Halloween

[Oblio]

What is the Church's position on Halloween?

I mean the secular holiday, kids dressing up and trolling for treats or adults getting together for food, drinks and fellowship. I am not talking about any pagan celebrations (if indeed they are actually tied to Halloween).

 

[Philip]

Good question. I am not sure what the Church's position, if any, is. I would imagine that it depends on how the celebration is handled.

I have a neighbor who won't let her kid participate because she claims it teaches extortion.

 

[eleni]

Halloween is pagan and not at all Christian.....

'''There are evil spirits. Devils do exist. Christ came into the world so that, through death, He might destroy him that had the dominion of death, that is, the Devil (Hebrews 2:12).
Christians must see that our greatest foe is the Evil One who inspires nations and individuals to sin, and who keeps them from coming to the truth. Until we know that Satan is our real enemy, we can make little spiritual progress. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the world rulers of the darkness of this age, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places (Ephesians 6:12).

Below is a link about halloween ....
link..
http://www.stjohndc.org/homilies/homhalwn.htm

 

[Avenger21]

Yes it is true. Halloween is a pagan holiday. But christians (no offense) have reworked it into something evil. Halloween for the pagans was against evil spirits, not for them.

 

[Matrona]

What is the Church's position on Halloween?

There is no church position against Halloween. It's pretty much the prerogative of the individual Orthodox Christian as to whether or not they want to participate.

As for me, I'm Orthodox, and I plan to dress up as Hermione from the Harry Potter novels, which would be a double offense in the eyes of most anti-Halloween people.

 

[Photini]

A good alternative to Halloween and trick or treating is having a little party and celebrating the feastday of St. John of Kronstadt, which is that day.
Me and my children aren't going to celebrate Halloween per se. But use the day to celebrate Fall. Maybe decorate pumpkins and stuff. But nothing scary or demonic, obviously.

 

[Peter]

I have a neighbor who won't let her kid participate because she claims it teaches extortion.

[to be read with your best Robert DiNiro impression]
"Hey, you got a nice house here. It'd be a shame if anything should happen to it. Tell you what. You give me something, a treat if you like, and I'll make sure no one tricks you out of such a fine treasure."

Sure sounds like extortion to me.

 

[katherine2001]

Phillip, does your neighbor give her kid Christmas presents? To me, Christmas is much more a day of extortion, as most people celebrate it. Halloween is nothing compared to that.

 

[Reader Nilus]

I do not see any religious overtones to Halloween at all. I see a good marketing gimmick to sell all sorts of candy and get people to rent or buy costumes. I do think as an adult, as a kid I never viewed it this way, it is weird to have kids going to total strangers and asking for candy. It is not the safest thing to do, I would think, but as a kid I never viewed it as a time of danger, except maybe getting hit by an egg or two, or having some Jr High Kid try to steal your bag of goodies.
Jeff the Finn

 

[Matthias]

I wish I could dress up for Halloween, but it's kind of a "kiddy" thing, and I'm too old to be begging old people for lollies.

 

[Anastasia]

I posted somewhere else that when I grew up, Halloween in my home was never about glorifying the demonic and making things spooky. We would dress up as angels or clowns, and celebrate the fall season with pumpkin carving, apple cider. Then of course there was the candy! I always saw it as a day of fun for children, what better than to dress up and have total strangers hand you chocolate?

 

[Theophania]

Hi there...
I'm new here, so Hello!
Anyway, today after liturgy there was Halloween candy and stuff like that for the kids and some Halloween-themed decorations--nothing overtly scary or demoinic, just the usual pumpkins and a spider-web pattern table cloth. Seems harmless.
I love to dress up and always have. And that includes sometimes being a witch or devil. (heehee, like that one... ) it's all in good fun, or should be. What you put on as a fun activity for one day or night or party shouldn't put you, or your kids, in any danger.
At any rate, I was only mildly suprised by the Halloween theme at our coffee hour. Frankly, I fall on the more liberal end of most debates and plan to allow my kids to do the Halloween thing!
T.

 

[brewmama]

Welcome, you guys!

I agree that Halloween is pretty benign. Our (Waldorf) school has an incredible Halloween Journey that is not in the least scary or demonic, but rather quite magical and beautiful. It has things like fairy tale scenes, a gnome cave, a king and queen, asn astronomer, and a fisherman on the roof catching stars and sending them down to the children. It's so cool!

 

[BigToe]

i still dress up and trick or treat. infact i had friends over to carve pumpkins, drink cider and eat candy today. my puppy even has a costume

 

[Bayhawks83]

i think im too tall to trick or treat, so i dont do it.

 

[wonder111]

Hi there...
I'm new here, so Hello!
Anyway, today after liturgy there was Halloween candy and stuff like that for the kids and some Halloween-themed decorations--nothing overtly scary or demoinic, just the usual pumpkins and a spider-web pattern table cloth. Seems harmless.
I love to dress up and always have. And that includes sometimes being a witch or devil. (heehee, like that one... ) it's all in good fun, or should be. What you put on as a fun activity for one day or night or party shouldn't put you, or your kids, in any danger.
At any rate, I was only mildly suprised by the Halloween theme at our coffee hour. Frankly, I fall on the more liberal end of most debates and plan to allow my kids to do the Halloween thing!
T.

same thing at our church