HALLOWE'EN: CAUGHT IN THE CROSSFIRE OF COSMIC WAR

If you thought to relegate the entire Hallowe'en hullabaloo to the dustbin of pre Christian times best forgotten, we got news for you. Appeasing the demons is not such a bad tactic, if it is limited to once a year. But ignoring, or pretending it's irrelevant to modern times, is a case of sticking your head in the sand: it doesn't make the ghouls go away. We still need to exercise spiritual hygiene! We got a few experts here walking us through it. Father Andrew Stephen Damick and Father Stephen de Young are filling us in on the deepest roots of Hallowe'en and why it is important to give it your full attention.

Oct 30, 2020 Ancient Faith: Lord of Spirits: The Real Demons of Hallowe'en [Ep. 5].

As the Fathers are making clear in this episode of The Lord of Spirits, we are all soldiers recruited into God's army for perpetual spiritual warfare against the evil spirits of fallen angels. We must defend our souls lest we fall into the transactional, Faustian traps our pagan ancestors fell into before us. It is in the nature of creation. 

Years ago, as Dutch folklore was being sacrificed on the altar of political correctness, Saint Nicolas lost his helper, Black Pete in the culture war. As far as I am aware the issue has remained a bone of contention to this day, with progressive officialdom promoting multi colored Petes in an effort to stamp out the offensive traditional Black Petes.

At one point it came to rioting. The perpetrators were sentenced to hefty fines in the once open and liberal country of the Netherlands. Since then, the fascists have taken over the ship of state. It's all chronicled in an archive on our old Dutch language blog (link). 

Not much later a movie came out featuring the old Krampus and his forest spirit helper, demasking the entire Saint Nicolas and Black Pete legend as a fairly new invention, probably dating back no further than the 16th century or thereabouts. It has little to do with Saint Nicolas of Myra (link), who inspired the legend. You can still order the movie here. 

I always hated Black Pete even as a child. Perhaps I felt instinctively the guy was  really an evil spirit.

Jonathan Pageau approaches the matter from another angle, but coming to a similar conclusion. 

Oct 15, 2019 Jonathan Pageau: The Symbolism of Halloween.

- More on Jonathan Pageau, The Lord of Spirits (playlist), folklore, Saint Nicolas, Black Pete, the Krampus, demonology -