Don't Do Halloween

Attrib MIKI Yoshihito (Creative Commons) 
As you cannot avoid noticing, today is 31 October, Halloween.  Are you getting spooked up?  If you are hoping to read something about tacky ghosts, black plastic spiders and pumpkins, I suggest you close More Than Writers immediately and move on.

You may be enjoying a quick cup of tea/coffee with your phone after spending the weekend making a Halloween costume for your child or grandchild to wear in school today.  It amazes me how educational establishments which pride themselves on being… oh so terribly… secular and too cool to include God in their harvest festival, celebrate Halloween.  What is there to celebrate, exactly?

Halloween (or Hallowe’en) is a contraction of ‘All Hallows evening’, the day before All Saints Day (1 November) - not to be confused with All Souls Day on 2 November, when we remember the departed.  The tradition originates from the pre-Christian Celtic festival of Samhain, which marked the end of summer, the harvest and the beginning of the dark and cold winter.  The Celts believed that on the night of 31 October the worlds of the living and the dead became blurred and ghosts of the dead returned to earth, so they lit bonfires and wore costumes to ward off ghosts.  All Saints Day was instituted – deliberately - on the day after Samhain, by Pope Gregory III in 800, an example of how the medieval church incorporated a pagan tradition and attempted to put a Christian gloss on it.  A significant proportion of those who emigrated across the pond were Celts (Irish and Scots), the ones who celebrated Samhain most heartily, so the tradition became Americanised – hence the orange pumpkins.

So what’s this got to do with Christians, writers and Christian writers?

I say Halloween is not a Christian tradition.  We should not ‘celebrate’ it or write about it.  Yes, I know there are many comps for ghost stories at about this time of year, but refrain from entering because the comp and the announcing of winners will be become an orange pumpkin and plastic spider fest on a webpage.  Write a ghost story by all means, but do it at any other time of year.  Many Christian traditions are being marginalised.  I say do write about them.  ACW has two wonderful anthologies of short stories, New Life: Reflections for Lent and Merry Christmas Everyone, both edited by Wendy H. Jones and Amy Robinson, and available through the ACW website.  Maybe ACW will publish more anthologies.  (Just saying.)

So what should we do on the evening of 31 October.  Our church holds an event for children and young adults which we call Luminous Light, involving board games, giant chess sets and crafts.  We’ve been doing it for a number of years and we admit it’s an uphill task.  Another suggestion – from a member of the ACW Essex Group (had to get this in) – is to take children and young adults ‘Treating’, calling on older people in the village and giving them chocolates or other nice gifts. 

I say don’t do Halloween because Halloween is not Christian.  What do you think?


Rosemary Johnson has had many short stories published, in print and online, amongst other places, Cafe Lit, Scribble, Friday Flash Fiction, The Copperfield Review, Fiction on the Web and Paragraph Planet.  She has also contributed to Together magazine and Christian Writer.  Her historical novel, Wodka or Tea with Milk, which is set during the Solidarity years in Poland, is… deep breath… due to be published in February 2023.  In real life, she is a retired IT lecturer, living in Suffolk with her husband.

 

Comments

  1. Well what can I add? Our children's primary school, a C of E linked school which has quite strong links with its local church, nonetheless celebrated Halloween - and also introduced the children to the writings of that Dahl man( whole first name I can never spell!) I find both things weird in a 'church school' . Interesting isn't it that schools fo this. As ghosts snd 'living dead' do not exist a secular society has no need to give them a thought! Back when our kids were kids, at least Halloween was more about fun snd less commercialised, here, but now some really nasty costumes etc seem to have been added. (Must find out about the grandchildren's schools!) Yes it is a horrible festival. And taken over here from the US relatively recently- Whereas All Saints is a joyous festivsl and many churches, certainly Anglican snd Catholic ones, hold a service to remember our own, personal, friends and family who are no longer on this earth. We believe their real selves are now'with Christ which is far better'' as Paul says. So - I do agree Rosemary, a pointless snd unpleasant festival, especially so in a world which ignores the awesome, loving God who comes to us at Christmas ( and whose birth has also become messed up by commercialism!)

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  2. By the way, that 'anon' above is me, Clare Weiner

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  3. I am amazed to hear of the number of Christians who take part in this, believing it is a bit of harmless fun. As someone who dabbled with the occult and paid the cost I warn people to avoid it. As Clare says, ghosts and living dead don't exist but demonic spirits do (from experience). Halloween has been driven by a consumerist society and is now the second biggest festival after Christmas. As for writing about it, there is plenty of evil in the world, so use that as your inspiration if you want to write in that genre. As Christian writers, some of us need to portray the reality of spiritual warfare and not go all 'mamby pandy' as if that too isn't real.

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  4. Lovely post, Rosemary! This is a bold post. Yes. Many Christians are not bold. Yet the Lord encourages us to be bold in our prayers and to take matters of the kingdom 'by force'! How do christians respond in their neighbourhoods when they are approached by haloween celebrants? Are we bold enough to ask our kids not to 'conform' or tell the school authorities to exempt our children from taking part in non christian festivals as some non christian parents do? Can we start writing children stories that reflect christian expectations on this? Thanks Rosemary. This is food for thought. Blessings.

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  5. Great and brave posting Rosemary. Without wanting to polarise our society more than it already is, let me imagine children dressed as little angels delivering torches and candles to the elderly, giving them light as the time of darkness approaches. One of the real dangers is that children dress up and become part of the horror at Halloween, playing computer games they are more removed, not physically involved, becoming part of the horror at Halloween may be the step across the line for some, and bring the horrors of the worst experiences in the USA to our shores along with the gore and life-like costumes.

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  6. This is a difficult one, isn't it?
    I've never been comfortable with Halloween and was a strict parent who didn't let my kids go trick or treating. Our church held Light Parties instead (but I found out many parents and kids went trick or treating after).
    When we were in America a few years ago, the local hoteliers had organised a 'trunk or treat' + parade in the high street, with all the shops open and householders having displays in the trunks of their parked cars - so that local children could trick or treat safely. They laid on free food and a real community event that brought people together in what was often a struggling time. That didn't smack of the usual commercialism or horror I would associate with Halloween.
    It made me question how best to approach Halloween and ask myself: how, as Christians, do we best live out being 'in the world but not of it' and 'being light in the darkness'?
    I still don't 'do' Halloween but we do commemorate All Saints and All Souls quietly at home with gathering photos of our late loved ones in a prominent place with some flowers and candles. And that works for us. I took inspiration from the film, Coco, which is about the Day of the Dead celebrations and I found very moving. Do watch it if you haven't.
    Thanks for raising this, Rosemary, and giving us a chance to discuss it in a kind and respectful manner.

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