Instead of hollowing out pumpkins for Halloween, young Catholic
parishioners in Italy will hang pictures of saints from the windows this
weekend in preparation for the feast of All Saints Day.
Instead of dressing up as black cats or zombies, young faithful from
some 30 Italian cities will spend October 31 hanging pictures of saints
from their windows and balconies to celebrate the eve of All Saint’s
Day, AFP reports.
“We’re not against Halloween as such, it’s just that we celebrate All
Saint’s Day and want to share it with other young people,” said Sara
Bidinost, 23, a student from the Sentinels of the Morning group behind
the initiative.
“We’ll be hanging images of saints from the front of churches and
gathering in the streets… last year it was great fun, people were fairly
curious about what we were doing,” she added.
Francesco Parise, a leader for the Veneto region of the National Papa
Boys Association, a Catholic youth group that is also taking part,
said: “I’m very anti Halloween with its skeletons and pumpkins.
The head of Sentinels of the Morning, Father Andrea Brugnoli said he
got the idea to hang up images of saints from the modern obsession with
appearance.
SIC: CTH/ASIA