Here’s the alternative: “March of the Saints”
MOVE OVER HALLOWEEN
HUNDREDS of parishioners of the St. John The Evangelist Parish in Dagupan City joined the first-ever white “March of the Saints,” a costume parade with a novel twist.
Instead of the usual Halloween costumes depicting evil spirits and zombies, participants dressed up in costumes honoring revered saints of the Catholic Church.
Fr. Alvin Platon of the St. John The Evangelist Parish, said the “March of the Saints” is a Christian alternative to celebrating Halloween, stressing that Halloween celebration is a pagan celebration that plays on the presence of “evil spirits.”
He said the march kept the tradition of the event as an occasion for costuming but for an entirely different purpose in a different ambience.
Days before the march, Platon explained It would be a “costume party where children and parents will have to dress up like their revered saints and angels.”
He said since Halloween’s is celebrated on the eve of All Saints’ Day, saints should be the guide and focus, not the evil spirits.
Platon said the parade was the first in the Archdiocese of Lingayen-Dagupan and other parishes are expected to follow suit in years ahead.
The Dagupan parishioners’ first march of the saints that started late afternoon was done initially in the downtown area and most participants wore white as they prayed the rosary and the “litany of the saints”.
“It’s a march because we really believe that our life as a Christian is a march, a journey,” Platon said.
As planned, twenty-eight saints were based on their devotion for saving souls in purgatory like St. Augustine, Filipino saints San Lorenzo Ruiz and San Pedro Calungsod, St. Therese of the Child Jesus, St. Thomas, among others.
“This is also the time for children to know that saints are heroes and heroines on whom we can model their lives into their (saints) image,” he added. (Eva Visperas).
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