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Is Celebrating Halloween Wrong for Christians?
By Julie | October 29, 2008
I’ve heard the arguments my whole life: Halloween originated as a pagan holiday, a grotesque one at that! Christians have no business celebrating a holiday whose origins go so far against God. Even if it has changed, it’s hardly an innocent holiday now! I mean, look at all those children, dressed up as ghosts and vampires, going door-to-door demanding candy! The sin of it all!
I have a lot of great memories of Halloween. Memories of my family. All of us dressed up. Going out for the night trick or treating in a huddle together. At some houses, people just threw candy in our bags. Other homes we were welcomed in, told to warm up, and then given candy as we explained our costumes. I remember one elderly widow in our town whose face lit up the second she opened the door to us. Then she’d invite us in and give us candy. Since it was a small town, she wrote down what our costumes were. There was another house with an elderly woman who gave out pennies, wrapped in plastic. She made them look so pretty, and always told us how cute, or scary, we looked. Halloween made me more aware of the people who lived in our community. Of course we loved getting the candy. But I also loved dressing up, pretending to be something I wasn’t. I loved the attention from the various adults we got. I loved talking to people in our town I rarely saw. I loved comparing notes with friends on what we were dressing up as. I loved being out for the night with my brothers and sisters. I also loved looking after my younger brothers, to make sure they were keeping up, their costumes stayed in place, and they were getting their fair share of candy.
For me, Halloween was always innocent, and fun. As a mom, I want innocence and fun for my kids’ Halloweens. But I also want them to understand the origins of the holiday, as well as the traditions that have been passed down. I want them to understand the good stuff, and why the bad is bad. I want them to understand both viewpoints as to why Christians should or should not celebrate Halloween. I’ve come to the conclusion that Halloween, as celebrated now, is ok. Am I wrong? How do other Christians feel about it? Below are a couple videos. The first one has a positive message about celebrating Halloween. The second has strong wording for why celebrating is wrong. What do you think?
Topics: Faith, Holidays, Life and Living | 3 Comments »
October 29th, 2008 at 8:17 pm
Halloween is short for all hallows eve
Hallowed is a word meaning sainted
All hallows is all saints day
Halloween is the day before all saints day
The history is a bit more complex than that, but most people don’t really like the whole truth, and this is close enough. It is what you make of it, but that is what it is. A feast day before a holy day.
October 31st, 2008 at 10:41 am
We can celebrate this holiday in many God-honoring ways, but we must be wise and listen to God!
A celebration of darkness, death, and fear isn’t from the Lord!
Harvest festivals are pretty cool, though
Here is why this Christian doesn’t celebrate Halloween. Maybe my reasoning will resonate with you!
November 2nd, 2008 at 10:59 am
Tnanks for the comments guys. It gives something to think about. We took the kids trick or treating on Friday, and they had a great time. I see values in it as a parent. It’s good to let the kids be part of genorosity from others. Most of the people in the houses we went too seemed to be enjoying themselves, and loved seeing the costumes. It was good for reinforcing values, reminding the kids to say thank you. Reminding them that it’s very nice of everyone who gave them a treat, but that no one is obligated to, and to be thankful. Yes, we must listen to God, I try to. I have felt God leading me away from things before, but I do not feel He is leading me from Halloween. In my experience it builds community and innocence. I know bad things happen, but we try to avoid those (kind of like life in general.) If I ever feel God is calling me to avoid Halloween I will. I have not felt that yet.