Monday, October 31, 2011

Why I Do Not Celebrate Halloween

This post will probably be a little controversial.  I acknowledge that fact from the beginning because I may not hold a popular view.  Last night, I had a discussion with my youngest daughter who is 17 years old.  She has never been "Trick or Treating" because my wife and I made a conscious decision to stop celebrating this holiday back in the 1980s. I explained to her, once again, why we do not celebrate Halloween.
      Now, before you feel sorry for my children, you need to know that they were not deprived of the fruits of trick or treating-- candy.  Ultimately, that is the bottom line for children anyway.  They get a whole sack of candy and can eat it virtually unfettered that night and then on a limited basis for the next few days and weeks.  So, we can all agree that the candy is what it is all about for the children.  Some may say, "no it is all about dressing up in costumes.  That is what is most important."  If you believe that line, then try this tonight.  Instead of giving out candy, just have your Polaroid camera ready and when you open the door snap their picture and then offer the picture to them in lieu of the candy by telling them how cute they are in their costumes.  If their response is anything short of disappointment, then I will be happy to stand corrected.

No, for kids. the bottom line is the candy.  

That is the point for the children, the costumes are just the means to an end.  We always gave our children a sack of candy on or around the Halloween date and they never, ever complained about not getting the chance to dress up.  But then we substituted a family tradition to the dressing up.

We would get dressed up (wait a minute, you just said you didn't dress up).  Quit interrupting me and let me finish.  I accept you apology.  We would dress up in "church clothes" (i.e. coat and tie, nice dresses, etc) and go to a fancy restaurant for dinner during the time when trick or treating was taking place.  It is a great time to go out to dinner because NO ONE is in the restaurants at that time of night on Halloween.  So we got VERY SPECIAL treatment.  Our kids loved that, and they got to go home and eat candy afterwards.

But let me tell you why we chose to avoid Halloween over 25 years ago.  Halloween has its roots in pagan holidays.  According to Wikipedia, "Some folklorists have detected its origins in the Roman feast of Pomona, the goddess of fruits and seeds, or in the festival of the dead called Parentalia, it is more typically linked to the Celtic festival of Samhain (pronounced sow-an or sow-in)", derived from the Old Irish Samuin meaning "summer's end".[1] Samhain was the first and by far the most important of the four quarter days in the medieval Irish calendar[2][3] and, falling on the last day of Autumn, it was a time for stock-taking and preparation for the cold winter months ahead.[1] There was also a sense that this was the time of year when the physical and supernatural worlds were closest and magical things could happen.[2][3] To ward off these spirits, the Irish built huge, symbolically regenerative bonfires and invoked the help of the gods through animal and perhaps even human sacrifice.[1]"

      We were in seminary in New Orleans when we made the decision to stop celebrating.  We heard news reports about the carcasses of animals that had been disemboweled and left in fields surrounding the city.  We hear about the increase in missing children around the end of October and we realized that some people were using the holiday to offer animal and children sacrifices to strange gods.
The decorations that are sold this time of year are of the macabre, the undead, and lots of other things with dark themes.
     Listen, before you write me off as some fundamental Christian kook, I want to examine what happens when we begin to compromise with our "enemy." You see, our enemy, Satan, wants Christians to go to one of two extremes:  (1) He wins when Christians see a demon behind every door.  This happens when we attribute everything negative in our lives to a demonic force.  This gives the enemy too much power over our lives. or (2) We trivialize his power and influence in our lives.  This may be more dangerous because we see Satan as an old man in a read suit with a pointed tail and a pitchfork that is so often seen in cartoons.  Either of these reactions causes the world to see the idea of a personal Devil as either insane or silly.

   Our enemy is real.  For Christians to engage in any behavior that either promotes or trivializes him, does harm to the kingdom of God.  For this reason, I refuse to participate.  I do observe what is happening and what I have seen is that Halloween has become even darker and more elaborate with each passing year.  The amount of money that is spent on costumes, decorations, candy, etc is ever increasing. ($6.2 BILLION in 2010 with the estimates for this year exceeding $7 Billion)  When I was a kid, there was NEVER a giant inflatable pumpkin building set up in front of the mall exclusively to sell these items.

     I wonder what would happen if Christians would take the money they normally spend on this frivolous and potentially dangerous holiday, combine that money and then use it for increasing the kingdom of God.  So much good could be accomplished with that money.

I think it is time for Christians to re-evaluate their participation in this holiday.  We did that many years ago and we do choose not celebrate Halloween.    I would challenge you to do the same.  Give the money you would spend instead to a local church, missions program, or benevolence program.

I would love to hear your responses to this post. 
  1. ^ a b c Rogers, Nicholas (2002). "Samhain and the Celtic Origins of Halloween". Halloween: From Pagan Ritual to Party Night, pp. 11–21. New York: Oxford Univ. Press. ISBN 0-19-516896-8.
  2. ^ a b A Pocket Guide To Superstitions Of The British Isles (Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd; Reprint edition (4 Nov 2004) ISBN-10: 0140515496
  3. ^ a b All Hallows' Eve BBC. Retrieved 2011-10-31.

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