The Halloween Debate
Like every year at this time, we enjoy decorating our house for Halloween. It is about the only holiday we actually go all out for and this year is no different. While many people in our community enjoy what we do, last night, after we spent all day decorating, a car drove past our house and someone yelled out the window “Boooo! Halloween isn’t Christian!” This is something we run into every single year - many of our brothers and sisters in Christ do not think we should do what we do and look down on us for it.
Many, if not most Christians, think Halloween is a celebration of evil, created and inspired by the devil himself and partaking in it is sinful. We have heard so many scriptures that people have tried to use to justify this argument, yet all of them (scriptures) must be twisted to apply them in that way. One proof of this is in the fact that it was the Church that created the holiday. Wait, what?!? Yes, that is true - the Church created and sanctioned the holiday. Without going too deep into the history, in fact, this is a good lesson to any learning Christian - don’t just take what is said across the pulpit, or even this post, as fact - do your own research!! But I digress, the truth behind Halloween is actually a mixture of several traditions. Samhain is considered to be the historical version and the beginning of this custom. According to many “learned” Christians - this was some sort of demonic ritual where babies were sacrificed, etc. However, information on this particular Celtic festival is actually very scarce. But any legitimate source shows that there was nothing demonic about this festival.
Samhain was an ancient Celtic harvest festival. It was a celebration of the end of the summer (light/longer days) and the beginning of winter (dark/shorter days). It was also considered to be the time when the veil was thin and the dead could travel back and forth between realms - not in a spooky way, but in a way to pay any debts, have family visits, talk, etc. - It was a tradition to honor the dead. There is some information out there that they would dress up in scary costumes, not to act evil, but to scare any evil spirits away - this however is still in debate. It is a very interesting story and I encourage you to find it! Fast-forward to the 8th Century and “All Saints Day” celebrations in the church were scattered and different. Pope Gregory III consolidated these dates, along with the Samhain celebrations that continued at the time and made Nov. 1 All Saints Day. It is a part of a 3 day holiday to honor the dead (Christian - Saints, Martyrs, etc.) known as Allhallowtide. This makes Oct. 31st All Hallows Eve (or in other words - Halloween - also part of the 3 day holiday). Halloween was not associated with horror, evil, supernatural, etc. until pop culture influenced it. Just like horror movies weren’t a thing until the 1970’s, Halloween was not the devil-inspired creation people today think it is.
The irony behind this whole debate is the fact that many people who argue against Halloween - from a religious perspective - seem to have no problems showing up for church on a Sunday and singing songs that are produced by “churches” that literally believe in “grave sucking” and tarot card reading (yes, I am talking about Beth*l). Not only that, they seem to have no problems promoting and celebrating a well known untruth that Jesus was born on Dec. 25th. Especially when it is a holiday that devastates people’s finances, promotes selfishness, pride, envy, greed and lust. Now don’t get me wrong, the intent and actions during Christmas can be amazing. I am not putting down anyone who celebrates Christmas. My point is, before you put down your brothers and sisters in Christ about celebrating a holiday, make sure it’s not equally church sanctioned as the holiday you deemed ok to celebrate.
Halloween for us is a time where we get to give back to our community. It has been amazing to get to meet, talk and share our belief in Christ with so many people in a different way. We get to engage with our neighbors and all our kids like to get involved with what we are doing. We create a place that is safe for kids, enjoyed by parents, and we have people who make it a point to stop by our house every year because of what we do. So celebrating a church created holiday, giving freely to people, and talking about our faith, if that isn’t Christian, I really don’t know what is.