October 31 st every year is celebrated as
Halloween day. But for Christians, a major
controversy surrounds the question, “Should you
and I be involved in the celebration of
Halloween?”
Getting an answer to this question has been an
interesting journey in itself. After I searched
various websites and asked people what they
thought about this topic, what I found was an
agreement on the origins of Halloween, but a
mixture of suggestions about allowing our
children to take part in this super-charged media
driven holiday.
The origins of Halloween are Celtic in tradition
and have to do with observing the end of summe
sacrifices to gods in Druidic tradition. In what is
now Britain and France, it was the beginning of
the Celtic year, and they believed Samhain, the
lord of death, sent evil spirits abroad to attack
humans, who could escape only by assuming
disguises and looking like evil spirits themselves.
The waning of the sun and the approach of dark
winter made the evil spirits rejoice and play nast
tricks. Believe it or not, most of our Halloween
practices can be traced back to these old pagan
rites and superstitions.
But what about today? Perhaps we can still learn
from history. In the fourth century, Christians
attempted to co-opt the holiday by celebrating
the lives of faithful Christian saints the day befor
Halloween. This was a conscious attempt to
provide an alternative and re-focus the day away
from ghouls, goblins, ghosts, witches and other
“haunted” experiences. Since that time many
Christians have decided to allow their children to
dress in more “innocent” costumes of pumpkins,
princesses, Superman or as a cowboy. Part of
this is due to the simple reality that in today’s
Western culture it is nearly impossible to “avoid”
Halloween.
But what does Wicca, the official religion of
witchcraft, has to say about Halloween. Perhaps
they viewed the day as a simple fun and innocen
neighborhood activity?
“Shock” is the only word to describe this.
Halloween is a real, sacred day for those who
follow Wicca. In fact, it is one of two high and
holy days for them. The Celtic belief of spirits
being released is current, along with the worship
of Samhain (the lord of death) – both are
promoted as something to embrace on that day.
There is no question in my mind that to those
who believe and follow the practices of
witchcraft, Halloween represents an opportunity
to embrace the evil, devilish, dark side of the
spiritual world.
So after discovering this, what is a reasonable
conclusion? As Christians you and I are placed in
this world to be a light in a world of darkness.
There is no lasting benefit to ignore a holiday
that exists around us, but it also does harm to
celebrate Halloween as it has originated and
grown over the centuries.
My suggestion? Christians should be teaching
their children (age appropriately) that:
there is a spiritual world filled with goodness
from God and evil from Satan (Eph. 2:1-10);
life with Christ has power over darkness (I Jo
4:4); and
those who celebrate Halloween either are
unaware of its roots, or are intentionally
promoting a world where evil is lauded and
viewed as an ultimate power.
To counter the evil influence of Halloween, we
need to join together and celebrate the reality of
the heroic efforts of Christian saints over the evil
in their day. Many leaders in the past — and
present — have fulfilled the mandate of
destroying the works of the devil through their
sacrificial commitment to Christ and His
Kingdom.
Too, rather than “hide” in the face of evil, we
should unabashedly and boldly create an
alternative that is positive and uplifting; that
celebrates good over evil and the triumph of God
over Satan. We need to provide an environment
that also makes room for heaps of fun while
using the day as a “teachable moment” to
celebrate God’s protection, provision and purpose
for our lives.