By LifeSiteNews (Politics) | Created at 2024-10-30 15:44:07 | Updated at 2024-10-30 23:21:17
7 hours ago
Wed Oct 30, 2024 - 11:34 am EDT
TRIM, Ireland (PerMariam) — Faithful Irish Catholics are taking a public stance against a satanic-inspired festival this month, which they warn “threatens the Catholic faith and Christian culture of Ireland.”
At the moment, a public campaign organized by Irish Society for Christian Civilization (ISFCC) is in full sail, seeking to inform people about the true nature of the annual Púca festival. (Fundraising details are here.)
The festival has grown to significant prominence in Ireland in recent years, and is held October 31 to November 3 – marking the secular celebration of “Halloween.”
The official Púca website describes the festival as marking “the mystical traditions of Samhain, yet brimming with contemporary energy.”
It invites visitors to “dance with otherworldly creatures, revel in the richness of Irish music and storytelling, and experience Halloween in its most authentic form.”
The multi-day program posits two events as particular highlights: the procession dubbed “The Gathering of the Spirits,” and the lighting of the “Samhain Fire.”
Describing the procession, attendees are promised a blend of “outdoor theatre, street performance and music in a wild celebration of Samhain lore, nature, ancestry, and the looming darkness. As light turns to darkness and the veil thins, so too will the visions of otherworldly, shape-shifting spirits on their journey through the original home of Halloween.”
Meanwhile, the lighting of the fire, the organizers write, is a way to connect festival attendees to the ancient, thus pagan, rituals.
“This powerful ritual serves to honor ancestors and bridge the gap between the physical and spiritual worlds,” note the festival organizers. “The flames will symbolically link the landscapes of Tlachtga, Tara, Loughcrew, Tailteann, and Uisneach, carrying messages to those who have passed before us.”
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ISFCC write that, given the festival’s overt “occultist overtones” it “threatens the Catholic faith and Christian culture of Ireland.”
Famously Catholic Ireland has in recent decades become a battle-ground between historic remnants of Catholic culture and the sweeping influence of secular ideologies, perhaps best exemplified by the acceptance of abortion and homosexual practices – something incomprehensible for Irish Catholics less than a generation ago.
Increasingly, demonic-themed Halloween festivals have also proliferated as attempts are made to whitewash Ireland’s Catholic history and identify and replace it with an anti-Catholic ideal. Pointing to this, ISFCC write:
This festival tends to obscure the Catholic Church’s triumph over paganism with the coming of Saint Patrick to Ireland and obliterate the legacy of our great patron saint whose apostolate began precisely in the east of Ireland.
No matter how much the Catholic Church is attacked today in the media, it is impossible to ignore the massive contribution it has made to this country. Of course, the greatest contribution of the Church to society is teaching the Catholic Faith. By appealing to the country’s ancient pagan roots, the Puca Festival represents an attack on the Catholic Faith.
The pagan Samhain festival was held to mark the turn of the season of summer to winter, and believed to involve the passing of spirits between world. It centered around evil spirits, particularly one known as Púca and the time was marked by “the brief and temporary ascendency of the powers of darkness.”
Offerings were made to “placate” the ghosts believed to be wandering the earth at the time of the feast of the dead.
Fires were made in honor of sun god at the chief ceremonial ground of Tlachtga, and only after this one was alight could others also be lit. The lighting of the fires was the sign that the spirits were in retreat.
ISFCC notes that “there is a striking correlation between the Púca festival events & the pagan celebration of Halloween. The festival is loaded with spiritual malaise.”
However, the festival is not an independent event, but sponsored by local councils and “Fáilte Ireland” – part of the national tourism body – meaning that government backing and funding is directly supporting it.
“The ritualistic implications such as the spiritual procession to Tlachtga, saluting the spirits through food & folklore, dressing up in macabre costumes & masks (as seen in promotion photos) and the screening of Häxan, a satanic film about witches is paganism dressed up for the 21st Century,” writes ISFCC.
But the Catholic Church clearly warns against and prohibits involvement in demonic activity. “All practices of magic or sorcery, by which one attempts to tame occult powers, so as to place them at one’s service and have a supernatural power over others – even if this were for the sake of restoring their health – are gravely contrary to the virtue of religion,” the catechism notes.
“The First Commandment ‘I am the Lord your God … you shall not have strange gods before Me’ is broken & is replaced by false gods such as the Púca, divination,” ISFCC warns, adding:
People need to understand and be warned that paganism is not an alternative lifestyle or religion. The Púca festival appears to be an initiation ceremony into the occult. There is real danger of being opened to demonic spirits by taking part in pagan rituals. Fáilte Ireland & partners choice to devise & promote this festival is at best naïve or a premeditated attempt to expunge Christianity from Ireland.
As a result, the group of volunteer Irish Catholics is organizing a public information campaign, distributing leaflets to thousands of homes in the festival area.
As Catholics we are called to live in society and make it more Catholic. This is the Christian Civilisation we strive for. The Púca Festival on the other hand is an invitation to the occult and to further erase Christianity from society.
They also urge that concerned individuals collaborate in the dual campaign of prayer and action, asking people to protest in writing to the Irish bishops and the Irish authorities responsible.
In an effort to offset the sizable costs of coordinating the campaign against the festival, ISFCC have asked for donations to assist their efforts.
Reprinted with permission from Per Mariam: Mater Dolorosa.
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