This time of year it’s impossible to avoid ghosts, goblins, jack-o-lanterns, and witches, except around here. If you’ve noticed, the most I’ve talked about Halloween, here at From Dates to Diapers, was last August when I discussed my kiddos love for costumes, even though we do not participate in Halloween-related activities.
I know what you’re thinking, What?! You don’t dress up for Halloween?, right? Well, the answer is very simple – No, we don’t do Halloween.
Let me just say that not once, in my entire life, have I dressed up to go trick-or-treating, and never did I feel like I was being deprived. My parents were very clear and open about why they had made the decision not to participate, and I accepted their explanation and honored their decision. After all, it made sense.
It still makes sense, almost 30 years later, but now I understand the depth of those reasons.
Before I go any further, let me say that I know this is a very controversial subject, even among Christians. I will not, and do not, judge those who have made the decision to participate in the festivities of this day, for I believe we have been given freedom in Christ. All I ask is that you please provide me and my family the same courtesy.
That said, I write this post because, as a family, we will not compromise our convictions and we feel very strongly about this one. I know there are others who feel the same way and I want to encourage you, today especially, as you and your kiddos are faced with the same question we are, every year – Why are you not dressing up for Halloween?
Halloween isn’t just a made-up, fun holiday day. It’s not just a commercialized (albeit, over-commercialized) holiday, harmlessly encouraging children to dress up, treat-or-treat, bob for apples, and carve pumpkins. In fact, Halloween is a conglomerate celebration of many pagan religious and occultic celebrations and rituals. The engagement of witches, warlocks, and witchcraft in the night’s festivities is a result of the religion of Wicca, a very real pagan religious cult.
As Christians we are called to abstain from participating in unfruitful deeds of darkness, but to expose them. We believe that every thing about Halloween is dark, and quite honestly Satan doesn’t realize that he has no chance with us unless we take a stand against all that is evil, for we cannot drink of the cup of the Lord and the devil’s. I want Satan to hear loud and clear that we will never be his! I don’t believe we can prove that to him while we are dressed in Halloween costumes, begging for candy and bobbing for apples.
Now, I know you are probably thinking that it’s possible for families to participate in Halloween activities without choosing to believe in all that is inherently evil about the pagan religious holiday. After all, what could be wrong with dressing up as fairies, ladybugs and pirates?
Well, as a family, we understand that these seemingly harmless activities – dressing up, trick-or-treating, bobbing for apples, carving pumpkins – all began as ancient cultic ceremonies and witchcraft rituals, honoring and appeasing evil spirits, and communicating with the dead. (I urge you to do some research if you don’t believe me.). In our opinion, participating in Halloween gives sanction to a holiday that promotes evil – witches, divination, haunted houses, and other occultic practices.
As Christians, we have taken the call very seriously to be in the world but not of it. As we abstain from celebrating Halloween, we are being obedient to our call to not be conformed to this world.
but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.
Therefore take up the whole armor of God,
that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.”
~Ephesians 6:12-13
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{ 61 comments… read them below or add one }
I’m not a religious person but I do respect your choice for your family. We feel holidays and celebrations are what you make of them, not what history does.
The truth is I know nothing about the history of Halloween, only my own which is filled with fun memories of hanging out with my friends, meeting the neighbors and gorging myself on sugar.
I respect you for sharing your thoughts so candidly, Cat. Thank you.
Hi Christine,
Well said!!! I could Never understand why Americans celebrates this evil day. I see that this trend has blown over to South Africa now and every year more and more stores participates in selling Halloween rubbish. But what can you expect from a country(SA) where the leaders believe in praying and offering to their forefathers?
As a Christian I do respect and honor your decision, as it is one we have struggled with. We do not participate in regular Halloween activities, but do dress up in non-evil outfits and participate in church Fall Festivals. Our church and many other local churches feature festivals on the weekends leading up to and on Halloween, where the children can collect candy, dress up, play games, and perhaps hear a Bible story or two.
Thank you for sharing your reasons and may God bless you and your family for your decision. =)
Isn’t the freedom we have in Christ simply freeing?
Well said.
Thank you for your well-thought-out post about this controversial subject. People ask us this all the time, especially this time of year, and I have a hard time explaining my stance. Thank you for making it easier for me!
If any thing, I hope I helped people to think about their decision and truly seek to understand it.
I struggled with explaining our decision, too, especially as a kid. Once I realized that my decision was born of deep conviction, it was much easier.
I ditto what Cat Said…..
First off, I completely respect your decision and I know others that do the same. Hubby and I thought about Halloween and what we wanted to do with our children. We are Jewish and clearly this is not our holiday. We have Purim in the fall when we dress up, have parades and celebrate. Still, as a teacher and parent I like to just have a fun fall day and Halloween fits that bill for us (at least when the kids are healthy). Classrooms that my son has been in have done storybook dress up and I am good with that. We take the boys out to a few neighbors in their costumes, but it is to say hello and see them one last time before the long winter.
Great post! Our family does not celebrate Halloween either – for all the reasons you mentioned. Though I have some friends that don’t celebrate it either, I still feel in the minority and judged for not participating! And if anybody is concerned about candy – my son has no lack of candy in our house of sweet tooths!
We’re actually going out to dinner and a movie tonight! Have a fun and blessed evening! Thanks again for your post!
You know, it’s funny… Because we are such a minority, I feel like our friends and family members judge us big-time for not doing Halloween (as Christians, however, I suppose we are always scrutinized), so they assume we judge them when they do participate. How do we convince them otherwise?
As far as the candy goes – There is no shortage here!
Christine,
I’m with you on this one. I’ve never done halloween and neither has my husband. We’re continuing the non-tradition with our family.
I often find it very hard to tell people why we don’t do halloween, for fear they will think I’m judging them. I’m not, but how else do you say “we believe this is wrong” without saying we believe what you are doing is wrong? lol
There are things Christians do or don’t do, like women not wearing makeup or always wearing dresses that I believe are completely personal decisions. One way or the other is not right or wrong.
But, halloween is something I just never understood how people could sugar coat and participate in.
What do you guys feel about Christmas??
We celebrate Christmas as a Christian holiday and the birth of our Savior, Jesus. We do have a tree and exchange gifts, and our children know the story of St. Nicholas, but we don’t do Santa Claus.
I’m sure I’ll touch on Christmas more as we get closer.
We are very casual about Halloween in our home. I have told my kids up front where Halloween comes from and that we don’t endorse paganism. I tell them Halloween for us is simply a day for dress up, family time, and sweets. This year we cooked spooky snacks and it was quite fun. This is the first year we did this. We stayed in the house and enjoyed our time together. As you can see Im inbetween with my ways. If I had to lean in a direction to celebrate or not, I would chose to not as well. Same thing with Easter, we learn about what Jesus has done for us and easter baskets are filled with biblical reference.
Christine: Great post! I love that you are so upfront. We’re not doing Halloween this year b/c Lydia is too frightened of EVERYTHING. And I just can’t reconcile trying to say: You need to love this! It’s CANDY and COSTUMES when really, I don’t want her to love it!
I’ve been posting about this a lot on my Impress Your Kids blog, if you’re interested:
http://impressyourkids.org/tag/halloween/
Thanks, Amanda… I’ll certainly check them all out.
As others have said previously, I respect your decision not to take part in Halloween activities. We are a Christian home as well and participate in dressing up, church fall festivals, etc. So, although my decision differs from yours we ARE called, as you said, NOT to conform to this world.
We are His children and are led to where he calls us, ministering to those who most need the Word, whether that be during a Holiday, such as Halloween, during events we are uncomfortable attending, or in front of people who aren’t apt to “hearing” and “understanding” God’s Word.
Jesus didn’t “conform” to this world, however, He DID embrace the chance to minister in places that are labeled as “most unconventional”, on the streets of those who participated in pagen rituals.
I view Halloween as a chance to minister to others who don’t know God’s word, don’t understand his healing ways, or have never experienced the power of an all loving, all powerful, Savior.
You’ve set a good example of how we can protect ourselves using God’s Armor, however, we can also, as Christians, “hit the streets” and show what God’s love is… even if it’s in a TinkerBell costume.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts, Sara.
I respectfully disagree about the way in which we can minister to the world. This is the way I see it ::
Jesus DID embrace the chance to minister to the people of this world, but He did not become LIKE the world, taking on the evils of the world, ever. As Christians, we are called to set ourselves apart – not conform – so we may be an example of godliness.
There are so many ways in which we can minister to the world without compromising our own convictions. As a family, we simply do not see taking on the ways of the world, during this one night, as being effective ways to minister.
I suppose that here is where our freedom in Christ plays a huge role in our lives.
Do we sit at dinner and drink with people who are unsaved at blog events? that’s technically being like them yes?? but we can use that situation or moment to witness to them.
I think you can be a christian and be innocent of conforming to something, say you are sitting with the people mentioned above and they are being loud, cussing, do we conform to that just because we are a participant at the event?? That is my point LOL…must get more sleep today, the 3 hours I got aren’t working well for me
Toni,
For me, there is a very clear distinction between taking on the appearance of evil, by dressing up and participating in what we view as an evil celebration, and ministering to others as Jesus did.
Jesus didn’t hire prostitutes or steal money from tax-payers, but He did dine with those who did.
Big difference, in my opinion.
We are all led, by the Holy Spirit, to minister in different ways. As you said, freedom in Christ, plays a HUGE role with every Christian.
Some of the most effective witnesses to God’s loving ways can be shown through experiences such as a Christian who used to be an alcoholic, marriages who were troubled by affairs, showing others events like this will not EVER shake God’s love for us as His children and will NEVER keep us in a pit with Satan himself.
As is Halloween. In my heart, Satan will never make me conform to this world when I’m in God’s loving arms. His armor is covering me leaving my heart free to witness to others.
Now I’m interested. When and where do you witness God’s love? If not in events or places that might tempt you to conform? How do you reach others who may not be, at say, your church, playgroup, or blog circle?
Sara,
I never actually said that we do not witness at events or places that tempt us. What I *did* say is that we do not take on the appearance of evil as a way to minister to the world, by becoming like the world.
To me there is a big difference!
You said this well.
As a child I did dress up and “celebrate” Halloween. It was always innocent to me. I knew there were scary things about it, however, I never researched them and have fun memories of Halloween.
However, I grew up in a non-Christian home. My husband and I are Christians and do not celebrate Halloween. I do believe that even innocently participating can give the Devil an opportunity and as Christians we should not ignorantly participate in activities. We should be thinkers and not allow ourselves to conform to this world.
I do not feel like my children are missing out either. There are fun things we do and traditions we are making that are just as fun for them.
Thank you for sharing and taking a stand.
Thanks for this well thought out post. This is why I love the internet so much. You learn about other people’s lives and gain a wider acceptance.
You are lovely.
Hey one of my favorite peeps
. We are a very strongly convicted christian family as well but we do let the kids dress up and go get candy and attend church festivals. Just think what if christians around the world could turn this around and make it a day of light!! Fun costumes and innocence. I think your post is wonderful as you are not attacking but simply sharing why you do not participate. For us it is simply an innocent time of fun I by no means think we are going against God or the bible for doing that. One can find evil in any holiday, Santa at Christmas, Easter being a pagan holiday, heck even wearing a wedding ring is a pagan ritual should we not do that? My point is that for everything you can always research and find something to counteract that. So while halloween may have started off as something I think today it is something completely different than what it may have originated from.
I believe it is all about letting your beliefs lead you and your convictions and your family feels strongly about this and I respect that. What I don’t respect is when someone (not you, it happened on twitter and actually sparked my post “Am I participating in deeds of darkness post the other day)) insinuates that I am allowing Satan a foothold in my life because we choose to go let our kids get dressed up and get candy.
And I and my family put on our armor of God everyday, pray together, we do not conform to the world. We do not allow Satan any footholds in our lives and this one night isn’t going to change that for us. We will still be the nondenominational charasmatic, worship dancing, spirit filled, tongue speaking christians that we were before this night and during it
Great post Christine and thanks for sharing
Thanks for your thoughts, Toni!
Again, I praise Jesus for the freedom He has given us!!
Right back at ya mama
Christine thank you for the thoughtful and respectful post. And Toni, you put perfectly into words what I was thinking and wanted to say!
Great, respectful conversation going on the comments, love it!
P.S. Christine, I think you may know my parents, John & Sharon Ficker
When my mom saw me @reply something to you on Twitter she called me and told me she knew you 
Thank you for sharing your personal beliefs about Halloween. I have to admit I’d NEVER heard of anyone NOT participating in Halloween until I was in my mid-twenties and had a supervisor who was a Jehovah’s Witness. I found it completely 100% strange that there are people who didn’t like this holiday. HOWEVER, I didn’t think any less of these people. I just figured, hey, it’s a free country, people can believe however they want. Thank goodness we can all chose what to believe. America is a WONDERFUL country.
Thank you for sharing your view point on Halloween and enjoy your family.
I consider myself a spiritual person, not a religious person myself. I am not of “this” or “that” faith, I believe in karma, in giving and getting back and leaving this world better than you came into it. Despite my beliefs or ‘lack of religion’ (or as someone here said, I am considered “unsaved”), I respect your choice, as well as anyone else’s on what they do and don’t celebrate and decide what is or isn’t right for their family. But after having had many-a-talk over the years with people of the pagan and wiccan faith, I feel you are absolutely wrong to state that Wicca is a “very real pagan religious cult.” I believe that is one of those powerful “four-letter-words” you just don’t use. Ever. From what I have learned, Wicca has been around far longer than Christianity has, and is most certainly not as you’ve depicted it. I understand it goes against what you yourself believe, and you detest anything of that sort, but despite your loathing for that faith (or any others that differs from your own), I personally would have never, ever used someone else’s faith that wasn’t my own in those terms.
I appreciate your well thought out post. We almost always dressed up and went trick or treating when I was young. My mom (a Christian) loved it. Although, I think she loved the costumes best and just loved dressing up me and my brother. She made many of our costumes!
Now that I’m older and have a child of my own (he’s 3 and doesn’t really get Halloween yet), I’ve been putting more thought into this. My husband and I are both Christians and he is much against Halloween for many of the reasons you mentioned. For me, it has always seemed like a harmless tradition. Honestly, I’m more inclined to skip Halloween because of it’s sheer silliness. It now seems ridiculous to get dressed up and go to a bunch of strangers’ houses with a hand out for candy. Then you end up with mounds of candy, for what? Our son doesn’t even like candy that much. (Thank you Lord for not giving him my genes on that one!) Not sure where I will come down on this issue. Thanks for you post, good information.
well it is a PAGAN holiday..not of the devil..goes waaay further back than that so yeah..if you are strong in your religious beliefs..it shouldn’t just be about the candy.
It was never a huge deal growing up in the UK..but here the candy thing seems to be it….and being that we are all er non believers anyway…we enjoy the creepiness of it all!
It is the same for St. Patricks day…I am not Catholic nor am I Irish, so I don’t get the point of it.
I am a Christian and did not celebrate Halloween as a kid except for a few Fall Festivals dressed as a Bible character. The few times as an adult that I’ve dressed in a more secular costume and gone out for a party I’ve had an awful time, so much so that I’m staying in tonite.
It’s funny tho…the way you see God’s plan in your life in interesting ways years later. I teach 1st grade and have a few students who do not celebrate for religious reasons or just because the neighborhood is dangerous. I hope I make things a little easier for them when I tell them “that’s ok when I was little I didn’t trick or treat either” during all the costume talk that went on this week.
Many thanks for your post
I respect and understand your decision to take part in Halloween. We use to not celebrate Halloween, but the past couple of years we have found a way to show love and light on this dark night, we call it “Light up the Night.” We have games for kids who come by trick-or-treating and hot chocolate and cider for the adults, and we decorate our yard with as many white christmas lights as we can, we try and be a light in the darkness.
I had memories as a child of a much more innocent Halloween than seems to exist today. As a parent and a Christian, I took the same stance as many here have mentioned, we participated in church “fall festivals” and dressed in non-ghoulish costumes, etc, for several years. One year our church did their “festival” on the weekend, and so on the actual holiday night I decided to take my youngest trick-or-treating–something he hadn’t done in years. When I pulled up at one end of the street for him to get out, he asked me if I knew everyone on that street, which of course I did not. “You want me to go up to a STRANGER’S house?” he asked in disbelief–and suddenly it hit me, how often do we teach our children to be wary of strangers, and here I was encouraging the very behavior we had tried to teach against. Needless to say, it was a short night which was never repeated. I can buy my kids all the candy they need without them going to “a stranger’s house” for it.
Thanks so much for your post Christine. It is exactly how I would have described why my family doesn’t participate in Halloween. I would add that you are held accountable for what you know and Satan can use innocent things to gain a foothold in your life. Also was recently convicted by Proverbs 14:12
“There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death.” which not only applies to things like Halloween but makes me stop look to God before I do lots of things.
Thanks again for sharing.
I completely respect your decision.
What I would like to add, from a historical and theological perspective, is that something resembling or on or around Halloween (in the form of All Souls’ or All Saints’) has been part of Christian religious traditions far longer than the current commercialized trick-or-treating version. Granted, this comes from older, pagan celebrations based around the Harvest…but many modern, commercialized versions of Christian Holidays take their calendar dates and local customs from these pagan celebrations (Yule logs, Easter Eggs, etc.).
One small note: Wicca is not really an ancient religion, rather an new-age re-imagining of ancient belief systems.
Thank you for a thoughtful and thought-provoking post and a good reminder not to judge those (and especially their children) who may have different views, customs and traditions. And also a reminder to hold fast to our own convictions.
I stand corrected, Candace, as to the origin of Wicca and have made the correction in my post. Thank you for your note.
And, yes, you are correct about All Saint’s Day – November 1st is All Saint’s Day and is observed in honor of all the saints, known and unknown. As far as I know, however, November 1st has never been “celebrated” in the same way as Halloween…
I brought up All Saints’ because it is historically linked with the celebration that became Halloween. It is part of why me and my family see Halloween as more of a modern, whimsical tradition than as linked with any dark, Satanic rites. However, I do completely understand and respect why dressing up as ghouls and goblins has enough of the air of evil about it to make some Christians reject it.
If you don’t mind, I’m going to be a little geeky here for a second to explain myself.
I see a pattern–early medieval church moves Holy Day near pagan seasonal celebration, some pagan traditions survive. That’s why I don’t really see Halloween as being about evil or Satanism…anymore than, for example, I see Easter Eggs as promoting promiscuity or Harry Potter novels and movies as agents of darkness.
Samhain and other autumnal harvest rites were more about nature than about evil. The concept of the veil between the living and dead thinning is not inherently against Christian doctrine (as I understand it). The idea of dressing up as spirits was more to confuse the dead than to emulate the evil.
Though as a Christian, I do see some of the rituals associated with those pagan celebration as a temptation for false idol worship…but not Satanism. The idea of good vs. evil wasn’t really a part of that worldview.
Fast forward and the Church promotes a celebration of the Saints to replace that false idol worship.
It isn’t until more modern times when we have a (commercialized) version that melds the Christian idea of good and evil with the pagan idea of spirits walking the earth with a dose of mysticism and general spookiness.
I do truly believe in evil, but I see it more in the people who traffic young girls or even in the hearts of ordinary people, including myself, who may turn their backs on the suffering of others out of weakness or confusion.
That said, I want to be clear that I am not trivializing your concerns at all. If you see the day’s traditions as something that sews the devil’s confusion in the hearts of God-fearing people or blurs the line between good and evil (which I can see, even if I do not agree), then it absolutely makes sense to come to the conclusion you did.
Just to clarify…I mean I believe in the “existence of evil” not that I consider myself a follower of evil.
I have always favored El Día de los Muertos activities over the typical Halloween activities. Instead of trick or treating I much prefer building an alter to celebrate my loved ones. We often also visit their graves sites and tell stories about their lives.
El Día de los Muertos and Thanksgiving are the two holidays that make late October and November so special for me.
I truly appreciate the boldness and willingness you have in sharing an “unpopular” even among Christians stance. I think you’ve made some very valid points, and it will be something we consider further in future years.
For the past 3 years, we’ve dressed our quadruplet boys in hotdog costumes, giraffes, and monkeys. It’s been a quality time for us to meet our neightbors and even use it as an evangelism opportunity. However, as our boys get older, it will probably be something we opt out of, because as they age, there’s really no way to get around the darkness of this day.
Regardless of how we interpret this issue, I’m thankful for our unity in Christ, and that I can call you my sister! Again, I appreciate you articulating your stance so well!
Blessings to You and Your Family!
What a great post, Christine! You’ve put in print pretty much how my family feels. We usually spend October 31st watching a movie, eating snacks, and having fun at home. It’s funny how many folks who are followers of Christ tend to sugar-coat Halloween despite what Phillippians 4:8 says. Thanks and God bless you!
You go Girl!! We don’t celebrate this day either. I grew up taught against halloween and do the same for my children. We don’t buy costumes though we do appreciate catching the candy on sale afterwards LOL
. I think it’s outstanding of you to declare your faith so publicly and I applaud you.
We enjoy Halloween but I understand that others don’t. There was an “alternative halloween party” at a church near here where kids could go and enjoy carnival games, food, snacks, etc. without going along with the costumes and such.
And I was also going to mention the fact that many Christmas and Easter traditions–while thought of as Christian holidays–are actually developed from pagan traditions. Christmas trees, Easter eggs, and all that jazz has nothing to do with Christ, either. So my only thing with being anti-Halloween for religious reasons is that many people who are…still go along with non-Christian rituals for other holidays.
To each their own…just makes me raise an eyebrow.
I hope you had a splendid evening with your family!
Candi,
You’re right in that a lot of traditions that we use to celebrate Christmas and Easter stem from Pagan religions. Which is why we do not do the Easter bunny either. However, there’s is a controversy over whether the Christmas tree stems from Pagan traditions. I’ve heard that it was used in Germany to explain the Trinity and soon afterwards became a symbol of Christianity.
Anyway, even though there are these traditions surrounding these Christian celebrations I feel that Halloween is different. As Christine said, “Halloween is a conglomerate celebration of many pagan religious and occultic celebrations and rituals. The engagement of witches, warlocks, and witchcraft in the night’s festivities is a result of the religion of Wicca, a very real pagan religious cult.”
It seems it’s a time of provoking and calling on evil spirits. And even though most children aren’t thinking that when they go trick-or-treating, Satan is very real and toying with evil and it’s practices is never a good idea.
I see you’re point that if people are not going to do Halloween that they should not practice other Pagan traditions during other holidays {I completely agree}, but I also feel Halloween is a more active way of celebrating evil.
Like you, because of the holiday’s current and past overtones, our family doesn’t participate in the holiday either.
John D
Great conversation! We didn’t do Halloween for almost 6 years, before my husband and I came to a conclusion about it. It is completely a personal decision, one that is founded in the freedom we can ALL have in Christ. We did use this link as a guide to help us explain the history to the kids and to come to some understanding of what it means to our family.
http://blog.marshillchurch.org/2009/10/29/the-history-of-halloween-revisted/
That said, we had a fabulous time taking the boys out in costume for the first time ever last night, and they spent a lot of time with our dear friends at the nursing home who had been waiting for hours for anyone to come and take the cookies that they had worked all day baking (sadly very few children took time out from their house-to-house routine to sit and talk with these lovely people). For us, it was a special moment, one that we all gave thanks for when we returned home.
May your families all be blessed this fall, and I’m looking forward to some Thanksgiving stories from all of you
Thanks again Christine for the lively discussion!
I am a Wiccan. What most people in North America call Halloween, is indeed a very special holy day for Wiccans, as well as for the followers of many other pagan and neo-pagan religions. I will not engage in the game of “who owned it first” any more than to point out that for quite some time, “All Hallows Eve” was a distinctly Christian observance. Therefore, the statement that,
“Halloween is a conglomerate celebration of many pagan religious and occultic celebrations and rituals…”
is, at best, inaccurate and incomplete. On the other hand most “Christian” holy days, Christmas and Easter for example, are indeed “…a conglomerate of many pagan religious and occultic celebrations and rituals…”. This is, to anyone who has taken the time to look, well established fact.
To all of this I say, so what? The dozens of darling little kids (and the inevitable few not-so-darling, not-so-little kids who can’t quite let go of the free candy thing) who came to our door last night were not “celebrating” anything other than fun. …and free candy, of course. The costumes, the running around after dark (and the free candy) are, to them, nothing more than fun; a wholly secular type of fun. Un-troubled by “grown up” worries about pagan-this and satanic-that, they were the epitome of the loving and innocent beings that the Christian messiah so prized for those very traits. Would that so many of his “grown up” followers could be more like that from time to time.
I think that John, as a Wiccan, and his point that Halloween is a high holy day for him and others like him drive home exactly why we don’t celebrate Halloween: The underlying reason for the observance is quite nefarious.
But let me bring some clarity to his other points:
History clearly records that what we know as “Halloween” was a Celtic pagan observance (Oct. 31-Nov. 1) of celebrating Samhain, or the Lord of the Dead, long before All Saint’s Day was moved by the Western Church from Spring to Nov. 1 to supplant that celebration. Note that the Eastern Church still celebrates ASD on the first Sunday after Pentecost and that they didn’t come into contact with the Celts.
Regarding Christmas, John has a point in saying it has been mixed (at least in the West) with pagan and occultic traditions because things like the yule-tide, trees and Santa – as Coca-Cola has presented him – has nothing to do with celebrating the birth of the Savior.
To bring light to darkness, the Church sought to supplant myriad pagan celebrations that marked the Winter solstice, such as the Germanic yule-tide and the Roman Dies Natalis Solis Invicti or “the birthday of the unconquered Sun” with the celebration of the birth of Christ. As John Chrysostom said in the 4th century, “They call it the ‘Birthday of the Unconquered’. Who indeed is so unconquered as our Lord?”
Concerning Easter, again, many cultures have had various celebrations on this equinox, but interestingly, the Church, until the Council of Nicaea in AD 325 did not have a uniform way of determining the exact dates. Up until that point, dating from Pentecost, it was possible to celebrate the crucifixion and resurrection of the Lord multiple times every year if you traveled from region to region. At Nicaea, the Church decided that the observance should be calculated the same as Passover, since that was when Christ was slain. If you’re keeping track, it’s the first Sunday after the full moon after the spring equinox. That way, Christians in Spain could celebrate on the same exact day as Christians in Antioch. No phones or Internet to communicate in those days…stars were the best option.
That’s why our family celebrates Christmas and the Resurrection – because they are original celebrations of our faith that happen to coincide with pagan rituals, for the above stated reasons.
Just as you won’t see me putting on a Sol Invictus costume on Dec. 25, I won’t be putting on a costume that celebrates the darkness on Oct. 31.
Very interesting post. My husband and I oversee the Children’s Ministry at our church and we always grapple about this topic around this season. We usually throw a Fall Costume Party so that the kids can get dressed up (in non-scary costumes) without having to get all caught up in Halloween. Honestly, since the Bible doesn’t speak about it, we encourage people to go with their conscience. (The truth of the matter is a lot of things – including the days of the week – can be traced back to pagan origins.) If it goes against people’s conscience though, they shouldn’t participate.
I like how you shared your convictions without minimizing different opinions. There are so many things that the Bible IS clear on that it makes no sense to get caught up in battles over matters of opinion!
I’m a first time visitor. I just came across your blog and I love that you are willing to state your convictions so boldly. I’m impressed with that. I’m impressed with your blog too…I’ve enjoyed reading.
Great post, Christine. I truly respect your decision and the article had a lot of interesting points.
As you know, my family and I carve pumpkins, dress up, and go trick-or-treating for Halloween. I know that the traditions of Halloween stem from pagan rituals, but as I participate in them as fun family traditions, and not as acts of ceremony or worship, I see nothing wrong with it.
Of course, those that feel very convicted to not participate in activities that originate from pagan practices should do what they feel is right and not participate. With that being said, I do feel that there is much hypocrisy to be had with this view. Every person I know who doesn’t celebrate Halloween because of its pagan origins is more than happy to pollute the celebration of Christ’s birth with traditions that stem from just as evil of practices.
The majority of our Christmas traditions date back to Babylon and Rome (the Feast of the Son of Isis and Saturnalia – Which were celebrated on December 25th and the winter solstice). Mistletoe was a sacred plant and kissing under it was a fertility ritual. Holly berries were used as decoration and were seen as food for the gods. Evergreen trees were seen as sacred religious symbols and were brought inside during the celebration to be decorated and worshiped. And, of course, partying, eating, and gift giving were the main activities surrounding the celebrations.
The earliest record of a Christmas tree being brought into a Christian celebration was in 1521 in the Alsace region of Germany. The prominent Lutheran minister of the area cried blasphemy and quoted, “Better that they should look to the true tree of life, Christ.”
Many Easter traditions also stem from pagan roots, but some Christians have already rejected these (Easter baskets, egg hunts…), and this post is already lengthy, so I won’t get into that.
Now, am I going to give up all of these cherished holiday traditions? Absolutely not, because I see nothing wrong with them. But, if a Christian truly feels convicted over participating in ancient pagan practices, how does that Christian then pick and choose which pagan traditions are actually “okay” to take part in.
Just some food for thought.
Lisa,
I’m not sure if you read Ray’s response to John, but he explains that Christmas and Easter are “original celebrations of our faith that happen to coincide with pagan rituals”… As you know, we do not do Easter baskets or eggs, nor do we incorporate Santa in to our celebration of Christmas. (Ray has never been comfortable with a Christmas tree, so we’re heavily considering not having one this year.)
We’re actually pretty consistent with our convictions.
Oops, no I didn’t read Ray’s response, but I just did and he brought up very good points. It’s good to bring up topics like this to get everyone thinking
I just wanted to chime in and say well said. We too don’t celebrate Halloween for all the things mentioned above. Thank you for this post!
I respect your choice and as I grow in my faith and have been eliminating lots of things from my life, I hope to one day be where you are. People think that I am mean because at Easter I do not do baskets for the kids. I just think that its a smack in Jesus face to go and celebrate with candy. Its so commercial now just like Christmas and it bugs me. On Easter we do a very special dinner with special desserts so the kids can get their treats but those treats come with Bible stories and prayer.
And I was beginning to think we were the only odd family that just didn’t do Halloween. But freedom of choice is a blessing in this country, although it was difficult to explain to my 2nd grade class why I choose not to celebrate.
I will say I enjoy the sales on big bags of candy, as I stock up for the family gatherings of the Christmastide season.
Thought you might find this of interest.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halloween
ps. great video of tips for bedtime
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