Swieqi council resists mayor’s calls for Halloween activities

Swieqi mayor Noel Muscat is facing resistance from Swieqi councillors over his plans to organise Halloween activities for children.

“I personally don’t care about Halloween but children enjoy it and it’s growing in popularity in Swieqi,” Muscat told MaltaToday. “Yet the other councillors are adamant that the local council shouldn’t organise Halloween activities, not due to religious reasons but because they are scared of the violence that might break out.”

Halloween will be celebrated this Friday, October 31 and Swieqi residents are now facing the annual problem of masked teenagers flinging eggs at their houses and cars. Yet the situation has cooled down in recent years, according to Swieqi’s mayor.

“While Swieqi used to be hit with several vandalism cases every Halloween, only three residents complained that eggs had been thrown at their houses last year,” Muscat said. “We still find this unacceptable though and the police have been informed about Halloween this year.”

Halloween’s links with the Catholic Church are obscure. It is celebrated on the eve of All Saints’ Day, or All Hallows’ Day, the Catholic day for honouring saints. Indeed, the word ‘Halloween’ was formed from ‘All Hallows’ Eve’. Yet it is widely agreed that the feast has its roots in fifth century Celtic Ireland where legend has it that people celebrated the day to ward off evil spirits. Irish immigrants took the celebration to the US in
the 1800s.

Yet the Church’s position on Halloween is clear; the Church considers it to be a pagan festival and discourages true Catholics from participating in Halloween celebrations.  The Maltese Church set up a Diocesan Commission on the Occult and Satanism in 1995 following a decree by then Archbishop Joseph Mercieca.

The Commission’s secretary, Fr Marcello Ghirlando, said in 2005 that “partaking in Halloween celebrations, even if on a superficial level, is still wrong because it becomes a sign of openness towards neo-pagan culture and dabbling in the culture of the occult”.

Yet it is a feast that is growing in popularity in Malta, particularly in Swieqi.

“The reason it’s become so popular in Swieqi is because of the number of foreigners who live here,” Muscat said. “As for the Maltese people, they see it as just another excuse to celebrate. I am convinced that none of them even knows what Halloween means.”