by Pastor Tony

At the end of October, millions of children across America will dress up in costumes, visit the homes of people they trust, and gleefully announce, “Trick or treat!” They’ll smile as they receive candy, grimace at the occasional apple or other healthy “treat” dropped into their bags, and scurry home, eager to review the night’s haul. Later, parents will sigh as their sugar-fueled progeny bounce off the walls, and dentists will sleep well, assured of at least a few more years of steady customers.

For better or worse, Halloween is firmly entrenched in American culture, in spite of all that is concerning and potentially dangerous about the holiday: children in dark clothing on the streets at night, twisted strangers who might put something harmful into a treat, teens or even pre-teens who use the holiday as a pretense for causing property damage, etc. In addition, various religious elements of our society see connections between Halloween and dark forces, even devil worship. Some of this is real, and some is imagined.

So what is a thoughtful, responsible Christian to do? If you allow your child to dress up and ask for candy, are you encouraging participation in something evil? Are you a bad parent? Or, if you keep your child at home, are you an overzealous kook?

Roman Origin

“Halloween” is a portmanteau, a single word created by blending other words. It comes from “All Hallows Even,” a sixteenth century Scottish name for the evening before “All Hallows Day,” which we know as All Saints’ Day (November 1). “Hallow” means “holy,” and so does “saint,” which comes from the Latin sanctus.

In the Roman Catholic Church, “All Saints’ Day” refers to the Solemnity of All Saints, a holy day of obligation — Catholics are required to attend Mass. All Saints Day commemorates those who have died in the faith and have attained the beatific vision, which means the eternal, personal, direct visual perception of God in heaven. Even today, most predominantly Catholic countries treat All Saints Day as a national holiday.

Most scholars agree that the history of All Saints’ Day can be traced to May 13, 609 A.D., when Pope Boniface IV consecrated the formerly pagan Pantheon in Rome in honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary and all martyrs. He did this on the last day of the festival of Lemuria, when Roman men performed a ritual to exorcise evil spirits (lemures, sometimes also called larvae) from their households. On the third day of Lemuria, men throughout the empire rose at midnight and walked through their homes, barefoot, casting black beans over their shoulder and saying, “With these beans, I redeem me and mine,” nine times. Wives, children and servants banged on bronze pots, making as much noise as possible, and said, “Ghosts of my ancestors, go away!” nine times. Boniface, in choosing May 13 for the consecration of the Pantheon, took aim directly at Lemuria and attempted to wipe out the pagan festival by Christianizing it. This tactic was extremely effective.

More than a century later, Pope Gregory III (731-741 A.D.) moved All Saints’ Day to November 1 for the dedication of an oratory, housed within St. Peter’s Basilica, which contained a collection of relics. A “relic,” from the Latin reliquiae, meaning “remains,” typically is a piece of a body part — a fragment of bone, fingernail, or hair — taken from the corpse of a martyr, saint or other honored person and placed in an a special container or mounted for display to the faithful. Less commonly, a relic can also be a bit of cloth or other possession of a deceased holy one. Regardless of the medium, Roman Catholics believe that relics bear God’s grace, as a divine energia (energy, power or force), that may be miraculously dispensed by God even by proximity. In fact, relics were so important to the ancients that the Second Council of Nicaea in 787 A.D. decreed that every Christian altar should contain a relic, and the practice continues today in Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches.

Celtic Influence

Because the date of All Saints’ Day had been moved by the pope to November 1, the solemnity now coincided with the pa- gan Celtic festival of Samhain in Britain, particularly Ireland, Scotland and the Isle of Man. Samhain (Irish, meaning, “summer’s end”) marked the end of the harvest and the transition of the year from sunny and fair to dark and cold. It was a time for holding a feast, slaughtering animals to put up meat for the winter, telling tall tales of conquest and also ghost stories, and reveling. An entire village would gather around two bonfires, walking between them to be “purified,” and sometimes even driving their animals between the fires, also to be purified. At the feast, each family would set an extra place for a departed relative, and people wore masks and costumes — some to impersonate wandering, restless spirits (by playing tricks and scaring people), and some to avoid being recognized by mischievous spirits allegedly released into the world just before winter. Large turnips, carved out and lit with a candle in- side, were placed in the windows of homes, also to ward off evil spirits.

By the 1500’s, the celebration of Samhain in Scotland included “guisers” (men in disguise) who went door to door, per- forming a song, a dance, jokes, or a trick, in return for food or a few coins. In order to see at night, but also to ward off evil spirits, they would carry a lantern made from a carved-out turnip, with a candle inside. However, by the 1700’s, guisers were primarily children in costumes who performed for small cakes, a piece of fruit, or money. Unfortunately, some older children continued the older practice of dressing up in dark clothes and going out to play tricks on people and pull pranks, some of them destructive. In Ireland and England, the festival of Samhain was more heavily influenced by All Saints’ Day. There, the festival practice became “souling.”

Children and poor people would go door to door, with turnip lanterns, offering to sing and pray for the dead in return for small cakes or a piece of fruit. This took place on November 1, All Saints’ Day, not on October 31.

North American Spin

A wave of Scottish and Irish immigration to the United States and Canada in the late 1800’s brought guising and souling to North America. Early references to guising appear in a Kingston, Ontario newspaper in 1911, and in the Ladies Home Journal (U.S.) in 1920. A 1927 issue of the Blackie, Alberta Herald mentions angry townspeople who had to go looking the next morning for wagon wheels, gates and barrels which had been stolen by guisers and left around town. This article also records the first mention of guisers saying, “Trick or treat!” on doorsteps — a new twist, something not done in Britain.

By the 1940’s, trick-or-treating was common in the U.S. and was even featured in popular children’s books, like Jack and Jill, and on television shows like The Jack Benny Show and The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet. However, a growing problem of Halloween pranks, including soaping windows, throwing eggs, toilet-papering trees, and even more destructive behaviors — including property damage and theft — caused many adults in the 1950’s, 1960’s and 1970’s to view Halloween as little more than extortion carried out by pint-sized thugs. Movements to end or at least regulate Halloween arose in communities across America.

Since the 1980’s, new laws and an increased police presence have dramatically curtailed Halloween pranking, so that “Trick or treat!” today is merely a historical holdover. Halloween has been mainstreamed into a children’s event, and it has also become big business: according to the American Sugar Association, Halloween will bring in a staggering $2.23 billion in candy sales this year. Add to that the revenue generated by sales of costumes, food and drinks for parties, etc., and it is easy to see why corporate America has jumped on the Halloween bandwagon.

A Christian Perspective

So...Halloween...what is it, in America, today? Frankly, Halloween is a fully secularized festival deconstructed and disconnected from its religious, cultural and historical roots and rebuilt by the American machine of commerce. What began in pagan Ro- man and Celtic superstition and continued as a pseudo-Christianized observance now exists mainly as an opportunity for adults to party and children to dress up and ask for free candy.

Should Christians be concerned? Well, yes...and no. I don’t think it’s healthy or even excusable to allow children to emulate persons, values or situations inconsistent with the gospel of Jesus Christ. It’s also not healthy for anyone to dabble in the occult, toy with dark forces, mock evil spirits, or treat wickedness and death as a joke or object of morbid fascination. Spiritual warfare is very real: “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.” (Ephesians 6:12-13, NIV) Death is capital punishment for sin: “For the wages of sin is death....” (Romans 6:23) These are not things to take lightly.

In addition, Christians should be aware that various branches of neopaganism, especially Wicca and Celtic Reconstruction- ism, in addition to other groups involved in actual worship of the devil, consider Halloween a major (and for some, the major) religious festival. Thoughtful, responsible Christians would want to avoid giving any appearance even of tacit complicity with these groups, as they are antithetical to everything that we believe. For example, recall that “scary” decorations and carved pumpkins ultimately are rooted in pagan superstition and the desire to placate or ward off evil spirits. As Christians, we don’t trust in these things, but in Christ, who has power and authority over evil spirits (see, for example, Mark 1:21-28), and life with Christ overcomes the darkness (1 John 4:4). I’ve seen some very clever and creative alternative Halloween decorations, and I’ve seen some beautiful pumpkins carved with Christian symbolism, or sometimes even just smiles or goofy faces.

Jesus said, “You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet. You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 5:13-16, ESV)

Of course, the passage above does not mean we should clobber people over the head with our Bible (at least use a soft cover version, it does less damage), nor engage in a pietistic competition to “out-Christian” everybody else at Halloween. Instead, Jesus calls us to do whatever we are doing in a way that shines the light of the gospel into a world filled with darkness. For some, that might mean costumes based on biblical characters and decorations laden with Christian symbolism. For others, that might mean costumes based on heroic professions (military, police, fire, medicine, etc.) and decorations that are friendly, warm and inviting. For still others, that might mean costumes and decorations that are clever and/or funny and help people smile or have a good laugh during these difficult economic times. Specifics are up to the individual. You’re not necessarily being “un-Christian” if you’re not over the top with your family costumes and decorations.

Paul writes, “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.” (Colossians 3:23-24, ESV) Let this be your guide, and you’ll have a wonderful Halloween. Be safe, and be especially cautious and careful in neighborhoods with many small children. Oh, and save some jelly beans for me! LOL

In Christ, Pastor Tony