It has become a practice in the last 20 years for certain new towns, like Swieqi, to ‘celebrate’ the feast of Halloween, a recent import from  the US or Britain.

The Catholic Church has celebrated the feast of All Saints on November 1 and of All Souls on November 2 for hundreds of years. In Germany, All Saints reads as Alle Heiligen, whence in medieval English All Hallows or Halloween.

This originally religious feast has taken pagan cultural connotations, especially in recent years, as the feast of ghosts or even demons. Some Satanic rites are another feature.

So, we practising Catholics and other Christians had better beware.

A lot of wanton damage is done to cars and other private property in places like Swieqi annually. The forces of law and order, like the police, need to be on their guard and watch out for such damaging activities.

There is little to celebrate about All Souls. Maybe about All Saints, as we pray at Benediction: “Blessed be God in his angels and in his saints.”

Some innocent fun is another acceptable feature.

The Church and civil authorities need to open their eyes, in my view, to other suspect practices.