Halloween: Sacrilege or Sacred?

After my church decided to close their library and sell most of their books at a deeply discounted price, I ended up with a few books I probably wouldn't have bought on amazon.com but looked interesting enough that I might eventually pick them up and read them. One of them is called Redeeming Halloween by Kim Wier & Pam McCune and put out by Focus on the Family. With the actual holiday looming ever closer, I thought it might be a good time to leaf through it and see if it had anything good to say.

I had to laugh at the author's description of her own experience in "celebrating" Halloween (or rather the lack thereof) with her family as it so closely resembled mine in my childhood days. Every year on Halloween night, my family would draw the shades, turn off all the outside lights (and most of the inside ones too), and pretend we weren't home to any and all trick-or-treating passersby. This was a concerted effort on my parents' part to make it as clear as day that we did NOT welcome these ghoulish pagan children knocking on our dark door looking for free sweets. This was the day of the devil, an evil occasion of sorts, and we would not be caught dead fraternizing with the enemy. Of course, with the lights out and shades drawn, my brother and I would stay glued to our dark windows and peek around the shades in anticipation of spying would-be trick-or-treaters and getting a glimpse of the diabolical but thrilling world we were missing. Our eyes would strain to see the various costumes that walked by on our dark street, and anytime there actually was an unwelcome knock on our door, we'd run out of our rooms to see what our parents would do which was usually ignore all pleas for treats and pretend we weren't home. If, God forbid, a persistent little kid continued to knock (I want my 2 dollars!)* , my mother would be forced to open the door and tell the child we didn't have anything for them, mortifying me in the process. Since my brother and I didn't really know what we were missing, having never taken part in the smorgasbord of door-to-door dessert, it was the experience of hiding and looking at the outside world trapped within that was our excitement. Looking back from a parent's perspective and a Christian, I have no fault with my parents' choice and know they were standing up for their beliefs, and I can only admire that.

My children's Halloween memories are quite different however. I have allowed my children to take part in the customary tradition of dressing up and walking door to door collecting treats. My only rules have been no scary costumes, and all the candy must be inspected before consumed. I have no guilt in this allowance, however I have always wondered if there is a better way or a better explanation to this annual tradition in which we take part. After reading the first part of this book, I now have a clearer idea of where Halloween came from and what it can mean for those interested in redeeming a holiday that is judged as pagan and not fit to celebrate.

To know how Halloween came to be is to revisit ancient times. The authors start by reminding us what times were like in the early church. With the severe persecution of Christians beginning under Nero's reign, there was no shortage of martyrs in the beginning of the church's history. "...the lengths to which the government would go to force Christians to deny their Savior seemed endless. The methods of torture have been unparalleled in human history. Strangled, beheaded, gouged, beaten, racked, boiled in oil, melted on hot iron plates, burned at the stake, fed to lions and bears, and crucified, men women and children went to their deaths praising God. Outsiders, amazed at the grace and often the joy with which Christians faced and endured death, discovered for themselves the salvation of Christ. In the face of unspeakable evil, the church grew."

As Tertullian, a second-century martyr, rightly proclaimed to the Roman officials who sentenced him to death, "Rack, torture, grind us to powder. Our numbers increase in proportion as you mow us down. The blood of the martyrs is the harvest seed [of the church]."

We are all part of that universal church - no matter the denominational label. As those who believe in salvation through Christ alone, we owe a debt of honor to the faithfulness of those who stood firm in the face of death and established the church.

As the church stepped into a new position of worldly honor, these martyrs were officially recognized. Special days were set aside to remember the individuals who had suffered and died for the love of their Savior. The list, though, was too long. There were not enough days on the calendar. Eventually one day was set aside for remembrance. In A.D. 610, the church dedicated May 13 as All Saints' Day. The "holy day" was added to the Christian festivals already being celebrated, namely Christmas, Easter, and Pentecost. Also known as All Hallows, May 13 was the day the festival was celebrated for over one hundred years.

Though so many of our Christian holidays seem to have pagan roots, what I didn't realize was the church purposefully placed their holy days next to or on pagan holidays to counteract the traditions celebrated by the rest of the pagan world. This time, Samhain, the pagan festival of death, was replaced with All Saints' Day. Borrowing from the Jewish tradition of preparing for significant festivals, the Christian church reserved the day before the religious festival as a sacred time. October 31 was then set aside as an evening of preparation called "All Hallow'een," or "the eve of the holy ones." Together, they created a meaningful time for the church to remember the early martyrs.

There is no denying that the original intention of the church fathers in celebrating All Saints' Day has been distorted by pagan tradition over the years. Just as in the case of Santa Claus for Christmas or the Easter bunny for Easter, original spiritual intent seemed to get lost over the ages. I've known other Christians who refuse to celebrate holidays such as Christmas because of the supposed pagan roots of the holiday. But are the holidays, even Halloween, really beyond redemption now? Can they hold no value for us and our families in this day and age?

For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ. I Peter 1:18-19

The blood of Christ has the power to redeem all worthless things, whether that's Halloween or another "empty way of life handed down from our forefathers." If Halloween is just one more empty way of life in your family, we challenge you to consider the power of the blood of Christ, which brings worth out of something worthless.

I'm hoping to include some ideas by the authors for celebrating the season in next week's posting. But the authors are clear to state: This book is not a plan for Halloween alternatives. We don't suggest you simply remake the world's version of Halloween. We hope to inspire you to take back the celebration that rightly belongs to the people of God and restore purpose for which it was established.

Stay tuned...



*Sorry, I couldn't resist including the classic 80's movie line here! If you don't get it, you're probably too young to be a KG! :-)
All text in red comes from Redeeming Halloween: Celebrating Without Selling Out by Kim Wier & Pam McCune