The Christians and the Pagans

In preparation for this week, I was listening through a CD I brought with me of Halloween songs, stories, and sound effects appropriate for children. The only song that seemed like it could work was “Dem bones,” since the third-graders are working on parts of the body (the head bone’s connected to the what bone, children?) But I wasn’t so sure about the line “Oh, hear the word of the Lord.” I know my kids have “religion” class (learning the tenets of Catholicism), but I didn’t want to step on any toes.

Today with the sixth-graders, however, I got a little clearer on Spanish understanding of religion. I was reading aloud a description of the history of Halloween, which began with a section on the pagans’ role in the inception of the holiday. Lola, the teacher, questioned the students if they knew what “pagans” were. They didn’t. They weren’t familiar with the word in Spanish, either.

“Pagans don’t believe in God,” Lola explained in English. “Christians and Pagans—they are opposite words.”
“Uhhh, ‘opposite’?” I thought, feeling my politically-correct self cringe.
“You understand the meaning of ‘Christian’?” Lola asked. “Christian is Catholic, catolico, you know?”
Luckily, I’d been forewarned about this assumption, that Christianity and Catholicism are one and the same, so no major cringing there.
“And God, you know the meaning of God?” Lola asked, unintentionally philosophical.
The children looked on, blankly.
“You pray? You pray to God?” Lola asked, pressing her hands together in prayer.
A child raised his hand: “Ahh, fantasma!”—the word for ghost. (Not, incidentally, the word they would use for the ‘holy ghost’).
Lola got slightly exasperated. “Not ‘ghost,” God! Dios! I can’t believe you don’t know the word God!”

I suppose “Oh, hear the word of the Lord,” wouldn’t have upset any public-school administrators in this country…