They were mini saints carrying their respective instruments, attributing to their special holiness. The little St. Cecilia carried a small keyboard representing an organ, signifying her role as patron saint of music. The little Veronica showed extended arms with a length of fabric impressed with the legendary three faces of Christ from Lenten rituals. The cute young St. Joseph came in long brown carpenter’s work clothes and a hammer with his staff adorned at the top with lily flowers.
The children were dressed in their favorite saints’ habiliments, some with the ubiquitous paper halo perched on their heads. They were collective symbols of sanctified lives said to have “pleased God throughout the ages” as remembered in Sunday mass prayers.
The procession of “little saints” is traditionally observed in the Catholic Church in many parts of the world, celebrating the rich tapestry of Catholic tradition on All Saints Day every 1st of November, a holy day that obligates Catholics to attend mass. In their young age, the little saints are urged to reflect on the lives of the saints they personify, although the fascination of dressing up and costuming can be a strong motivator, yet.
The rest of the children in the procession were garbed in liturgical vestments complete with palm fronds signifying martyrdom, cardinal’s hats, Bibles, and rosaries. A crucifix and a bouquet of roses were carried by a little girl as St. Therese of Lisieux, a nun, while a boy with darkened skin, as St. Martin de Porres, slowly walked after her. He hugged a basket of bread and one hand lugged a hard upright broom, recalling his life as a janitor in 1603 who fed the poor before becoming a saint.
The little saints’ piety on the first day of AllHallowtide Halloween (October 31) holds an interesting contrast in other parts of the globe to other little “saints” given their youthful innocence and pure hearts. Here, children dress as animals and images of popular characters and don witches’ hats and masks, spooky, strange items, and then roam neighborhoods for tricks or treats. The Church does not frown on the fun part of Halloween but warns about engaging in demonic rituals or visiting homes with hideous and evil decors.
Halloween for adults
Halloween for adults is something else. Halloween for adults has evolved into a night of haunting revelry. Beneath the glow of streetlights, costumed figures wander through the city like spirits released for one night of freedom. Masks hide faces and reveal desires, while music, laughter, and whispers blend into something both thrilling and unsettling. The parties pulse with strange energy — half celebration, half ritual — as people lose themselves in the eerie beauty of the night.
They sashay all over town in sick, spookish, and frou-frou vintage costumes and accessories. Halloween parades are truly exciting and colorful phenomena, bar none.
Connie Triggiano is currently Board Secretary of Circa-Pintig, a Chicago community theater organization. She works as Academic and English tutor assisting foreign students to pass IELTS, TOEFL, Celpic, ESL and other English exams to gain admission to universities in English speaking countries. She also trains greencard holders to pass US citizenship exams and interview. She worked for many years as Vice-President of Chicago-based Leo Burnett Advertising in its Manila office where she managed the advertising accounts of the country’s biggest brands: Procter & Gamble, Pepsi Cola International, BPI, Vicks, Wyeth and Cathay Pacific. She edited a travel newspaper in Singapore and taught college freshmen in a local university. Connie graduated with a BA degree, major in English, from the University of San Francisco in California while working as an information officer for a United Way agency. She took up MS in Advertising at the Asian Institute for the Development of Advertising, UST Graduate School.
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