Wednesday, October 31st, 2007
Imitating saints
Photo by Shelley Grieshop/The Daily Standard

Addy Motika, left, gets a helping hand with her Native American headdress from classmate Hagan Kriegel as the pair hold a dress rehearsal for the celebration of the Feast of All Saints Day on Thursday. The two sixth-graders at Immaculate Conception Catholic School in Celina represent Kateri Tekakwitha, a Mohawk Indian girl currently under consideration for sainthood, and St. Paul, known as the Apostle of the Gentiles. The 11-year-olds will appear in their costumes during Mass on Thursday; the saints' lives will be explained to all the students in attendance. Also this week, the students will receive "soul cakes" (round donuts with holes to signify an everlasting life in heaven) to celebrate All Souls Day on Friday. Hundreds of years ago, an old English custom led people to canvass villages, begging for soul cakes in return for prayer for the deceased of each household. The tradition, as the Catholic church teaches, led to the current practice of trick or treating.

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