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WonderGirl on Halloween
By Moriah on October 28th, 2008
[Originally published by WonderGirl on October 31, 2007. Reprinted here with permission.]
Taking Back Halloween
Hello, my name is WonderGirl, I’m a Christian, and I take my children trick or treating.
Why? CANDY! And dressing up in fun costumes. And carving pumpkins into silly faces. And scary corn mazes. Did I mention the candy?
But it’s more than that. I feel led to celebrate Halloween. I’ll explain.
I’m tempted to just link to some other people who have given such good explanations about why Christians can (and mayhaps should) celebrate Halloween. But that seems like cheating in some way, so I’ll give you the long and short of why WE celebrate, with liberal use of exerpts here and there that say it better than I can.
There are SO many misconceptions about the origins of Halloween. I won’t go into them all, because that’s been done quite a bit. You can read a good synopsis here. Suffice it to say, most of what the secular world thinks about Halloween is just out and out false historically.
Halloween is “All Hallows’ Eve”. It is the day before All Saints Day, which is November 1. Jim Jordan gives a good run down of All Saint’s Day (HT to Rich for this link): “It is the celebration of the victory of the saints in union with Christ. The observance of various celebrations of All Saints arose in the late 300s, and these were united and fixed on November 1 in the late 700s. The origin of All Saints Day and of All Saints Eve in Mediterranean Christianity had nothing to do with Celtic Druidism or the Church’s fight against Druidism (assuming there ever even was any such thing as Druidism, which is actually a myth concocted in the 19th century by neo-pagans).”
It is not “the devil’s day”. It is actually the very opposite. Satan has been thwarted, Christ has won the victory, and this is a day of celebration! We remember those saints that have gone on before us, and laugh at the defeat of our enemy. More from Jim Jordan: “This is why the custom arose of portraying Satan in a ridiculous red suit with horns and a tail. Nobody thinks the devil really looks like this; the Bible teaches that he is the fallen Arch-Cherub. Rather, the idea is to ridicule him because he has lost the battle with Jesus and he no longer has power over us.”
Halloween is a day of mockery. It reduces the power of Satan to plastic fangs and fake blood… it is a day when the ghoulish and ghastly are really nothing more than peeled grapes in a bowl, cold cooked spaghetti. It is a day when someone says, “BOO!” and we laugh.
So, we’ve got this holiday that we’ve relinquished culturally over the years. The meaning of the day is convoluted. So what to do about that? Reclaim it. Don’t be afraid of it. What have we to fear? Spooks have no power over the name of Jesus Christ! Laugh at the futile, pitiful attempts of the Fallen. Don’t cower in your house, with the lights off, warding off the evil of trick or treaters.
Brandy says it so well on her blog: “We are to be missional Christians. What kind of message does it send to the world we are supposed to be reaching, especially the kids, when they find a dark porch with no candy or a note that says “We don’t participate in this holiday.” How much better would it be if, in the midst of such a dark night, we had the brightest house on the block, decorated with tons of white lights. We could hand out the BEST candy! Full sized candy bars. And, if you have time to spare, make cool wrappers to tape around that say, “Taste and see that the Lord is good! Psalm 34:8.” That is one night that we have a unique opportunity. When kids from non-Christian families in our neighborhood come to our house year after year, hopefully they will remember the Christians as the most generous, the most joyous, the least fearful.”
I love that!
Are there elements of Halloween that we should be careful of? Well, naturally. The Bible is pretty clear on avoiding evil and embracing righteousness. But we are salt and light, as much on October 31st as any other day of the year. We shouldn’t give that day away because we are afraid. Dennis Ruport says, “While Christians should absolutely avoid pagan practices, Christian hype tends to make us overreact to benign folk elements of Halloween. We appear like zany buffoons to the world when there is no necessity for doing so. Furthermore, our groundless retreat from all elements of Halloween leaves a vacuum that wicked elements delight to fill.”
So there you have it. That’s why we celebrate Halloween.
(But mostly just the candy. Ha.)
PS: I am including our weekly pastoral letter in the extended entry for my own record keeping, and in case you are interested in reading a more detailed theological defense of Halloween. There’s definitely a reason Rich gets the paycheck! It’s great!
[Due to the length, I am not going to copy in that letter. You can find it here at her original post and scroll down.]
13 Responses to “WonderGirl on Halloween”
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AMEN!
I don’t often advertise this, but (looking over the shoulder) we are Trick or Treaters.
Thanks for posting this article. I think sometimes in Christian culture, we often throw the baby out with the bath water.
I still respect my Christian brothers and sisters for their decision to opt out, but now I can give a more definitive answer as to why we Trick or Treat!
as I usually say: if “they” are going to water down our holidays and make them all about candy and trappings, why cant we do it to theirs? :-)
I love Halloween. Dressing up? Good. Candy? Good. Visiting friends & family? Good.
I really enjoyed this post as well. We also trick or treat…but I was raised in a turn-off-the-porch light and hide type house. It’s an issue that isn’t talked about with my parents. We have fun with it (candy, dress-up, friends are all good things!), but this gives me more to say. Thanks!
Thanks for posting! We didn’t really grow up trick or treating, because almost always our church had a harvest/reformation party. And I don’t feel like I ever missed out. I think it’s good to know where all of the traditions of our faith come from, as well as how they have been twisted into “pagan” holidays.
good post:)
I didn’t celebrate Halloween as a little girl, but my mom still made it fun. We celebrated “All Saints Day” instead. As much as we would have liked to say that Halloween was a celebration of the conquering of evil, the world around us didn’t celebrate it that way.
I do plan to raise my kids to see the difference, as you pointed out, and to also take them trick or treating! (Something I always wanted to do!)
One thing that worries me on Halloween- those very revealing costumes that the young women wear these days. (That’s sad to me.)
Thanks for your post!
Wow, that’s good. I have to admit I have never really heard that side of it. I was raised not celebrating it at all, and never really questioned the origins of it. You’ve given me something to think about.
thanks for posting this. I get so confused on how to view halloween, especially now that we have kids. we were still on the fence about whether or not to go trick-or-treating, or if we should go to a church function, but then we realized that the kid’s are with their bio mom that night, so that solved it for us! But I really liked the part about not being one of those standoffish neighbors who turns off the porch light and does the opposite of showing Christian hospitality. I went out an bought my Target bag of candy today!
Rachel-
I guess I see the two as an extension of the same thing. All Saints – All Hallows (Hallowed/Holy) Eve… i.e. the night before All Saints Day. That’s what ‘Halloween’ means. Just like we celebrate Christmas Eve and then Christmas.
What? You’re giving away a Starbucks gift card? I’m so here to post! Thanks!
Hmm, I have never thought of it that way. Very interesting. Thanks for posting.
We did not go trick or treating this year. We wouldn’t have had time anyway as we were getting ready for the party. But I may just rethink this for next year.
Thank you so much for being able to articulate this in a post. We are Christians who celebrate Halloween too!