebration in the gore rather than a true understanding of the pain and horror these saints experienced? There are better ways to share the faith of the martyrs than a Halloween party where the saints' pain is exploited. Instead of laughter and exclaims of praise over costumes well done, there should be crying and horror over the reality of what happened to these saints. We are being desensitized.

By: alyshatree

alyshatree — Thu, 17 Nov 2016 13:14:59 +0000

As a Catholic Native American women, I am not offended that any child would dress as St. Kateri, who is my patron Saint. Little ones should learn about other cultures and witness role models aka saints in a variety of nationalities. It's not stealing someone's culture, ethnicity but honouring each other.

By: Liz

Liz — Wed, 02 Nov 2016 01:30:54 +0000

I tend to agree here. I grew up dressing for All Saints day for (Catholic) school (just setting up my tenure with this practice). Many dressed as martyrs and shared their stories. The school did, however, have guidelines surrounding gore. Often, the intent of guidelines is to maintain focus on the celebration--which is certainly how I saw the guidelines then and think of them now. Of course it's up to any school/organization/parent group to decide what is considered acceptable, but I'm sure our school kept in mind the Kindergarteners who might not have been prepared to see the martyrdom depicted visually. I am also impressed by the way many thought to depict the saints-sometimes dressing as them in their youth, as a depiction of their patronage or profession. No saint was "off limits", but we were certainly asked to be thoughtful in how we depicted the Saint. There are many ways to do it, and I wouldn't fault an organization for setting guidelines to accommodate varying opinions on appropriateness and also to maintain focus.

By: Tess

Tess — Sun, 30 Oct 2016 20:30:45 +0000

I completely agree that kids should be exposed to and educated about heroes in whatever form they happen to take, and that we do a disservice to our children and to those heroes by glossing over nasty aspects of their experiences. I am in no way suggesting that we stop teaching our children about Maximilian Kolbe. However, there is a difference between the representation, through a child's costume, of suffering that happened in the year 18 or the year 1800 versus that which occurred seventy years ago. The difference is that there are still people in basically every community who were affected in some very personal way by the tragedy of the Holocaust. It isn't a matter of what's "right" or "wrong"–it's a matter of what is respectful and what is tasteful.

By: signorina g.

signorina g. — Thu, 27 Oct 2016 16:43:25 +0000

mmmm, actual jewish person with jewish relatives dead in the camps. sure, the holocaust doesn't "belong" to the only the jews, although we did lose a fe billion of our own in it. You catholic people are very welcome to have some: for example I'm sure lots of gay catholic people were killed, too. And Maximilian Kolbe, sure. But you do know there were children there too? wearing the striped pajamas? some families lost their children that way, and you dressing your child in a striped pajama as a costume, even if it's meant to be referring to a specific saint, is distasteful for that reason, among many others. i'm sure kolbe wore other outfits during his lifetime, if I were you I would stick to those 🙂

By: Beth

Beth — Tue, 25 Oct 2016 22:18:23 +0000

In reply to Allison Howard.

Regarding the Kilian and Vivian… We have a Aubrey and Audrey (not twins or sisters)…and it is thoroughly confusing…but we love them both anyway ;).

By: Dixie

Dixie — Tue, 25 Oct 2016 13:00:51 +0000

In reply to Mary. Believe it or not, people are offended! I read a piece in the Washington Post about a woman not allowing her daughter to dress up as her American Girl doll (Kaya, a Native American) for Halloween because it was "cultural appropriation." I think this is really unreasonable and untenable. We cannot both encourage our children to admire someone (play with a doll/read about a saint) and then tell them that it's wrong to pretend they are that person in imaginary play.

By: Kendra

Kendra — Tue, 25 Oct 2016 03:40:16 +0000

In reply to Allison Howard. Ooh, yes! Such a fun blog!