I’ve written a bit on Halloween in the past, and I’ve even engaged in a very gentle debate with some of my coworkers on whether or not it’s appropriate for a Christian to Trick-or-Trick (here). Some people can be dismissive about this issue (myself included), but there are significant factors involved. It deserves careful thought.
Here’s what no one should ever do on Halloween, or any other time of the year:
- Worship Satan
- Call upon evil spirits, enlist their aid, or try to appease them
- Celebrate evil
- Harm other people or their property, whether through physical or magical means
If Halloween means any of those things to you, run from it. If taking your kids door to door to ask your neighbors for candy implies any of the above listed activities to you, then find a suitable alternative. I have no agenda to convince anyone to go against their conscience. My simple and slanted thoughts are offered only for those who aren’t sure what to make of Halloween.
Here’s what you need to know. Halloween has pagan roots. I have not done the work to verify this, but I’ve read it a couple of places and it sounds right. I’m not interested in finding a credible source to verify the pagan roots because they don’t bother me. The names of our planets have pagan roots. So do the names of the days in our weeks. So does the timing of our celebration of Christmas and several of our Christmas traditions. Same with Easter.
So the roots are pagan. Do we throw it out? Honestly, why not? Definitely feel free to stop celebrating Halloween. There’s no reason why you need to. I’m not going to argue that it’s the Christian thing to do.
But here’s something to consider. Kids have fun on Halloween. My girls love to play dress up any day of the year, so they have a good time when all of the kids in our neighborhood dress up. Our country happens to celebrate National Dress Up Day on October 31. That makes for a fun night for my kids. This event also happens to coincide with National Share Your Candy Day, which my kids also happen to love. So it’s fun for them to go door to door, say hi to the neighbors, bump into them on the sidewalk, talk about each other’s costumes, and share candy with each other.
What I’m trying to say is that I don’t believe my neighbors are engaging in the occult on Halloween. They’re having fun. They’re atypically social on this one night. Some of my neighbors have decorated their lawns with spiders, tombstones, and ghosts, but I’d be willing to bet a lot of money that they won’t conjure a single dead soul or perform a single hex on October 31. They’re not thinking through the cultic connections of some of the original Halloween practices; they’re just enjoying what our culture has made Halloween into: National Dress Up Day / National Share Your Candy Day.
I’ll admit that I could be wrong here. My neighbors could be sacrificing goats in their backyards. But from everything I know about them, they’re not closet occultists. I’ll also acknowledge that while my neighborhood doesn’t seem to be into Satanism, yours might be. If so, don’t engage in their celebration of evil. That’s an easy decision.
But statistically speaking, your neighbors and mine are more likely to be naturalists than Wiccans. Which means that they don’t believe ghosts, spirits, curses, or the any other supernatural manifestations are real. I’m pretty convinced that my neighbors are not worshipping Satan—not because I think they’re too Christian to do such a thing, but because I don’t think they believe in Satan or anything similarly “unscientific.” I think they’re dressing up and sharing candy.
To me, this means we all have an individual choice to make. You can view Halloween according to its pagan roots and avoid it as a celebration of evil. You’re entitled to make that decision, and I won’t look down on you at all. You’ve got to do what’s best. Or you can view Halloween according to the way its modern celebraters see it—as a day of fun and games and sociability. I’m choosing to see it that way, and I hope you won’t look down on me for that.
It may be difficult to overlook the evil origins of Halloween, but our Christian predecessors thought it was possible—even beneficial—to take a pagan celebration and rework it into a reminder of good things. That’s why Christmas is when it is, why Easter is the way it is, and why we have All Saints Day at the close of October. Maybe they were wrong, but they took a celebration and tweaked it for what they believed to be God’s glory. In my view, our culture has handed us a gift in weeding out the actual Satanism of some early Halloween practices and giving us a night of fun and games. They’ve done the hard work of systematically forgetting all of the pagan implications and viewing it in terms of the imagination.
If you’re still up in the air on the whole issue, ask yourself whether it’s possible to redeem National Dress Up Day / National Share Your Candy Day for the sake of your friends and neighbors.
You are free to decide.
Amen!
Among the monumental accomplishments of our medieval ancestors was their passionate desire for the conversion of pagan peoples (i.e. Anglo-Saxon and Celtic) and the redemption of entire cultures.
While syncretism is often equated with compromise, the medieval Christians held to a more subtle distinction between an idolatrous pagan culture and a harmonious gospel culture. They believed, as we should, that God has prepared cultures (as well as individuals) to embrace the truths of the Gospel in their own unique way. This belief in providence inspired them to instruct their congregations in the glories of Christ’s Kingdom through the calendar. The calendar, it seemed, was a powerful argument for the beauty of Christendom – however, medieval bishops didn’t figure this out on their own – the Jews could have told us that back in Leviticus.
I, for one, am very thankful for this heritage of faith which declares every October 31st that in the death, resurrection, and enthronement of Jesus the grave was turned into a simple gardener.
Plus, it’s Reformation Day! Another reason to wear orange.
Love this Mark. Just do me a favor and change your never to ever on your first 4 distinctions list. The double negative is killing my editor side and makes the sentence meaning much different. Miss you guys!
Ha! Thank you, Eva! Good catch there. That’s one of those occasions where a typo is very significant!
“… whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable–if anything is excellent or praiseworthy–think about such things.” The decorations in the neighborhood, and the holiday itself, celebrate that which stands in opposition to God: death, fear, the occult. Just because there aren’t actual satanic sacrifices happening doesn’t mean it’s a holiday that I want to be associated with, or to encourage my children to take part in. I like what Eric says about Jesus, by his resurrection, turning the grave into a mere garden. If churches passionately desiring the conversion of pagan people preached at their Halloween alternative parties about why we don’t need to fear the grave, I would see that as a redemptive use of the holiday. What I mostly see, though, is an embrace of the holiday (albeit minus the death and fear focus) without any mention of WHY we’re engaging in the celebration, whether it be traditional or alternative. “Having fun” is not, to me, a compelling reason to immerse myself in what is clearly not true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent or praiseworthy.
Joyful Potter,
Good thoughts. You’d probably resonate with this article, written by one of my colleagues last year: http://facultyblog.eternitybiblecollege.com/2012/10/why-my-kids-did-not-go-trick-or-treating/
Yes, I did – thanks for pointing me there! 🙂