Halloween: What’s a Christian to Do?
by Linda Hoffman and Dan Deyling
Over the centuries the Christian Church has tried to relate to cultures it finds itself in. One of the ways it has done this is to tap into the celebrative spirit of people and attempt to change the pagan holidays into Christian holidays. An example of this being very successful is the celebration of Christmas on December 25. Hardly anyone remembers celebrations of the winter solstice around this date; now it is about the birth of Jesus. (At least it used to be. In our culture it is more about gift giving and Santa Claus.)
Where Did Halloween Come From?
Halloween is an Old English word meaning "the evening before the holy day." The holy day in this case is November 1st, the celebration of "All Hallows Day." This is a day that celebrated all the saints of the church. The holiday was meant to supplant the celebration of "Samhain," or summer's end, an event celebrated in the ancient Celtic cultures of Ireland and England. Since "summer's end" meant the beginning of winter (the dark days), many of the events of Samhain involved rites designed to chase off the evil spirits of winter and protect the people from the influence of those spirits. You can begin to see where the modern things done on Halloween came from.
Well, in the case of Halloween, the program of "Christianizing" it did not work. Rather, the Irish and English immigrants of the 1800's brought the rites of Samhain with them to America under a different name: Halloween. The rites remain, the name remains, and there is nothing Christian about it.
What Should Churches Do?
Everyone loves a celebration. One thing churches have done is to have a separate celebration called "harvest festival" or "trunk or treat." Again, the idea is to have a celebration that does not honor representations of evil. The problem is not people dressing up in costumes or going out and getting candy from others. We should be careful not to honor evil. I think we should probably not dress up in costumes that reflect evil characters nor should we decorate our houses in decorations that reflect evil.
What’s a Family to Do?
First we can educate our children about the roots of Halloween and why we will never celebrate evil. Then we have to figure out what we will do on that day that everyone goes out in costumes and gets candy. We have a few options:
1.) We can shut the curtains, stay inside and tell our kids we are different from others and do something as a family that’s fun on our own or with other families. (Remember, ALL families are looking for something to do with their kids and all kids love to dress up and get candy.)
2.) Almost every door in every neighborhood is open to us on that day. A family can go to every home, introduce themselves, and take advantage of getting to know their neighbors.
3.) Use the opportunity to invite their neighbors to a safe, family friendly event where there is NO EVIL ALLOWED. The younger the children in a family are, the more safe an environment they want.
Trunk or Treat
Foothills uses "Trunk or Treat" as a family-friendly event to invite our friends and neighbors to a church campus. Our hope is that in the future, when that family is thinking about where to go to teach their kids about God, they will remember that they went to “that church that had Trunk or Treat." They'll have met some friendly people, they'll know where it is, and they will say, “Let’s start there!”
So please join with us in praying that God redeems this day, and that on October 31st, families just looking for a good time get more than they bargained for - a place to come and worship God with the Body of Christ.
