How to celebrate a Christian Halloween

If Catholic Church didn't like this old tradition, they shouldn't have invented the All Saints Day, to turn it into a christian celebration. Better focus on what christian share with this old tradition:"The dead are still with us. They must not be ignored."

http://www.sltrib.com/features/ci_13677970

Ok, can we stop the hand wringing and get our panties out of a bunch. Halloween is a secular holiday that has boiled down to down to dressing in silly costumes, taking your kids trick or treating around the neighborhood, and parents eating the majority of their kids candy.

This whole Ned Flanders stance many are adopting is nothing more than irrational fear born out of insecurity and the crass marketing of "experts" in protecting innocent Christians from becoming pawns of Satan by way of jack o'lanterns and mini candy bars.

If you see Halloween as a combination of some remnants of the old folk religion and having to do with our natural abhorrence of the dead it is fairly innocuous. And as such might be seen as a teaching moment.

Rod: "I don't like Halloween"

Rod, did you like Halloween when you were a kid? If not, why not?

When I was a kid my Mom didn't like Halloween and we only went trick or treating a few times. As an adult I've always taken my kids trick or treating and give out treats to the neighborhoods kids. A neighbor hands out Jack Chick tracts every year. I swing by with the kids to pick one up as they're a riot. However, she generally annoys the rest of the neighborhood with her behavior.

Michael, I think the answer there is that the Church definitely does believe in the existence of fallen angels, and these devils/demons are the ones behind any manifestation of supernatural power which is not of God.

So witchcraft, properly speaking, can be one of two things: a trick, done to manipulate the credulous and separate them from their money, or an attempt (whether successful or not) to obtain power from demons (whether the person making the attempt believes in them or not).

As to the question of the celebration of Halloween/All Saints' Day, I think it's fine to let children wear secular costumes and collect free candy from neighbors, or to let children wear saint costumes and gather for a party. As someone who chooses to do the second, though, I really wish that people wouldn't assume those who do All Saints' Day parties are holier-than-thou weirdos who think people are celebrating evil by trick-or-treating.

We gave up on trick-or-treating for various reasons, including a family food sensitivity, some really macabre and scary decorations in our neighborhood (we've got at least one gruesome fake hanging theme going up so far), the truly sick costumes we've seen on children, and, to be honest, a "crunchy con" dislike of the shallow consumerism that goes way beyond simple homemade treats (which aren't possible to hand out these days) and involves pressure to spend money not only on candy but on plastic decorations, mass-produced costumes, Halloween-themed dishes and bowls, and even Halloween home decor items like soap dispensers, kitchen and bathroom linens, and the like. We did not stop trick-or-treating because we somehow thought that ringing someone's doorbell and asking for free sweets was somehow akin to making a pact with the devil (the dentist, maybe...).

Addendum to my post above: I appreciate Erin's comment that opting out of trick-or-treat may be due to non-religious factors. I know several families for whom this is true. I also share her distaste for the obscene Halloween consumerism that seems to have developed in recent years. (We dress up and trick-or-treat and that's about it. Oh yes, we carve jack-o-lanterns too!)

I also hope I don't sound condescending. I don't have many resentments about my religious upbringing, but this topic gets close to the one area where I *do* harbor some ill-feeling: that fear was used to keep children on the path that the grown-ups had chosen.

Rod,

The item you posted from Sally Thomas is terrific. Definitely a keeper. Every year at this time I find it challenging to strike the right balance on the whole Halloween/Christian issue. The culture pulls the young in one direction; our faith, in a different direction. Sally Thomas and her community "get it right" it seems to me.

Sincere thanks!

Darth Vader was a multiple child murderer long before he committed genocide by blowing up Alderaan. Why would Sally Thomas consider him more acceptable as a children's costume than an equally Hollywoodized imaginary version of a beaky-nosed witch with a tall pointy hat and a broomstick? Serious question. Even if people believe in witchcraft, do they also believe in the whole black-cat, broom-riding accessorization? If not, doesn't that separate the costume play-acting enough from witchcraft as much as the Vader mask does from being a real child-murderer?

I love Halloween! No matter how old I get, I never miss carving at least one jack-o-lantern. I'm trying to get half way decent at growing my own pumpkins. I think it is great for kids to get into costume and go trick-or-treating. I appreciate October sunsets, falling leaves, the whole nine years. It has nothing to do with Hollywood Halloween movies or Freddy Kreuger, which are 20th century tangents. The only thing that gets me is cities trying to legislate designated times for trick or treat. It happens around sunset on October 31 for God's sake!

For those who have to overlay some spiritual significance, I've never seen a better context than this:

http://www.biblicalhorizons.com/open-book/no-28-concerning-halloween/

It's not about celebrating the occult, it's about mocking the devil, showing that we are not afraid -- even though one of my opinions, unlike C.S. Lewis, is that there are no devils. I don't need that kind of occult presence in my Christian faith.

I'm always amazed at folks who find something wrong with Halloween. As someone who attended Catholic schools from K-12 never was a discouraging word said about Halloween, the emphasis was more on the next day All Saints Day

the problem today is that Halloween has gone from being a children's event to an adult happening

Christians are such sad and frigtened creatures. Halloween means nothing to those of us who acually practice the real arts of Samnain and who will be honoring our dead for real this weekend.

Thank for Share

Kenneth, anyone who makes a blanket statement like you just made – "Christians are such sad and frightened creatures" – clearly knows little about Christianity or its many varied practitioners. I am a mainline Protestant (we're the redheaded stepchild on this blog), and we happen to be quite comfortable with Halloween. We see it as a cultural celebration – no more, no less. I took my daughter to a Fall Festival at our (Presbyterian) church Wednesday night, where she played games, roasted marshmallows, and "trunk-or-treated" in costume. She was dressed as a Devil, complete with horns. I didn't even think about whether it was appropriate 'til we were almost there, and as it turned out, nobody minded a bit. I confess, I'm sometimes uncomfortable with how easily we mainliners are able to blend church culture with secular culture. (For instance, tomorrow, we're having a "Kirkin' O' The Tartans" service to celebrate our Scottish heritage. We'll parade around our downtown neighborhood after church, led by bagpipers, with our men in kilts. Our choir will sing Loch Lomond at the service, as we do every year... Lots of folks'll come out, and it'll be good fun. But 'Christian,'? Not particularly...) There are plenty of things you could call us (Rod would probably use the dreaded MTD, and for some of us, he'd be right), but please don't call us "sad and frightened." It's simply inaccurate.

Re: I am a mainline Protestant (we're the redheaded stepchild on this blog), and we happen to be quite comfortable with Halloween.

Oh, just to clarify, I'm perfectly comfortable with Halloween too. Other then the sometimes excessively revealing costumes which characterize some adult Halloween parties, and the overeating of candy which can characterize it among kids, I don't have any problem with it.

This struck me as odd though:

Re: On the one hand, the powers of darkness are no joke; on the other hand, although Christians have no traffic with these powers, we do not fear them.

Huh? I "fear" the dark powers quite a bit. While they can't endanger our souls unless we let them, and while it's promised they will ultimately be defeated, they can do quite a lot of damage to this earth in the meantime. Not least, by inspiring us to do things like the Holocaust.

You'd actually find more belief in dark powers among non-fundamentalist Christians then you think. When I asked a woman Episcopal clergyperson of my acquaintance this year what she thought of the story of Jesus healing a demoniac in Mark, and whether she though demonic possession was real, she shrugged and said something to the effect that if God can interfere with the natural order, then why would we believe that the devil couldn't. This is a liberal clergywoman who believes in gay priests, gay marriage, and so forth, but I wouldn't call her one of the dreaded MTD.

What ever happened to "mock the devil and he will flee from thee"? I am an Orthodox Christian, but also a big fan of Halloween. What could be better than children, especially Christian children in this case, showing a certain joyous for all the things that scared our pagan ancestors? Christ has conquered after all. Also, the way Halloween is celebrated in our society is in many ways very Christian-it encourages generosity, community and (for the most part) innocent play and pretend.

Yes, Halloween is a holiday with pagan precursors, and that must be kept in mind when understanding the fundamentalists’ opposition to it. When Christianity first began to spread in early medieval Europe, it tried its hardest to sweep away all of the old (pagan) customs. The old pagan gods were relabeled “demons” or “devils” by the Church authorities to discourage the worship of them.

What people don’t realize is that although the Roman Empire persecuted Christians, the Christians did not turn the other cheek when they assumed power. Mobs of Christians were known to smash pagan statues and temples on a regular basis. And what they couldn’t destroy they simply incorporated into Christianity. Christmas trees, for example, aren’t Christian any more than the Easter bunny is.

Halloween has simply nothing to do with evil, demons or Satanism. To argue that it does is to view it from a biased Christian perspective. The ancient pagans neither believed in or worshiped Satan. All this complaining about Halloween is getting to be quite annoying and it goes on every year. If you don’t like Halloween, then don’t celebrate it; just don’t expect it to go away because you inveigh against it on an annual basis.

I quit observing Halloween after becoming close, 17 years ago, to Father Termini, a Catholic priest who was an exorcist on the south Louisiana bayous. I did a story on him, and witnessed an exorcism of a haunted house in which (among other things) I saw a woman thrown backwards over a chair after receiving the Eucharist. None of this was a joke with him. Father T. (who died a few years back) and I got to be friends. He was absolute death on the subject of Halloween, and strongly advised against celebrating it. I'd seen and heard enough through him to trust his authority on this subject. I don't make a big deal of it, but I simply don't observe Halloween. For me, Halloween was always like New Year's Eve: a holiday that I never really got into, for reasons that I can't quite define. Point is, it wasn't a loss for me. I don't bother other people who wish to celebrate Halloween; I just don't do it myself. Tonight we're going to a costume party with the kids, but that's it. Oh, and the boys are going with their mother to a They Might Be Giants all-ages concert this afternoon, in which kids are invited to come in costume. Matthew has informed us that he's going to be a, quote, "Red-Shirted Expendable Crewman from Star Trek." It's fun to have nerd children.

Mercy! Anyone who hands out Chick tracts on Halloween deserves to be tricked! Them things is scary.

I find the modern trend in some circles against Halloween rather irritating. How is it that I managed to get through years of Halloween parties attended by classmates carrying plastic switchblades and wearing fake blood without being traumatized or losing my faith? Most of the schools in town are holding "harvest parties" or no parties at all, usually for fear of irritating some ultra religious parent or because they're too busy with standardized testing, while at least one of the Catholic churches is requiring kids to dress up as their favorite saint instead. Costumes can't be "too scary." What kid do you know wanted to dress up as a saint on Halloween or wanted to forego the blood and guts? I say Halloween is properly celebrated when you're a kid by trick or treating and eating so much candy you get sick, going to an uber scary haunted house and a Halloween party and/or watching a movie marathon of suitably scary horror films, and wearing a scary costume (not a martyred saint, unless that floats your boat.) The Mexicans celebrate Day of the Dead and go to Mass as well.

It's a factor when it means schools start canceling Halloween parties and restricting costumes and other things that were actually a lot of fun for kids in my generation, largely thanks to the attitudes of a few parents of kids in thes school who'll raise a ruckus. It's taking things away from all kids. It's part of an overall trend towards over sheltering and over sanitizing things that I've noticed. A harvest party instead of a Halloween party, if you have one at all. The Grinches at the Education Department scheduled standardized testing for Halloween week so guess what the kids are doing in place of a Halloween party? Dressing up as a saint instead of like a monster with fake blood and knives. No trick or treating at neighbor's houses because some one might put a razor blade in an apple (never heard of anyone doing that, but oh, well.) No candy because it'll rot your teeth. Give it to the dentist's candy drive instead for a fraction of what it's really worth. It makes me sad that my nephews probably aren't going to be able to enjoy some of those things that their dad and I enjoyed, at least with their classmates. Some class parties and the experience of dressing up in a really creative costume and having a costume contest was part of the whole deal.

Re: It's a factor when it means schools start canceling Halloween parties

Um, I have no religious or moral objection to Halloween (other then an aesthetic dislike for some tasteless constumes). But I think schools _should_ cancel Halloween parties. Schools should be for education, not for parties or holidays (religious, secular, or otherwise). Kids in our society have enough fun in their own free time, and schools don't need to be contributing to that when they could be teaching math, science, and history.

Our little baby is only three weeks old, so I don't think Halloween will be particularly meaningful for her this year. She is absolutely adorable in her little pumpkin costume, however.

Rod, I wouldn't presume to tell you how your family should celebrate the fascinating modern adaptation of several ancient holidays and traditions, if at all. Enjoy it, however you celebrate, and may you be free of its influence if that is your desire.

So witchcraft, properly speaking, can be one of two things: a trick, done to manipulate the credulous and separate them from their money,

This is the basis of most organized religion, especially the RCC with its plethora of miracles, transubstantion, mummified saints, etc.

You never say what the other thing is that witchcraft can be, Your Name at 12:12 p.m. Of course the other alternative is that it is real.

Sorry, "Your Name" at 1:34 p.m. is me. Blasted Captcha.

You never say what the other thing is that witchcraft can be, Your Name at 12:12 p.m. Of course the other alternative is that it is real.

I was quoting another entry. Check her post for the other alternative. Of course the other alternative could be that it is real. The alternative to a round earth is a flat earth. However, smart money bets on round, as it bets on there being no ghosties or goblins or long legged beasties or things that go bump in the night.

Dressing as saints could be rather fun. Our local renaissance fair is full of wenches wearing what my friends and I call 'Agatha bodices,' and they would add a lot of tone to any hallowe'en event. But then we'd be back to lamenting the sexually enticing costumes...

What about Day of the Dead? It's a bigger event in my city each year. I've held and attended several parties for it, and the combination of fun & games with remembering the dead and welcoming them into our lives works for me. YMMV.

Here's a link to a copy of Rod's article of an exorcism on the bayou:
http://imaginativeworlds.com/forum/archive/index.php?t-7980.html

Hector, I would be very interested in some evidence behind your claim on the timing of Christmas. Everything I've ever read said that the Roman Saturnalia was pre-empted so that good Christians would be celebrating something else at that time of year, namely, Christ. That could be all wet, I've seen lot's of published history and biography that I knew to be completely bogus, but I'd like to know if you have a copy, or a book citing to a copy, of the church's statement about why and how the date of Christmas was settled on. Incidentally, nobody, including Jesus as wholly man, lives in nice round numbers of years, so it still wouldn't provide us with his real birth date, and he was likely born in what the church calculated as 6 B.C.

All that aside, The Holly and the Ivy plays on pagan themes, the Christmas Tree likewise, and the Divine Son of the Virgin Mother is a 5000 year old pagan icon. It is no coincidence that the first Christian church dedicated to veneration of the Virgin Mary was built in Ephesus... you remember the locals were dedicated to Diana before they became Christians??? Wandering a bit afield from Christmas, Brigid was a goddess before she was baptized a saint, and every sacred rock and spring in Ireland now dedicated to saints was previously dedicated to fairies or godlets. Even veneration of priests, hardly a feature of the early church, came from Roman and Druidic traditions.

Jesus was Jesus, but the way we celebrate is not a whole new way. It is full of the old ways, from Halloween to Christmas and a whole lot more.

As to Lucifer, don't confuse him with Satan, or with devils. That is one of those sad Greek mistranslations from the original Hebrew. Any Talmudic scholar will affirm that "Lucifer Son of the Morning" was a reference to King Nebuchadnezzar. And on Old Testament matters, they should know.

On this whole silly suject just a few words: "Rejoice for I have overcome the world"
And no, the devils have no power you don't willingly give them. But because Christ is risen (trampling down death by death) we are free to laugh at death and eveything else in that realm.

Re: As to Lucifer, don't confuse him with Satan, or with devils. That is one of those sad Greek mistranslations from the original Hebrew. Any Talmudic scholar will affirm that "Lucifer Son of the Morning" was a reference to King Nebuchadnezzar. And on Old Testament matters, they should know.

Siarlys,

The question wasn't what Ezekiel intended by calling a prince "Lucifer son of the morning" (and if I recall correctly it was the prince of Tyre), but what God intended. From a very early date Christians have believed that Ezekiel was using multivalent imagery, and that he was speaking of the devil "under the figure of" the prince of Tyre, just as some of the images from Esther and Song of Solomon have been taken to speak of the Blessed Virgin Mary "under the figure of" Esther or the unnamed king's lover. The prince of Tyre in Ezekiel is a prophetic type of the devil.

I'll get back to you on the date of Christmas. Parenthetically I think it's interesting that this shows the early church held life to start at or right after conception (as the Incarnation began at Christ's conception), none of this later foolishness about quickening or delayed hominization.

Re: On this whole silly suject just a few words: "Rejoice for I have overcome the world"

Did you notice he says right before this, "In this world ye shall have tribulation"?

I don't get this business about not fearing the powers of evil. We would fear Hitler or Stalin if they were alive, no? The devil is more powerful then Hitler, so why would you not fear him? Not in the sense we fear God, but in the sense we fear Hitler.

Rwe: I don't get this business about not fearing the powers of evil.

Because they have already failed, even if they don't know it, either because they can't or because they refuse to. As such they should be perhaps pitied (if their fault is inability to know the truth of their failure), or perhaps made mock of (if their fault is a refusal to know their failure). Halloween is about the latter.