Thoughts on Halloween

[Joy Allen]

Hi, guys. I am a new mom, and I haven't done anything Halloween in a very long time. When I did anything Halloween, it was just dress-up and candy. Sometimes my mom sat out some decor and that was it. I haven't trick-or-treated since I was 14- 21 years ago.

Now that I am a new mom, I am interested in how other Christians celebrate Halloween. I think a lot of new age spiritual stuff has gotten in the way of what used to be just a day for kids. I know that it has pagan roots, but from what I have read, it also has Catholic roots and then later on got commercialized as a kids holiday- and that is really just how I see it, commercialized for kids. I do think it's not right with all the gothic, scary, demonic stuff. Even my mom made a comment on how much worse the decor has gotten. Sometimes something just doesn't feel right about Halloween, but I am not completely against it. I'm just on the fence with it.

I just want to know what other parents do for this day. When I got married ten years ago, we had a Hollerween party. I live in a holler (hollow) in the south. If you wanted to dress up, that was welcome, we had food and dessert, watched some football, socialized mostly, and burned the annoying brush pile in my yard. Good times. LOL. I had an idea of doing that again this year with having a theme of how everyone dressed up. Example- make it farm-themed. If you wanted to dress up: farmer, scarecrow, animals, anything farm. No scary costumes, no scary decor. It would be family-friendly with fun activities and good times. If I lived in a neighborhood, I would probably pass out some candy.

Like I said... I am on the fence. My babies were 7 months old last year at Halloween, so of course I didn't do anything. I picked up a pizza and saw a lot of kids out trick-or-treating. That brought back a lot of memories and was nostalgic for me. The nostalgia gets me. That is the only reason I would even take my kids out or decorated. I think some of the decor is cute and fun, but not totally into all of it. This year, they will be around a year and a half. We live in a very family-friendly town where every church and even the zoo has fun stuff to do. I want to do the right thing. I've never had a lot of guidance on Halloween because it was just a kid thing when I was young, but seems like there are more and more witchy people out there with the new age spiritual junk.

 

[RileyG]

In the West, we have All Saint's Day, which celebrates those in heaven. Followed by All Souls Day, which celebrates and remembers all the faithful departed. This is in both the Catholic and Anglican/Episcopalian calendar of feasts.

I have no problem with it.

Personally? I love candy, decorations, scary movies.

I also do spiritual things during Halloween. I pray for the dead, remember my own mortality, and attend Mass on All Saints Day.

YMMV

Blessings!

 

[DragonFox91]

My 'Puritan' days I think it's awful & people need to grow up from even dressing up as 'harmless' things b/c it all just distracts from the Lord.
My 'cultural Christian' days I think we just need to use discernment, some things are meant to be enjoyed & we do it all for the Lord, there's ways to do it that can be pleasing to the Lord

there's 2 extremes for you. It's probably fine. Just remember to fear the Lord & try to be holy

 

[DragonFox91]

I think you are trying to do it right OP.
I think it can be good to do stuff for the kids like that.
A lot of churches do Trunk-Or-Treat. It's less of the horror stuff & is geared more towards families. Some of them will have a dinner or other fall activities as well.

 

[RileyG]

I think you are trying to do it right OP.
I think it can be good to do stuff for the kids like that.
A lot of churches do Trunk-Or-Treat. It's less of the horror stuff & is geared more towards families. Some of them will have a dinner or other fall activities as well.

Yeah, I think that’s a great idea for families too!

 

[ViaCrucis]

Hi, guys. I am a new mom, and I haven't done anything Halloween in a very long time. When I did anything Halloween, it was just dress-up and candy. Sometimes my mom sat out some decor and that was it. I haven't trick-or-treated since I was 14- 21 years ago.

Now that I am a new mom, I am interested in how other Christians celebrate Halloween. I think a lot of new age spiritual stuff has gotten in the way of what used to be just a day for kids. I know that it has pagan roots, but from what I have read, it also has Catholic roots and then later on got commercialized as a kids holiday- and that is really just how I see it, commercialized for kids. I do think it's not right with all the gothic, scary, demonic stuff. Even my mom made a comment on how much worse the decor has gotten. Sometimes something just doesn't feel right about Halloween, but I am not completely against it. I'm just on the fence with it.

I just want to know what other parents do for this day. When I got married ten years ago, we had a Hollerween party. I live in a holler (hollow) in the south. If you wanted to dress up, that was welcome, we had food and dessert, watched some football, socialized mostly, and burned the annoying brush pile in my yard. Good times. LOL. I had an idea of doing that again this year with having a theme of how everyone dressed up. Example- make it farm-themed. If you wanted to dress up: farmer, scarecrow, animals, anything farm. No scary costumes, no scary decor. It would be family-friendly with fun activities and good times. If I lived in a neighborhood, I would probably pass out some candy.

Like I said... I am on the fence. My babies were 7 months old last year at Halloween, so of course I didn't do anything. I picked up a pizza and saw a lot of kids out trick-or-treating. That brought back a lot of memories and was nostalgic for me. The nostalgia gets me. That is the only reason I would even take my kids out or decorated. I think some of the decor is cute and fun, but not totally into all of it. This year, they will be around a year and a half. We live in a very family-friendly town where every church and even the zoo has fun stuff to do. I want to do the right thing. I've never had a lot of guidance on Halloween because it was just a kid thing when I was young, but seems like there are more and more witchy people out there with the new age spiritual junk.

The "Pagan roots of Halloween" is basically a myth. The Celtic peoples of the British Isles were pagan before they became Christian, and they did have something called Samhain. As best as is known, Samhain was an autumn harvest celebration--but how it was celebrated is hard to tell. Centuries after Britain and Ireland were Christian we see Christian writers describe what we'd call literal fairy tales. It's hard to tell how much of this later Christian-sourced folklore reflects the rather extinct pagan practices (there's about 600-800 years between when Ireland was pagan to when we see Christian written stories about Irish folklore. That's a long time. Samhain was an an autumn harvest, and it's probable that they believed there was a "thinning" of the wall between the world an the invisible world of fairies and spirits, and that fairies could pass through. Beyond this there's almost nothing we can say for certain.

There is a lot of claims about Samhain that are all speculative, if not completely made up. Which is to say we just don't know all that much about pre-Christian pagan practices in Ireland and Britain, the people of the islands took to Christianity quickly and readily--there may have been a Christian presence in Britain incredibly early on, and by the 4th century Roman-Britons were sending missionaries to Ireland, and then in a century or two the Irish were sending missionaries to the Picts and Scots of northern Britain and to the Anglo-Saxons who had invaded southern Britain.

So what connection does Samhain have with Halloween? Well, nothing. Christians in both East and West had been celebrating the feasts of saints for centuries going back to early centuries of Christianity. When the Roman authorities came swinging their clubs and sending Christian men and women to their deaths, the Christian communities would honor the memories of their martyred brothers and sisters. And in time local communities would celebrate the days of martyrdom every year, and these became incorporated into local Christian traditions, and famous saints and martyrs would be remembered by larger areas. And that became the tradition of saints days on the Christian calendar. At some point setting aside a special day to honor all the saints who had fallen asleep in the Lord became a widespread practice. In the East this became the Sunday of All-Saints, celebrated on the First Sunday after Pentecost; in the West different areas celebrated All Saints on different days, usually in late spring, either in May or June probably reflecting the ancient association with Pentecost. Then in the 8th century Pope Gregory III dedicated an Oratory within St. Peter's Basilica to "all the saints" on November 1st. Around Rome All-Saints celebrations started being celebrated on the anniversary of this dedication. And then a little later, Gregory III's successor Gregory IV officially moved the Feast of All-Saints to November 1st, based on these events. November 1st as the Feast of All Saints soon replaced previous All Saints observances in the West (the East continued, and still continues, to celebrate All Saints on the First Sunday after Pentecost).

As such the evening before All Saints would be called All Saints Eve, or using archaic English All Hallow's Evening, "Hallow" just means "Holy" as in the Lord's Prayer, "Our Father who art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name". All Hallow's Evening would be shortened to Hallow's Eve or Hallowe'en, the "e'en" is just a contraction of "evening", we often just write Halloween now. In the West when the Feast of All Souls was established on November 2nd, the tradition of the Triduum of All Saints (Triduum just means "three days") became common: All Saint's Eve, All Saint's Day, and All Souls Day. Also known as the period of Hallowmas.

The practice of dressing up and getting candy showed up as an American tradition in the early 20th century. All the modern Halloween stuff is, well, modern. It's mostly American in fact, and outside of the US Halloween is often viewed as "An American holiday" because of the way Americans celebrate it.

So far from some ancient pagan celebration, it's a Christian holiday that has become an example of American holiday culture, given the whole Halmark treatment.

 

[David Lamb]

The practice of dressing up and getting candy showed up as an American tradition in the early 20th century. All the modern Halloween stuff is, well, modern. It's mostly American in fact, and outside of the US Halloween is often viewed as "An American holiday" because of the way Americans celebrate it.

So far from some ancient pagan celebration, it's a Christian holiday that has become an example of American holiday culture, given the whole Halmark treatment.

Yes, the American-style Halloween tends to be very popular here in the UK nowadays. Apart from the name "Halloween" originating from "All Hallows' Eve" (that is, the day before All Saints Day), there doesn't seem to be much that is Christian about it, with "Trick or Treat" (and its "give us what we want or else" mentality), and dressing up as comic-book "devils" and the like.

 

[Joy Allen]

I think you are trying to do it right OP.
I think it can be good to do stuff for the kids like that.
A lot of churches do Trunk-Or-Treat. It's less of the horror stuff & is geared more towards families. Some of them will have a dinner or other fall activities as well.

Halloween is so nostalgic for me! I really enjoy the 90s stuff. Of course I was pretty much done with it in middle school, but continued to go trick-or-treating with my siblings. I never really thought anything bad about Halloween. I never understood why it would be of the devil because all those little Halloween characters were comparable to Spongebob. Fake. I just really like the kid/family friendly things. Thanks for your sweet replies.

 

[Joy Allen]

The "Pagan roots of Halloween" is basically a myth. The Celtic peoples of the British Isles were pagan before they became Christian, and they did have something called Samhain. As best as is known, Samhain was an autumn harvest celebration--but how it was celebrated is hard to tell. Centuries after Britain and Ireland were Christian we see Christian writers describe what we'd call literal fairy tales. It's hard to tell how much of this later Christian-sourced folklore reflects the rather extinct pagan practices (there's about 600-800 years between when Ireland was pagan to when we see Christian written stories about Irish folklore. That's a long time. Samhain was an an autumn harvest, and it's probable that they believed there was a "thinning" of the wall between the world an the invisible world of fairies and spirits, and that fairies could pass through. Beyond this there's almost nothing we can say for certain.

There is a lot of claims about Samhain that are all speculative, if not completely made up. Which is to say we just don't know all that much about pre-Christian pagan practices in Ireland and Britain, the people of the islands took to Christianity quickly and readily--there may have been a Christian presence in Britain incredibly early on, and by the 4th century Roman-Britons were sending missionaries to Ireland, and then in a century or two the Irish were sending missionaries to the Picts and Scots of northern Britain and to the Anglo-Saxons who had invaded southern Britain.

So what connection does Samhain have with Halloween? Well, nothing. Christians in both East and West had been celebrating the feasts of saints for centuries going back to early centuries of Christianity. When the Roman authorities came swinging their clubs and sending Christian men and women to their deaths, the Christian communities would honor the memories of their martyred brothers and sisters. And in time local communities would celebrate the days of martyrdom every year, and these became incorporated into local Christian traditions, and famous saints and martyrs would be remembered by larger areas. And that became the tradition of saints days on the Christian calendar. At some point setting aside a special day to honor all the saints who had fallen asleep in the Lord became a widespread practice. In the East this became the Sunday of All-Saints, celebrated on the First Sunday after Pentecost; in the West different areas celebrated All Saints on different days, usually in late spring, either in May or June probably reflecting the ancient association with Pentecost. Then in the 8th century Pope Gregory III dedicated an Oratory within St. Peter's Basilica to "all the saints" on November 1st. Around Rome All-Saints celebrations started being celebrated on the anniversary of this dedication. And then a little later, Gregory III's successor Gregory IV officially moved the Feast of All-Saints to November 1st, based on these events. November 1st as the Feast of All Saints soon replaced previous All Saints observances in the West (the East continued, and still continues, to celebrate All Saints on the First Sunday after Pentecost).

As such the evening before All Saints would be called All Saints Eve, or using archaic English All Hallow's Evening, "Hallow" just means "Holy" as in the Lord's Prayer, "Our Father who art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name". All Hallow's Evening would be shortened to Hallow's Eve or Hallowe'en, the "e'en" is just a contraction of "evening", we often just write Halloween now. In the West when the Feast of All Souls was established on November 2nd, the tradition of the Triduum of All Saints (Triduum just means "three days") became common: All Saint's Eve, All Saint's Day, and All Souls Day. Also known as the period of Hallowmas.

The practice of dressing up and getting candy showed up as an American tradition in the early 20th century. All the modern Halloween stuff is, well, modern. It's mostly American in fact, and outside of the US Halloween is often viewed as "An American holiday" because of the way Americans celebrate it.

So far from some ancient pagan celebration, it's a Christian holiday that has become an example of American holiday culture, given the whole Halmark treatment.

Yes, I read this last year on a Today Show article, but not as thorough as your statement. I am glad you brought this to the table. I am in some Christian groups on FB and of course they are all crazy and argumentative, they are never informative like this site. Everyone is always arguing about yoga and Halloween. Thank you for being here! I saw a crazy dude on YT last year that was mentioned in one of the FB groups so I looked up him up. He said that pumpkins bring in bad spirits. Decorating with pumpkins lol. Not a jack-o-lantern. A pumpkin. He may have added or another person that candy was representation of what was called a soul cake. Kids used to go door to door for soul cakes on Halloween and that was demonic. I know for a fact that I want to stay away from demonic activity, but if it's not real, it's not real. If it represents it, then yeah, I would stay away from that, but it is really hard for me to think that a cake that was made had a soul or demon in it or a KitKat for crying out loud.

 

[Joy Allen]

"Trick or Treat" (and its "give us what we want or else" mentality)...

You have a point here. I never thought of it like that. I do know sometimes pesky teenagers do pranks and tricks for fun, but I have never seen anyone actually egg a house (or anything bad) for not having candy. I have seen them roll someones yard with toilet paper to be funny.

 

[ViaCrucis]

Yes, I read this last year on a Today Show article, but not as thorough as your statement. I am glad you brought this to the table. I am in some Christian groups on FB and of course they are all crazy and argumentative, they are never informative like this site. Everyone is always arguing about yoga and Halloween. Thank you for being here! I saw a crazy dude on YT last year that was mentioned in one of the FB groups so I looked up him up. He said that pumpkins bring in bad spirits. Decorating with pumpkins lol. Not a jack-o-lantern. A pumpkin. He may have added or another person that candy was representation of what was called a soul cake. Kids used to go door to door for soul cakes on Halloween and that was demonic. I know for a fact that I want to stay away from demonic activity, but if it's not real, it's not real. If it represents it, then yeah, I would stay away from that, but it is really hard for me to think that a cake that was made had a soul or demon in it or a KitKat for crying out loud.

The thing is that soul cakes are of Christian origin. So that's an interesting take. It is true, people used to go visit farms during Allhallowstide (Hallowmas, the three days of Hallowe'en, All Saints Day, and All Souls Day) and ask for pies or soul cakes (a spiced pastry, called such because of their association with the Christian feast of All Souls Day). Pagans didn't do this, Christians did this.

In the modern age there is, unfortunately, a disproportionately large amount of false information about Christian holidays and Christian history in general. Since the 1800s there has been a cottage industry of quack historians simply assuming that virtually all Christian beliefs and practices were originally pagan. While scholarship doesn't support any of it, it's still incredibly popular--especially with the rise of the internet. Even otherwise decent sources fall prey to simply repeating false information, some ideas get repeated so often that, even when they aren't true, they become considered "common knowledge" and at that point most people don't question it. That's why generations of people thinking Christopher Columbus sailed across the Atlantic, in part, to prove the earth was round--when everyone in Europe already knew the earth was round, and had known that for about two thousand years when Columbus made his voyage.

And, as can be seen, many Christians fall prey to this too. This is why, when I was younger, I never celebrated Halloween. My parents didn't forbid it, though I grew up in the 80's when the big scare was people poisoning candy, so while I never trick-or-treated that was because a lot of parents were afraid of news reports (which turned out to be hoaxes). No the reason I didn't celebrate Halloween as a kid was when I was old enough to read, I read a tract at the local Christian bookstore that said Halloween was satanic, so I became convinced all by myself Halloween was evil. That would be reinforced as I got older, and people in my church environment also argued that Christians shouldn't celebrate Halloween at all because of pagan, or worse, demonic stuff. It wasn't until I was well into my adulthood that I started to study for myself these sorts of things that I discovered that a lot of the "common knowledge" stuff was, well, just wrong. I learned that there are no pagan origins for Christmas, or Easter, and not even for Halloween. Turns out, Christians have done a perfectly okay job with creating our own unique holiday traditions over the centuries without having to rely on pagans to do our work for us. Christianity has been around for two thousand years, and exists all over the globe, and Christians do the same thing all people do--we establish traditions in our communities that are meaningful to us, and because we are Christians, those traditions tend to usually end up being about Jesus and our love of Jesus. Why Christmas trees? Because trees were used in Germany to remind German Christians of the Cross, and the Tree of Life that was in Eden which Christianity had taught for centuries symbolically and prophetically pointed to Jesus' Cross. The evergreen trees that grow in Northern Europe demonstrate resilience through winter, they stay alive even as other plants "die" losing their leaves. Because one could decorate a tree with candles, because Jesus is the Light of the World, shining in the darkness, so He is a Light even in the long nights of winter--because He is the Light that shines in the long night of our fallen world--because tomorrow will come, resurrection is coming, new life is in Him for the world. And that's just a Christmas tree.

-CryptoLutheran

 

[Jipsah]

So far from some ancient pagan celebration, it's a Christian holiday that has become an example of American holiday culture, given the whole Halmark treatment.

My wife, who's a Korean immigrant, and a Methodist, declared Halloween to be a stupid American holiday devoted to spoiling children and making people spend money for no good reason. We still took the kids to the "autumn party" at the KUMC, though. At least until they got old enough that it became uncool, anyway. We took their kids "spooking" in our neighborhood last fall. One was a fireman, the other a dinosaur.

The little twit in my profile pic was the fireman; he's three now. His brother the dinosaur is two.

 

[Godcrazy]

Hi, guys. I am a new mom, and I haven't done anything Halloween in a very long time. When I did anything Halloween, it was just dress-up and candy. Sometimes my mom sat out some decor and that was it. I haven't trick-or-treated since I was 14- 21 years ago.

Now that I am a new mom, I am interested in how other Christians celebrate Halloween. I think a lot of new age spiritual stuff has gotten in the way of what used to be just a day for kids. I know that it has pagan roots, but from what I have read, it also has Catholic roots and then later on got commercialized as a kids holiday- and that is really just how I see it, commercialized for kids. I do think it's not right with all the gothic, scary, demonic stuff. Even my mom made a comment on how much worse the decor has gotten. Sometimes something just doesn't feel right about Halloween, but I am not completely against it. I'm just on the fence with it.

I just want to know what other parents do for this day. When I got married ten years ago, we had a Hollerween party. I live in a holler (hollow) in the south. If you wanted to dress up, that was welcome, we had food and dessert, watched some football, socialized mostly, and burned the annoying brush pile in my yard. Good times. LOL. I had an idea of doing that again this year with having a theme of how everyone dressed up. Example- make it farm-themed. If you wanted to dress up: farmer, scarecrow, animals, anything farm. No scary costumes, no scary decor. It would be family-friendly with fun activities and good times. If I lived in a neighborhood, I would probably pass out some candy.

Like I said... I am on the fence. My babies were 7 months old last year at Halloween, so of course I didn't do anything. I picked up a pizza and saw a lot of kids out trick-or-treating. That brought back a lot of memories and was nostalgic for me. The nostalgia gets me. That is the only reason I would even take my kids out or decorated. I think some of the decor is cute and fun, but not totally into all of it. This year, they will be around a year and a half. We live in a very family-friendly town where every church and even the zoo has fun stuff to do. I want to do the right thing. I've never had a lot of guidance on Halloween because it was just a kid thing when I was young, but seems like there are more and more witchy people out there with the new age spiritual junk.

I have always been sensitive to the spiritual world. Lots of prophetic stuff. When I was in the new age I only tried once to do a lantern. I couldn`t. After I had done it I sensed the spiritual attached to it, and it was like something tried to come in. Spiritually. Literally. I had to throw it away and then it stopped. I have not been able to touch anything like that.
Many that have been into the occult or new age say similar things.
It is not as much about what you do as the spiritual attached to it. As a whole. it is inviting.
It is creating bondage. It is opening a door way for evil.

 

[ViaCrucis]

I have always been sensitive to the spiritual world. Lots of prophetic stuff. When I was in the new age I only tried once to do a lantern. I couldn`t. After I had done it I sensed the spiritual attached to it, and it was like something tried to come in. Spiritually. Literally. I had to throw it away and then it stopped. I have not been able to touch anything like that.
Many that have been into the occult or new age say similar things.
It is not as much about what you do as the spiritual attached to it. As a whole. it is inviting.
It is creating bondage. It is opening a door way for evil.

Okay, but if pumpkins are off limits because demons are attached to them, then what stops demons from being attached to--well--anything?

I'm not trying to poke fun, I am legitimately trying to understand what objective metric could exist to determine whether a thing is evil or not. For full transparency, I do think that the worldview you are presenting is a spiritually dangerous one; but I want to reason through this with you.

-CryptoLutheran