By Luciana Ballesteros Heras
On Wednesday, October 29th, St. Elizabeth Seton’s Religious Education (RE) program, in coalition with the Catholic Daughters of America, presented the “All-Saints Day Celebration”. The party was announced in late September, and in the true spirit of the holiday all attendees were encouraged to don a costume resembling a hallowed saint of their selection. The invitation extended to all the students of the exceptional RE program, their families, and their amicable catechists, and on that warm October evening the hall abounded with youthful mirth and childish laughter.
The copious preparations that were made for that ebullient night were as striking as the celebration itself. To better illustrate this, beginning as early as October 1 the Religious Education’s zealous junior high class was already planning for the festive party ahead. For several weeks, the class worked towards preparing several of the prime assets of the event. Guided by their three wonderful catechists, the teens designed ten decorative posters, each dedicated to an individual saint, and crafted eleven captivating, independent games, also inspired by various holy figures. Seven of the students veered from the eye-catching posters and invigorating gameplay and opted instead to participate in a brief, educational skit titled “The All-Saints Day Feast”. In a matter of three weeks the young actors organized, rehearsed, and memorized the presentation, readily prepared to perform it for their eager audience. By October 29 every class was stirring with excitement and avidity as committed volunteers arrived as early as 4:30, prepared and enthused to serve the rest of the guests in the name of the Lord.
The celebration commenced at promptly 5:30 PM, and upon their arrival guests received hand-made buttons reading “Saint in the Making” as a token of recognition for their laudable participation. The ceremonies were launched with the enlightening performance of “The All-Saints Day Feast”. Set in the golden halls of Heaven, the brief, 10-minute play elucidated the significance of All Saints Day from the perspectives of the saints themselves, featuring characters such as lovely St. Lucia, admirable St. Carlo Acutis, and scholastic St. Elizabeth Ann Seton. Following the well-received dramatization, “St. Thomas Aquinas” (one of the three catechists who directed the junior high class) invited each of the costumed children onto the stage and introduced each of them by the name of their selected saint. Evidently, the party was attended by an astounding crowd of commendable saints including “St. Sebastian”, “St. Philomena”, “St. George”, “St. Mark”, “St. Luke”, “St. Catherine of Sienna”, “St. Padre Pio”, “St. Pier Giorgio Frassati”, “St. Gemma”, “Thérèse of Lisieux”, “St. Nicholas”, “St. Micheal”, “St. Joseph”, “St. Elizabeth of Hungary”, “St. Agnes”, “St. Fransis of Assisi”, “St. Catherine of Alexandria”, “St. Elizabeth Ann Seton”, and “Mother Mary”.
The introduction of the saints was followed by a soulful prayer with Fr. Williams Abba. Then the guests seated themselves at the decorated tables that were embellished and adorned by the Catholic Daughters, who were also credited for the scrumptious feast provided. Pizza, salad, and an assortment of delectable pastries were served, and the eager festivalgoers were in keen pursuit of second and third servings.
The aforementioned posters, created by the teen-helpers, were an integral facet of one of the most noteworthy competitions, the “Saint Scavenger Hunt”. Throughout the course of the night players were tasked with collecting particular information from the presentations and documenting them on their provided checklist. In their avid pursuit they encountered ten posters of the saints, namely St. Thérèse, St. Hildegard of Bingen, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, St. Michael, St. Joseph, St. Padre Pio, St. Peir Giorgio Frassati, St. Patrick, St. Andrew, and St. James the Greater.
Throughout the hall were scattered a series of eleven exhilarating games, and after the appetizing buffet the guests amused themselves with these captivating contests.
In the “Saint Cupcake Walk”, a variation of the renowned party game, “Cakewalk”, families danced around a circle of seats, each of which was labelled with a different saint, as the jovial song “When the Saints Go Marching In” played. Once the melody stopped, the players hasted to find a seat, and whoever sat at the chair which was randomly selected by “St. Thomas Aquinas” would win the coveted cupcake reward.
“Saint Bingo” was held in the library where the numeric-based game was altered to a game revolving around the names of saints. “Help St. Michael Cast out Evil” was an imaginative spin on cornhole, just as “Saint Drop” was a variation of “Plinko.” “St. Anthony’s Box of Lost Stuff” was a parcel filled with packaging debris into which players blindly reached and searched for a prize hidden in the cluttered container, and in the “Saint Matching Game” they endeavored to match the images of saints with their corresponding symbol. The “Halo Toss”, an adaptation of the famed game “Horseshoes”, also made an appearance as players flung three rings (“Halos”) at the aimed goal, and a bowling alternative was centered around “knocking down St. Patrick’s snakes”. However, the crowd’s favorite game was markedly “Fishers of Men”, a game where players casted their fictitious rod, aiming to retrieve a school of gilded fish with the magnetic hook tied to the end of the thread.
As a respite from the heated competitions and carnival-like atmosphere, children were invited to craft lovable paper-bag puppets of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton.
Each game, save the “Saint Cupcake Walk” and “St. Elizabeth Puppets”, rewarded its triumphant players with valuable, vibrant pink tickets, which could later be exchanged for a token gift at the prize-table. That counter was lavished with novels, illustrated books, ornate crucifixes, bejeweled coasters, jewelry, saint cards, prayer-dices, glimmering rosaries, and delicate figurines. However, in lieu of a guaranteed prize, several party-goers opted instead to participate in a raffle for a sizeable, ethereal statuette. The winner walked away with a shining grin, elated at his/her fortuitous victory.
Everybody who was celebrating so blithely that night would inevitably stumble and trip along the strenuous road to Heaven. They would soar to the loftiest heights and plummet into the shallowest depths, and yet the youths, who were draped in the garments of glorified saints, were already manifesting the qualities of saints in the making.
