Faced with the popularity of Halloween, the educational center is betting on a celebration that invites students to discover the lives of the saints and to understand that joy, hope, and holiness can also be the protagonists of these dates
In a few days in which scary costumes, skeletons, and references to death occupy a large part of the children’s imagination, the Colegio Juan Pablo II de Parla proposes a different way of living these dates: celebrating life, joy, and hope through Holywins, an initiative in which the little ones dress up as saints and discover the stories of those who made their lives an example of faith and dedication to others.
The celebration, linked to the solemnity of All Saints on November 1, starts from a simple idea: holiness is not something sad, distant, or reserved for a few, but a call to live with joy, love, and generosity.
In this way, the usual costumes of monsters, ghosts, or terrifying characters give way to figures such as Saint Francis of Assisi, SaintFaustina Kowalska, Saint John Paul II, Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus, or Saint Carlo Acutis, among many other examples that are part of the history of the Church.
A celebration that puts the focus on life
The name Holywins, which can be translated as 'holiness wins', expresses the meaning of this proposal, which seeks to recover the Christian meaning of the feast of All Saints.
For the Colegio Juan Pablo II de Parla, it is not simply a matter of changing some costumes for others, but of offering students an opportunity to approach lives that convey values such as courage, humility, service, generosity, and love of neighbor.
In a society in which children constantly receive references from screens, social networks, or fictional characters, knowing the lives of the saints allows them to discover that there are also real heroes, people who faced difficulties, defended their convictions, and dedicated their lives to others.
Holiness is thus presented as a close adventure, full of humanity, effort, and hope.
Educating is also teaching how to celebrate
One of the most significant aspects of Holywins is its educational dimension. Through a festive activity adapted to their age, students can discover that faith is not transmitted solely through theoretical explanations, but also through shared experiences.
Costumes thus become a gateway to meet men and women from different eras who, from very different circumstances, responded to the same call: to live love for God and for others in a concrete way.
This celebration connects with the Catholic ideology of the Colegio Juan Pablo II de Parla, which understands education as a task that goes beyond the acquisition of academic knowledge and seeks to accompany the integral growth of each student.
In this sense, Holywins also represents a way of claiming that joy and celebration have a fundamental place in Christian education.
Holiness as an example for new generations
The feast of All Saints recalls that the Church celebrates not only great figures of the past, but a multitude of men and women who made their lives a testimony of faith.
Many of them were young people, fathers and mothers of families, educators, workers, or people who lived through extraordinarily difficult circumstances.
Their stories make it possible to pass on to students a particularly valuable lesson: it is not necessary to be famous, powerful, or extraordinary in the eyes of the world to do truly great things.
Through Holywins, the Colegio Juan Pablo II de Parla wants to bring this reality closer to the little ones with a language they know well: play, imagination, costumes, and the joy of sharing a celebration with their classmates.
A positive proposal
The initiative does not aim to make Halloween the center of the debate, but rather to highlight a tradition deeply rooted in Christian identity.
Against fear, hope; against darkness, light; and against death, the promise of eternal life.
That is the message that inspires Holywins and that the Colegio Juan Pablo II de Parla seeks to convey to its students: that life deserves to be celebrated and that holiness, far from being an abstract idea, can be discovered in concrete examples of love, dedication, and service.
Because educating also consists in teaching children what is worth admiring, what stories are worth remembering, and what models can inspire their own lives.
And few celebrations express this idea better than a day in which children stop dressing up as imaginary characters to discover real people who made something extraordinary out of their lives.