Christians and Halloween – Should We Observe It?
Fall is a beautiful time of year. A time of crisp change. No one that lives where seasons actually change can deny it is happening. I want to stop and spend our schooldays focused on all the lovely changes around us. We keep pressing forward with our textbooks though, and try to grab a few extra minutes here and there. It is indeed a special time.
But then I walk into the stores. I drive by the houses. I get on the internet. It’s everywhere. This darkness of skulls and death. An attitude of fascination with zombies that eat people. The haunted houses and the movies that recreate unspeakable scenes designed to put unspeakable nightmares in your head.
Oh, but Halloween is just a cute time of dressing up as pumpkins and princesses and posing for pictures, and getting some candy and having parties with friends, right?
For some families that is all it is. And that is what makes Halloween difficult for some people to argue against. So they create alternative parties in the attempt to comfort their children and not appear too out of step with the culture.
We do not attempt to redeem Halloween in our family. We feel there is nothing redemptive about it. I did not grow up observing the holiday, and never felt left out, or wished that I was able to join in.
Every year I see the love of Halloween grow stronger. People spend an immense amount of money decorating for it. I find that every year there are more and more yards that I simply cannot allow my children to look at. “Okay, everyone put your heads down,” is an increasingly common phrase they hear this time of year. Sadly, as Halloween has gained in popularity, most stores have allowed it to rise up like a wave and very nearly wash that imminently more significant holiday away – Thanksgiving. Its decorations are usually found on a few shelves buried in the aisles and aisles of ghoulish garnishing.
My heart has been more heavy this year because my husband is in the midst of it all being a student at college. He is surrounded by the zombie talk, the startling images, and the stunned disbelief when they discover we don’t celebrate halloween. They react as if we had confessed to them that we abuse our little ones. To them, refusing to allow our children to participate in Halloween is the near equivalent.
As parents, we need to decide for our families what our approach will be towards Halloween. For each family it will be different. Some might choose to hide out in their homes, turning off all the lights and going to bed early. Others might choose to make it a fun family night at home, not really to replace Halloween but instead to keep their children busy so they are not looking outside! The Jones down the street might go to the church’s Trunk or Treat party, where the Smith family chooses to celebrate Reformation Day instead. I really don’t think there is a one size fits all approach to this day. If you decide to reach out and use this day as a witnessing day, so be it. But please don’t stand there dressed up as the good witch from the Wizard of Oz while you hand out gospel tracts. Because that is mixing light with darkness.
I’m not sure that Christians 3 or 4 generations ago could have imagined what it would be like to live in our time. The Christian of today (not all, but many) seems to think it a necessary service to the culture they live in to concoct all sorts of explanations as to how the undead and witches and wizards and vampires etc. are actually effective tools that can be used to convey the message of the gospel. Our family fails to see how this is so. It’s like attempting to quench one’s thirst with whiskey. There’s simply too much poison in there to risk it. Particularly when there’s a clean glass of water nearby. The gospel is the best way to convey the message of the gospel.
We need to not be afraid to state that wicked things are not light and truth.
“And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.” Ephesians 5:11
“Beloved, follow not that which is evil, but that which is good. He that doeth good is of God: but he that doeth evil hath not seen God.” 3 John 1:11
I’m linked up at:
Amen!
Absolutely agree!
Well said!
Thank you!
October 31st is All Souls Day, November 1st is All Saints Day two very different but important holidays.
Actually October 31st is the eve of All Saints’ Day, hence the term “All Hallow’s Eve”. November 2nd is All Souls Day.
I edited my post. I actually meant to put Reformation Day there. That’s what happens when you write posts at midnight. Lol 🙂
My sons birthday is Halloween, so we always celebrated with a little party and trick or treating with friends.
Beautifully said! Maybe I’ll just print this out and hand it to everyone who asks why my family won’t be involved with our church’s “Fall Festival”.
This is mostly just curiosity, so please don’t construe this as any kind of accusation. I know how easy it is to misunderstand each other on the internet.
How “Fall” is your church’s Fall Festival? I mostly ask because I think it is possible to have a Fall Festival without getting mixed up in Halloween. Our church just recently had a Fall Festival and we were very careful to make sure that it wasn’t a Halloween-ish deal. There was no candy or costumes, and it was held early enough that I wouldn’t think people would associate it with Halloween (though I did see that one church had a Trunk or Treat the very next night, but that seemed early to me). We had a bounce house and some games and gave out popcorn.
However, in the past, we’ve done Harvest Parties that were actually on Halloween and involved candy and such. And because it was on the actual day, there were kids and adults in costume.
I am not commenting to start an argument, only to interject some light (truth) on the matter. Halloween is not a pagan holiday and is actually the day before (or eve of) All Saint’s Day, hence the name All Hallow’s Eve. I do completely agree that the secular world has destroyed this holiday as they do most other Christian holidays, but those Catholics or other Christians who choose to still celebrate this day according to their beliefs are not necessarily just trying to “create alternative parties in the attempt to comfort their children and not appear too out of step with the culture.” We (most Catholics, at least) are not just trying to “redeem” Halloween in our families, because it has always been “our” holiday.
Actually, Halloween was a pagan holiday before the Catholics made it into All Hallow’s Eve. The pope wanted to make a day to honor the martyrs/saints that had died for the faith, and chose the day Sahmain(pronounced sow-in) because it’d be easier to convert pagans if they could still semi-celebrate their own holidays.
You can read my post about this here: http://dreamingofperfect.weebly.com/1/post/2013/10/my-thoughts-on-halloween.html
Yet another catholic mommy that does celebrate Halloween as I believe it to be a Christian holiday, no matter what else was celebrated then.
Christmas celebrates the birth of Christ. He was not born in December, and yet it is celebrated then, at the same point that pagans celebrated winter solstice, and in ways that have traditional pagan roots. Just because this holiday was created and celebrated before the birth of Christ and is celebrated at the same time, should I then back away and not celebrate our savior’s birth?
This is EXACTLY what this argument sounds like. All gallows eve and all saints day are both very important celebrations and they will be celebrated incur strict catholic home. 🙂
Actually dear, the Catholic holiday All Saints Day was created in an effort to integrate the pagan holiday of Samheim (pronounced “sow-ween” and ingluential to the modern pronunciation of Halloween) into that religion. The next holidy in the pagan Celtic calendar is Beltain which falls on the winter solstice (December 21st) and is celebrated for several days thereafter. It was also added into the conglomerate pagan celebrations to become the Catholic holidays thatis celebrated as Christmas on December 25th.
Well said! My (Catholic) husband and I are striving to figure out how to do this within our family because the culture has destroyed ANY semblance of Christian roots — but we want to reclaim the day with all of its significance so that our children understand the truth. I struggle because I was raised in a Christian home that did NOT celebrate Halloween, and that was fine with me. But with the new knowledge that my husband and his faith have granted me, I’m trying to find the “perfect” way to celebrate the light while most of the world revels in the darkness.
Sorry, but the pagans had the holiday first. It was the early Christians who took the existing traditions and pressed them into their religion in an effort to convert those pagans into Christianity.
Christianity took a lot of pagan festivals, rituals and ideas and converted them in an attempt to teach pagans. It’s why there are Christmas trees and Easter eggs. Jesus was not born in December, but we celebrate it in December because the early Christians took over an ancient winter holiday.
Glad I’m not the only Catholic over here 🙂 Somehow the idea that Halloween is a pagan holiday has gotten perpetuated in the church, and we need to take back our holiday!! 🙂 All joking aside, here is a great article on the Catholic origins of Halloween. Has the secular culture twisted this holiday? Yes. But what would a holiday be without Satan twisting it! Just look at Easter, Valentine’s Day, Christmas, etc…..http://www.ucatholic.com/blog/the-catholic-origins-of-halloween/
Here’s the Christian answer Alix http://www.gty.org/resources/articles/a123
It is pagan
It’s pagan. Source: http://inventors.about.com/od/sstartinventions/a/Samhain.htm
The Catholic church didn’t begin until the 300s, and it began as a way to convert the masses(pagan and christian) to one religion. You can better control people if they all agree. For more on the Catholic church: http://www.chick.com/reading/tracts/0071/0071_01.asp , http://www.contendingfortruth.com/?p=3796 , and http://www.contendingfortruth.com/?p=1066
Ok just in case you didn’t get a chance to read the article I posted a link to, here is an excerpt: “It’s true that the ancient Celts of Ireland and Britain celebrated a minor festival on October 31–as they did on the last day of most other months of the year. However, Halloween falls on the last day of October because the Solemnity of All Saints, or “All Hallows,” falls on November 1. The feast in honor of all the saints in heaven used to be celebrated on May 13, but Pope Gregory III (d. 741) moved it to November 1, the dedication day of All Saints Chapel in St. Peter’s at Rome. Later, in the 840s, Pope Gregory IV commanded that All Saints be observed everywhere. And so the holy day spread to Ireland.” All Hallow’s Eve (Halloween) actually used to be celebrated in May, the day before All Saints Day. Then Pope Gregory III moved All Saint’s Day to Nov 1 to coincide with the dedication of All Saint’s Chapel, there for All Hallow’s Eve moved to Oct 31…..Did the Celtics also have a holiday on that day? Yes. But that has nothing to do with Halloween.
And how did those Celts celebrate their October 31st festival, that had nothing to do with Halloween?
– They lit great bonfires
– They bobbed for apples
– They dressed as goblins and spirits. (To fool the real goblins and spirits they believed roamed the earth that night.)
– They left gifts of food and drink for those goblins and spirits. (Which they would also give to the people who had dressed up, if they came to their door.)
– They placed lit candles into turnips and gourds that they had carved with faces.
Yes. Clearly the Celtic festival of Samhain has absolutely nothing to do with Halloween…
The Catholic Church is the church founded by Christ, so well before the year 300! I’m not trying to start drama here, but had to speak out on that one! 🙂 For a wonderful source of authentic information on the Catholic Church, please consult the Catechism of the Catholic Church.
Yes, if you read the pre-Constantine Church fathers like Justin Martyr and Ignatius of Antioch you will see that the way that Christians worshiped and what they believed was essentially what the Catholic Church believes today. Here is a video where that is discussed by a scholar.
As I once was a practicing pagan, I learned that Halloween came from paganism and was converted over to Christianity to bring more people into the church. Which is one of the reason why we don’t celebrate halloween anymore. It has pagan roots!
I am curious if you celebrate Christmas then?
Or Easter?
Halloween is certainly NOT a pagan holiday 🙂 Here is a great history of Halloween for your 🙂 Halloween has been transformed by the secular world (all Christian holidays have been) but it’s roots are Christian, not pagan. http://www.ucatholic.com/blog/the-catholic-origins-of-halloween/
Beautifully written! Thank you!
Amen!
It is pecan indeed! It is not in the Bible and it is NOT a FEAST of the Lord found in Scriptures. It is what it is. We cannot make it something else or redeem it. All Saint’s Day is not in the Bible, it is a MAN made tradition. So, that’s what we should say. It’s a tradition of man. No not all traditions are bad, yet the only pure traditions and holiday’s are what God set up perfectly in His Word.
So does that mean you follow all the feasts listed in the Bible and you are Jewish?
You don’t have to be jewish to celebrate the feasts.
Agreed. They serve as a nice learning experience for what the Jews used to do under the law. My church does it for fun, to better understand the bondage of the law. Does that make sense?
We don’t have to do them, but sometimes it’s fun to learn how the people lived and served God in the OT.
That’s very sad that your church sees the feasts as bondage. I find it hard to understand how people think that a loving Heavenly Father would command us to do these feasts … these appointed times with Him … and yet they still consider them bondage. A brief read through Psalms will reveal that the commandments are a delight. And the feasts will be celebrated again in the future, at least the feast of Tabernacles – see Zechariah 14:16-19.
Sorry, I meant to say pagan, not pecan!
Well said, and we 100% agree. Yes, Halloween is a pagan holiday that was started when the pagans didn’t like the celebration of All Saints Day and so they created the All Hallows Eve to celebrate Satan and be involved in satanic rituals. It is a man-made holiday and not one that we should recognize or even celebrate. Our focus should be on Thanksgiving and the upcoming celebration of our Lord’s birth!
Sorry, but Samhain was around long before the Christians showed up. It was the Christians that took over Samhain by placing their holiday the next day in an effort to convert the pagans.
http://www.ucatholic.com/blog/the-catholic-origins-of-halloween/
I have to say I mostly disagree with your premise about what early Christians would think about celebrating Halloween. Scripture is full of talk regarding paganism, worship of other gods, satan and darkness. I also completely understand that you would choose to have your children avert their eyes when there is something that could defraud them, but shielding children’s faces when passing a neighbors house with jackolanterns and Halloween decor that they probably are using to be kind to the neighborhood children could really be shaming to them. I realize that’s a bit of a slippery slope, but I think it’s something to at least be careful about. To me, it seems a bit legalistic especially if someone celebrates Christmas and puts a Christian spin on secular items like Christmas trees, but that’s just my personal feeling and I know there are a lot of different ways to do it!
I have to agree. I find that many Christians are being a little hypocritical when they say, “We don’t celebrate Halloween for its pagan roots.” But, then they go on to celebrate Christmas and Easter…. All of these holidays are man-made and not mentioned in the Bible. The only holidays that are in the Bible that we could(if we wanted to, not mandated anymore) celebrate are the feasts.
Christmas was actually a celebration of the birth of the sun god, and Easter was a fertility festival(hence bunnies and eggs…). I don’t think that many Christians look into it though. As a former pagan, I know its roots. It’s still celebrated that way today.
Can something clean come out of something unclean? Can a fountain yield both salt and fresh water? I don’t think that God would be happy with us putting His sinless and holy name on these pagan days. I don’t think that people are going to hell for celebrating them, but I don’t think that it makes God happy.
We do not celebrate Halloween because of it’s pagan roots. Christmas’s roots are not pagan. The coming of Jesus was celebrated by the angels, the shepherds and the wise men. Pagan traditions have overtaken the origin celebration. We focus on celebrating Jesus’s birth, the best gift God has ever given mankind. The same goes for Resurrection Sunday. We do not celebrate Easter because that is a pagan celebration. But of course we celebrate the day Jesus rose from the dead.
When did Jesus mandate the celebration of His birth? Is there any mention of celebrating ANY birthdays in the Bible(other than pagans like the Pharoh, Harod, and Job’s sons that God killed because of it)?? If anyone had a right to celebrate a birthday it was Jesus, and He never did!
The roots of Christmas are pagan, Jesus was not born on Dec. 25. God speaks against X-mas trees in Jeremiah 10:2-5, saying in the beginning “learn not the way of the heathen.”
I urge you to look more into this. I was a pagan, and I assure you that these holidays have been around long before the Catholic church “christianized” them.
I like the site contendingfortruth.com He is a non-denominational Christian man that exposes many common misconceptions in our faith. I think the problem is that we come in with a lot of preconceived notions, if you read your Bible without bias God will show you His ways. Unfortunately, many don’t know the pagan roots of these days because the Catholic church took them over in the 300s. Early Christians did NOT celebrate these holidays until 1820(here’s a video about that: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZAL80TMLaE&playnext=1&list=PLSERlM3gQ8bSn9jL6NFVv1zOqIfFsKlfO&feature=results_video )
I’ll pray for you. It took me a long time to give up things that I loved(like X-mas and birthdays). God bless.
Though I agree with some of what you say, I find the Jack-O-Lantern a bit ironic.
We have chosen to celebrate Reformation Day. It is actually a legitimate holiday in other parts of the world, it gives us an incentive to study the lives of extremely important people who might otherwise be forgotten, (there are many resources which focus on learning about a different reformer every day in October), and yes, it is a “substitute” for Halloween. I never grew up celebrating Halloween, and never felt I was “missing out”. However, I always spent the evening in terror and fear
since I’ve always been a person who doesn’t like “scary things”. My parents did not scare me with stories about how bad Halloween was; it was barely mentioned and they treated it like any other night. But you can’t go anywhere without seeing unpleasant things this time of year. The wordly images and spirit surrounding Halloween were to terrible to my little heart, and the idea of something uplifting and joyful to celebrate instead is something I want for my children. Something I need for myself. This year and last year were our first times to celebrate Reformation Day, and I thank God for the peace and joy He has given me during a time which was my most feared and dreaded.
Psalms 23:3-4
“He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil: for thou art with me…”
The only important person I want to study is Christ. I don’t need a holiday for that.
Agreed. I tend to agree with all of your posts Danielle. =)
I kind of want to ask you a few questions about your faith, do you mind emailing me? My email is hjurgelis@yahoo.com
Thanks.
I grew up not doing anything on halloween–it was just another day in our family. It seemed as if all the other kids at school did stuff at halloween time and made fun of us for not participating, but that was just the way it was. Then, when I had my own kids, I made the choice to continue on in this way. The church that I was a member of held a “Fall Festival” every year, but we didn’t attend. One year, when my oldest was about 6 or 7 years old, all of the folks in church REALLY started in on me about attending and helping out with the “Fall Fest”, and I explained, yet again, why we don’t participate. Everyone, including the pastor, assured me that it had absolutely nothing to do with halloween, was not even held on the same day, and no one dressed up. So I agreed to help out. On the day of the festival, I showed up at the church, went inside, and started helping to set food out. Most of it was “scary”-type junk. Then looked outside and saw the pastor’s wife and mother-in-law dressed in long black robes, with pointy hats, stirring on a huge black pot. I left, and will not attend anything of the sort again! I felt that I had been lied to, and certainly did not see how darkness, witchcraft, and scary stuff could point people towards God.
Ah, Halloween. We don’t celebrate. When we did celebrate, we struggled with trying reconcile our reasons. It never did seem to line up with our beliefs. So, we quit. My younger kids have no idea what it is. My older kids roll their eyes when they see the decorations or the fact the aisle are filled with cheaply made costumes and candy to rot teeth. We love the idea of harvest celebrations, but again – it’s a substitution. We don’t do trunk or treats, nor do we do church activities set around the same time. BUT, we try not to judge those who do. We are ultimately responsible for our own lives and our own families.
I think you did very well with the post.
Our decision not to celebrate Halloween would hold even if it didn’t have pagan origins. Halloween in our day is symbolized by witches, ghosts, devils, zombies, horror, scaring oneself and others, evil & darkness. These are things that are part and parcel with Halloween in the average person’s mind. So as Christians, we don’t want to be associated with that day. Even if we participated in nice costumes, it doesn’t change what the holiday is very much associated with in the very present day.
That is how I feel about it. My 7 yr old told a classmate that we don’t celebrate Halloween because we don’t believe in zombies and monsters. I told him that people associate Halloween with death and evil (witchcraft, zombies, etc) and I don’t see how that can be pleasing to God. We want to please God, so we “abstain from the very appearance of evil”
Our family has celebrated Reformation Day for years. I think it is terribly sad that most of the church at large has never heard of the Reformation and do not know the significance of the day in history.
I feel the enemy has stolen a very important church history date and hidden it in pagan celebrations.
Martin Luther put his paper on the door of the church on Halloween because he knew that people would be out celebrating. It was pagan before the reformation.
Well I agree to disagree!! I am a Christina and I have a lot of fun at Halloween. You ask any peganist after all we claim Halloween is their party right the no believers they just laugh at us. It’s man made their day is the day before which is why it was labeled devils night. Don’t read any more into Halloween then it is . A time to dress up and have some fun! I grew up in a Christian home and my grandparent were very strict we still dressed up and went trick or treating on halloween my fondest memory is of my dad dressing up as Ronald Mcdonald and taking us girls trick or treating.
Well said!
Thank you to someone else who does not celebrate Halloween! We instead celebrate / learn about Reformation Day.
You’ve taken a stand on a really hard subject. Very well said. I grew up without Halloween (and managed to have a perfectly happy childhood) however I didn’t marry well, and my then husband loved Halloween. Because he liked it, I had to let my children participate. The only thing I asked, is that their costumes be creative, and not horrible things like witches and zombies. That was the compromise we made. I still hate halloween and it has gotten worse over the years.
But it is confusing to me, because from what I have read, Christmas was placed where it is, to replace another pagan holiday. I did some research yesterday for a Valentine’s Day article I had to write, and it also has pagan roots. And we always celebrate Christmas and do Valentine’s Day. Without a thought of anything pagan. Is it because Halloween is so openly gross and disgusting? And Christmas is so beautiful and lit up? I don’t know, but it’s something I’ve always wondered about. I appreciate your post, and I’m glad to know I’m not the only one! 🙂 Karen
Those are awesome questions that I would like to know more about as well.
If you want to know the truth about the holidays, go to http://www.contendingfortruth.com A Christian man talks about all of their roots. You can search them in the search bar to the right. He goes really in depth, and I think it’s really interesting.
We do not celebrate Halloween and we didn’t growing up either. I will say it might be different for those who did grow up that way. For those growing up who were taught that it’s just fun and games and dressing up in cute costumes might not see it so black and white. I am not ashamed that I don’t celebrate Halloween though!
This!
“For those growing up who were taught that it’s just fun and games and dressing up in cute costumes might not see it so black and white.”
I grew up enjoying Halloween. We were always encouraged to come up with creative costumes, not just some scary whatsit off the rack. I was a ladybug and Pippi Longstocking (with braids that really stuck out from my head). I won awards for Best Costume. I have all these wonderful childhood memories. And now I’m an adult with a 6-year old and a 2-year old and I see how dark it all is and I feel all this pressure from family to be sure I bring the kids around in their costumes for pictures. And it’s so hard to figure out how I really feel about it. Or even how I’m supposed to feel. So I end up on this tightrope where I try to limit my children’s exposure and keep our Halloween “celebration” to a minimum. But my family still expects us to bring them around in costumes, and they still love playing dress-up and actually being able to show it off. Every year, I renew the debate in my mind over whether or not we should be allowing our children to do any of it. I have yet to formulate a concrete answer for myself, so we end up defaulting into what we grew up with.
We don’t celebrate it with our family either, and while I agree that it is a rather silly tradition, I would not tell everyone “head down” when passing Halloween decorations. I will explain my children more about the Holiday and what people do… I just don’t think I would keep their eyes closed. It’s the world we live in. We cannot close our eyes forever for what we personally perceive as negative… the good and the bad, it’s something we all have to deal with and learn about, and as an adult form an opinion on.
As children grow up, you can’t keep really keep them in the unknown forever. There’s good and bad everywhere, I would not ignore the subject but rather inform them on everything and share our family’s view. 🙂
“It’s like attempting to quench one’s thirst with whiskey. There’s simply too much poison in there to risk it. Particularly when there’s a clean glass of water nearby. The gospel is the best way to convey the message of the gospel.”
I love this quote!
Excellent post. I participated in Halloween as a child but hated the feel of it. Our church did some research over 20 years ago and we don’t participate in Halloween, Christmas, Valentine’s Day or Easter.
We have a Lord’s Birth Celebration and, celebrate His Resurrection, give Thanks on Thanksgiving Day, and Praise Him for the New Year.
As Christians you have to prayerful what you participate in and not be afraid to be the odd man out when you take a stand or stand out.
AMEN! I so appreciated this post and the truth that was in it! Many blessings to your family 🙂
AMEN & AMEN!! Thank-you for this post! I did not grow up either celebrating halloween & certainly don’t expect to start now! I am teaching our children the evils of this holiday & how Jesus brings Life, not death!!
Excellent post as always Caroline! Very tastefully written. How could anyone argue your point? 🙂
I looked up halloween on history.com. Quite interesting. It tells the WHOLE truth. Not spun by Catholic or Christian beliefs.
We don’t celebrate halloween either. I did as a child, but that’s what we did. We went to “church” parties (catholic) who had fortune tellers and palm readers too. Too demonic for me. Soooo glad I’m not Catholic anymore.
Oh the link. http://www.history.com/topics/halloween
Danielle B, Fortune tellers and palm readers are not Catholic. They are demonic and Catholic teaching teaches against all of that, including superstition (horoscopes, too!). I am sorry you encountered that growing up in The Church. I can assure you, it is not what The Church teaches and the people who were involvled in putting on that “celebration” will have to answer to Our Lord. You are always welcome to come “back home” to the Catholic Church.
I am Catholic, born and raised, and we do not celebrate Halloween, although I did as a kid. Instead we have an “All Hallows Eve” party celebrating the wonderful people that have gone and spread the Good News before us. We dress up as our favorite Saints, rehearse facts about them, and try and have people guess who we are. We play “Stump the Priest” and have cake in celebration of those excellent examples of Faith that walked the Earth. Just another way to take in the day and keep our kids safe from predators that are out there lurking in the dark seeking to devour the souls of our children or harm them in body. Sounds pretty grim, but… unfortunately, it is the sign of the times. God bless you all!
Halloween is not a Catholic holiday. I’m Catholic and there’s nothing catholic about celebrating the secular holiday of halloween, now if you are using the day as what is should be used for, as in prayer and abstinence…that’s completely different and actually what the day is supposed to be for, especially for Catholics. This man does a great job explaining in his article: http://catholicexchange.com/the-mystery-modern-mayhem-of-halloween/
I meant to also say I loved your article. Raised some great points!
Wonderful post.
I grew up celebrating Halloween like most of my friends, dressing up, going trick-or-treating, going to parties, etc. When my older children were younger (about 17 years ago) I discovered the real roots of Halloween. We now try not to have anything to do with Halloween. We have tried handing out candy with a gospel message, but since that year (a few years ago) no one has come to our house. So, now, we don’t even plan to hand anything out. This year we did carve 5 little pumpkins to spell out J-E-S-U-S. We will have them on our porch to proclaim that Jesus is the light of the world.
Good for you! Excellent post!
This will be our first year NOT celebrating Halloween. We participated enthusiastically for years, but as we’ve grown as a family we’ve felt more and more yuck over it – more and more convicted that we were joining in something whose only (modern) purpose seems to be to glorify and make light of anything and everything that is disgusting, violent, sinful, evil, and vile. You’re right – it’s not redeemable. Thank you for the encouragement as we step out in faith this year!!
A lady told me the other day that the only way for Christians to be “salt” was to “get out of the shaker”. While that is cute, I have to say that in the matter of Halloween, we have also chosen to let our light shine by being separated. We choose to know our neighbors EVERY day. We interact regularly with others around us to spread the gospel. I don’t care if others celebrate halloween, that’s what works for them, but I am tired of so many being so mean either way. Thank you for the kind way you have expressed your opinion here.
I just wanted to also share that as Christians we are commanded in Romans 14 to not judge one another in regards to food/drink/observance of holidays. And also in Colossians 2:16 no one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival, etc… Sometimes as Christians we can be the most vicious attackers on each other (brothers and sisters in Christ) in regards our own conceived ideas/morals and values. This is by no means a license for pagan participation and I totally agree as a society we have embraced more of the occultic ‘glory’ of this season. However, if another believer celebrates and participates by ‘trick or treating’ and observes the day for the Lord and gives thanks to God, it is by Him he will be judged. We are not in authority to do that on this issue.
AMEN! AMEN!! Wonderful post, Caroline! Continue to let your light shine!
Just my perspective on Halloween 🙂 … http://www.findingmodestperspective.wordpress.com
I’ve been sharing a post that I wrote around this time last year about the same topic – why we choose not to celebrate, and haven’t since we got married. Our pastor & his wife encouraged us during pre-marital counseling to pray about and search the Scriptures about which holidays to partake of, and how. We were given a documentary on Halloween not long after that, that caused us to be strongly convicted that there was no way we could engage in any way and be honoring the Lord – and at this time, we don’t even feel the freedom to participate in harvest parties or other alternatives.
However, we have known people who do participate in various ways, and the Lord seems pleased to use their efforts. I find in the Scriptures a pleading to flee from every appearance of evil, but they have other verses that speak to them, and I keep encouraging friends to seek the whole counsel of God and ask the Spirit to convict them of what they should do – and the desire to act accordingly, and I remember that, as a relative babe in the Lord, I don’t know everything yet and need to be willing to keep seeking the whole counsel of God and asking the Spirit to convict me where I need it, too.
Thank you for sharing 🙂
~Lisha
I feel that passing out candy is allowing others to participate in this activity that is not God honoring. I can’t, in good conscience, give tracts or candy to others because that would confuse the person you are “witnessing” to. This is why you are to witness in the Spirit.
I completely agree Caroline! It’s an Irish Celtic Druid day that the Catholics tried to “redeem” by having their “praying for the dead” day, although, as Christians, we know it’s too late for them by that point. (They also did this with many other things, such as, “replace” the goddess Diana with Mary, the mother of Jesus, even though the Bible clearly states who Mary really was and that she can’t save us. But they were more concerned with power, than souls). Either way, it’s about death. And I lived in Ireland, where the origin of Halloween comes from. We celebrated it as kids, but definitely don’t now.
“…I can honestly tell you that the blessings and joy of obedience are far greater than any fun I ever had “celebrating.”
http://www.prophezine.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=676%3A10-reasons-i-kissed-halloween-goodbye&catid=41%3Atop-headlines
The Bible says “I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.” (Mat. 10:16) When my girls were younger, I would let them wear their ballerina tutus or something from their dress up collection and give out candy and tracts on Halloween; they never realized they were “missing out.” As they got older, they understood the purpose of handing out tracts and enjoyed it even more but where we live right now, we don’t get many kids coming to the door. My oldest daughter then came up with a more offensive approach to Halloween as it is the one day out of the year where people willingly open their doors to strangers, so now we use it to our advantage and go “tract or treating” and pass out Chick tracts explaining the origins of Halloween as well as a message of salvation through Jesus Christ. My girls make their own costumes, nothing ghoulish, (Last year my youngest girl dressed as a Pet Vet and my oldest dressed up for a masquerade ball); they make sure to respect homeowners property and not run across lawns like the other kids, they say thank you when they get their candy and then they sweetly say something like “and here’s something for you!” Everyone is surprised to get something in return, they take it willingly (none have refused), and they’ve just accepted a gospel tract into their home! Last year we knocked on the doors of 75 families… this year we hope to do 100+. (If we just went door-knocking on any other day, we’d be lucky if we got out a handful of tracts) It’s a win-win for everyone!
I completely agree with you, Caroline! Thanks so much for taking a stand for the truth!
I totally agree with this post! It’s nice to hear other people feel the same way we do. We don’t “celebrate” halloween and we don’t like it. Today is one of my sister’s birthday so that’s the only celebration going on. My kids don’t like all the spooky stuff people decorate their yards and houses with and frankly, we are all glad when it’s over. We don’t turn our porch light on or hand out candy or promote it in any way. I won’t even take my kids into our local CVS until its over because they have a 6 ft grim reaper standing there when you walk in {they have moved it into the seasonal area} that would scare the pants off them. We were planning on all going in to the Minute Clinic there to get our flu shots and I decided to wait. We celebrate that it is harvest time and God has been so good to us this year. We did go to a harvest party our church had at another church member’s house out in the country but there were no costumes, no dressing up or makeup. Only blow up stuff for the kids to play on and some games to play. There was a massive amount of wonderful food that and fellowship that we all enjoyed. It was not a halloween celebration. If we had gotten there and there were costumes and everything else we would have left. Tonight we will stay home, inside, the porch light off and maybe make some caramel corn and just have a nice family evening together. We just feel like we are not glorifying God by glorifying halloween.
Thank you for such a well-written post on this issue. I “lightly” celebrated Halloween as a child. I lived in a rural area that received very few trick-or-treaters and it was too far to walk between houses in the dark. Occasionally, a school or church would have a trick-or-treating or fall festival event as a safer alternative, and I did dress up and go to a few of those. My elementary school also allowed the kids to dress up during the day on Halloween and I usually participated. On the whole, though, I never felt a strong connection to this holiday and now that I am grown and I have a better understanding of its origins, I am opposed to it. Because I live alone, I am leary of opening my door to random strangers after dark. I always turn off the porch light and lights in the front part of the house and rufuse to answer the door if someone knocks.
We celebrate Reformation Day, not as ‘an alternative’ to Halloween, but because we’re Lutheran and thus it’s a very important day to us. Much more important than Halloween (which we wouldn’t ‘celebrate’ anyways because of the Satanic roots and influences).
Yes. KL, we do the same with All Saints Day. We don’t do it as an “alternative”, instead we do it because it is an important day to us as Catholics… remembering all of our loved ones who have gone before us and who are hopefully celebrating in the embrace of the arms of Our Lord. You said what I have been thinking but was unable to implement into words.
This is the day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it! Psalm 118:24
We do not celebrate Halloween, but I do not let the world stop me from celebrating any day, the Lord has made them all 🙂
Caroline, this is a brave post and well said!
As a response to some of the above comments I wanted to say that I am a Catholic and I do not celebrate Halloween. Halloween is not a Catholic Holiday. This can be simply seen by the fact that it is not in our liturgical calendar. All Saints day is not Halloween and wasn’t intended to be.
If you are interested in the history of All Saints and All Souls I suggest the book The Holiday Book by Fr. Francis Weiser, a historian and college professor.
He states that All Saints Day was moved by Pope Gregory IV (844) to Nov. 1 from May 13 because it was easier to feed people after the harvest.
He also states that Halloween is not a Christian Holiday. Here is a quote:
“Unlike the familiar observance of All Souls, Halloween traditions have never been connected with Christian religious celebrations of any kind. Although the name is taken from a great Christian feast (Allhallows’ Eve), it has nothing in common with the feast of All Saints and is, instead, a tradition of pre-Christian times that has retained its original character in form and meaning.
Halloween customs are traced back to the ancient Druids. This is attested to by the fact that they are still observed only in those sections of Europe where the population is wholly or partly of Celtic stock. In ancient times around November 1 the burning of fires marked the beginning of winter. Such Halloween fires are kindled in many places even now, especially in Wales and Scotland.
Another, and more important, tradition is the Druidic belief that during the night of November 1 demons, witches, and evil spirits roamed the earth in wild and furious gambols of joy to greet the arrival of “their season”-the long nights and early dark of the winter months. They had their fun with the poor mortals that night, frightening, harming them, and playing all kinds of mean tricks. The only way, it seemed, for scared humans to escape the persecution of the demons was to offer them things they liked, especially dainty food and sweets. Or, in order to escape the fury of these horrible creatures, a human could disguise himself as one of them and join in their roaming. In this way they would take him for one of their own and he would not be bothered. That is what people did in ancient times, and it is in this very form the custom has come down to us, practically unaltered, as our familiar Halloween celebration: the horrible masks of demons and witches, the disguise in strange and unusual gowns, the ghost figures, the frightening gestures and words, the roaming through the streets at night, the pranks played, and finally the threatening demand of a “trick or treat.” The pumpkin “ghosts” or jack-o-lanterns with a burning candle inside may well be a combination of the demon element and the Halloween fire.”
We recently had this discussion. It came down to the fact that Halloween does not glorify God and that is the chief end of man. It’s hard to take a stand, but thanks for writing this Caroline.
If anyone is still interested from a Catholic standpoint: http://www.americaneedsfatima.org/Articles/halos-v-halloween.html
I grew up in an area where it was all fun and games. After marriage and before children we lived in a different area of the state and I was a journalist. There was a ritual killing on Halloween one year and I had to help do some research for the lead reporter on it. Fast forward 25 years and four kids later we have NEVER participated in celebrating this holiday. This year we switched churches and just found out they do Trunk or Treat. We’ve revisited the issue as we still have young kids even though the older ones are grown now. We still feel the same way. It may be fun and games to some, but to many it is their high holy night. We will give no honor to their master. I will say though that at certain points our kids did miss what they weren’t getting to do. One year in particular we had a serious discussion with them. We asked them what they really wanted and of course it was candy. We asked them to respectfully and cheerfully submit to our choice as their parents. They did in beautiful, heartfelt prayer. The next day (we were traveling and in a hotel during that week) the lady at the front desk told our girls that they had an abundance of leftovers and knew that they would enjoy some candy. She gave each of them a gallon size Zip-Loc bag full of candy. While doing homeschool in the atrium there was a man refilling the candy machine. He turned and looked at my children and said, “Well, would you look at that. I have too much candy to fill all the slots.” He proceeded to give each of them their very favorite candy. He didn’t know what their favorites were, but God certainly did. Because they cheerfully submitted to our authority God gave them the desires of their hearts. It was a beautiful faith building lesson for us all. No, no Halloween for me. I try to make sure that night that I spend some time praying for all those who are missing in our nation. I pray that they have not fallen into the hands of these evil people.
My husband and I both grew up celebrating Halloween, but have come to see the truth of this day of death celebrating as wrong. Now we hand out tracts, dressed in our everyday clothes at a local grocery store that allows it. We also pray for those out in the revelry going on, for souls and safety.
First of all, I would like to commend you and your husband for writing this post. Most people are afraid to put their opinions on such a hot topic on the internet for fear of negative comments. Secondly, I think one of the most important issues you brought up is that this will be different for each family. We will all be held accountable to Christ for the way we raise our children. We must remember that love and unity are very important facets of our faith. Let’s remember this when we speak to each other in the comments. May God be glorified in ALL that we do and say.
Wonderfully put. 🙂 Thanks so much for being courageous enough to put your thoughts about this out there!
I so appriciate your post! Our family is like yours concerning Halloween. I feel like the mixing of light and dark has become so prevalent that believers don’t see anything wrong with it. Kuddos to you for sharing your convictions!!!
We do not dress up however we are the most generous family in the neighborhood and pass out good candy with a verse about light in darkness. We take the opportunity that once a year neighbors come to us and we use that time to share the light of Christ with them on a very dark night. We also have outposful conversation and hand out hot chocolate to them and usually that allows time for discussion in why our kids are not dressed up, yet we do not want to opportunity to share the gospel to ever pass us by.