When I was a kid, I didn't know anyone who didn't celebrate Halloween. My sisters and I loved dressing up and going door-to-door. We greatly anticipated sorting through our haul afterward, trading candy and discarding the items we didn't want. (These pieces were usually eaten by our father. The pieces he didn't want sat until the following March...just in time for Easter.)
As I got older and started to mingle with a younger generation of kids, I became completely baffled by the number of children who didn't celebrate Halloween. "It's evil," they'd say.
Evil?
Really?
I couldn't fathom what was so evil about dressing up and Trick-or-Treating. I thought the whole matter was utterly ridiculous.
As it turns out, the rise of Evangelicalism has brought about more than a wave of ignorance. It's brought back the Harvest Festival.
Brought back? you say.
Interestingly enough, Halloween is more of a Christian holiday than it is a Pagan one. Many European groups (most notably the Celts) celebrated Harvest Festivals as a time to celebrate the end of fall and to prepare for the beginning of winter. As the Christian belief system started integrating with the local Pagan customs, new rituals emerged: wearing costumes to prevent soul-snatching and requesting treats in exchange for prayers.
Different traditions continued to meld until Halloween was eventually formed into the holiday we know and love. It seems that many avid Evangelicals have forgotten its Christian roots and instead have claimed it as Satanic.
Here in Fairbanks I don't recall a church that didn't have a Harvest Festival this year (except for the Mormons - we attended their Halloween Canival and Trunk-or-Treat Extravaganza - rock on, Mormons, rock on). Signs broadcasted that on the night of October 31st, there would be no Halloween - just the Harvest Festival.
The whole situation is deliciously ironic: Christianity, in its attempt to stomp out Pagan rituals, has re-kindled the very rite they tried to extinguish. I smile knowingly whenever I see a "Harvest Festival" sign.
Additionally, we also had the pleasure of seeing a Halloween picketer on the corner of College and University just a weekend ago. His sign read, "Halloween is Satanic. America will be judged."
Apperantly he didn't get the memo either.
My thoughts? If you are truly Christian, go on. Wear that costume. Go trick-or-treating with your kids. Enjoy Halloween. Don't worry about whether or not God's going to strike you down. Halloween's been around since the late 12th century. If God were going to punish anyone for dressing up and demanding treats, He would have done it by now.
And if you're Pagan? Go ahead, dress up. Eat some candy. But roast a chicken and braise some root vegetables as well. Give thanks for the fall and make a mental list of all the winter preparations you'll need to do. Celebrate your loved ones who have departed within the last year. Thank them for all that they taught you.
Me? I'm off to get some more Halloween candy.
Blessed be.
As I got older and started to mingle with a younger generation of kids, I became completely baffled by the number of children who didn't celebrate Halloween. "It's evil," they'd say.
Evil?
Really?
I couldn't fathom what was so evil about dressing up and Trick-or-Treating. I thought the whole matter was utterly ridiculous.
As it turns out, the rise of Evangelicalism has brought about more than a wave of ignorance. It's brought back the Harvest Festival.
Brought back? you say.
Interestingly enough, Halloween is more of a Christian holiday than it is a Pagan one. Many European groups (most notably the Celts) celebrated Harvest Festivals as a time to celebrate the end of fall and to prepare for the beginning of winter. As the Christian belief system started integrating with the local Pagan customs, new rituals emerged: wearing costumes to prevent soul-snatching and requesting treats in exchange for prayers.
Different traditions continued to meld until Halloween was eventually formed into the holiday we know and love. It seems that many avid Evangelicals have forgotten its Christian roots and instead have claimed it as Satanic.
Here in Fairbanks I don't recall a church that didn't have a Harvest Festival this year (except for the Mormons - we attended their Halloween Canival and Trunk-or-Treat Extravaganza - rock on, Mormons, rock on). Signs broadcasted that on the night of October 31st, there would be no Halloween - just the Harvest Festival.
The whole situation is deliciously ironic: Christianity, in its attempt to stomp out Pagan rituals, has re-kindled the very rite they tried to extinguish. I smile knowingly whenever I see a "Harvest Festival" sign.
Additionally, we also had the pleasure of seeing a Halloween picketer on the corner of College and University just a weekend ago. His sign read, "Halloween is Satanic. America will be judged."
Apperantly he didn't get the memo either.
My thoughts? If you are truly Christian, go on. Wear that costume. Go trick-or-treating with your kids. Enjoy Halloween. Don't worry about whether or not God's going to strike you down. Halloween's been around since the late 12th century. If God were going to punish anyone for dressing up and demanding treats, He would have done it by now.
And if you're Pagan? Go ahead, dress up. Eat some candy. But roast a chicken and braise some root vegetables as well. Give thanks for the fall and make a mental list of all the winter preparations you'll need to do. Celebrate your loved ones who have departed within the last year. Thank them for all that they taught you.
Me? I'm off to get some more Halloween candy.
Blessed be.
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