The Halloween spirit

Someone asked me, "is it true we are not supposed to celebratei it". Ok, bad grammar and spelling aside, this is a very interesting question. I'm not some sort of divine authority on Christian law, this is just one inconsequential leaf of an opinion in the vast rushing river of Christian morality. However, what I can do is give you the tools to make your own decision.

If you read my blog earlier this week, you are pretty much know all you need to know about Halloween. Yes, the origin of Halloween lies in a pagan ritual, a ritual that pre-Church was not very Satan-y or demonic. It simply marked the end of the harvest year, and the beginning of winter. Only later, did other people add their customs and symbolism and relevance onto this holiday. The Church, in an effort to sway and control the chaotic times during the early centuries, created a holy day out of the festival, while at the same time demonizing the pagan ritual. Unfortunately, they undersestimated the seductive call of evil, and now we remember more the ghosts and goblins and witches instead of the saints and angels and halos. But the bulk of this tradition, and even the name itself, Halloween (or Hallow's Evening) is pretty much a Catholic (read: Christian) invention. So, on one hand Halloween is good.

However distorted it has become, the popular culture portrays Halloween as the scary month. More horror movies open during the month of October than any other time. There are all those haunted houses and scary mazes, which really, are not very scary at all. It's more shock-surprise than anything, with people just jumping out at odd times to scare you. That's not true horror. True horror is discovering that you forgot to pay your taxes and it's April 16th! But anyway, Halloween has been changed to a time when it's easier to believe in demons and ghouls and undead. So that makes Halloween a bad thing (in Christian eyes).

But, kids get candy! For Free! Plus there's lots of parties going on around that time. So that's good!

But then there's also those rumors and stories about how some deranged guy puts razor blades in apples and gives them to kids. Not to mention the serial killers who come out on Halloween. That's also very bad.

Many Christian circles have taken to changing Halloween to Harvest Party. What's different about it? Well, let's see... usually Churches sponsor "Harvest Night" and they have parties held on on Church Grounds. People dress up in costumes, and they play little mini-carnival-like games, as well as bobbing for apples. Oh, and instead of Jack-o-Lanterns of scary faces, they're usually smiling or some other similarly happy theme. So... yeah... not too much difference. I guess, it's just a way for Churches to get in the act. Does a name change really make it ok?

When I first thought about Halloween, I thought it was funny that many Christians decry Halloween because of its satanic significance, and yet at the same time complain when Christmas becomes commercialized and marginalized. I was thikning about this for a long while, but it kinda makes sense. In their world-view, all holidays and festivals have significance and meaning, and they don't want to see any holiday lose its meaning. So, while Halloween has an evil significance, Christmas has a good significance. At least they get points for consistency. However, realistically, both holidays have pretty much lost their religious contexts. Both holidays have been commercialized. Most people don't even know the history of Halloween, and sadly the history of Christmas. When I was a kid, my parents let me go trick-or-treating. They didn't think that taking part of Halloween was "embracing" it. They viewed it as a fun past time that us kids enjoyed. And really, that's all Halloween is now.... an excuse for kids to dress up as their favorite hero(ine) and get lots of candy and then go on a sugar-high the next day.

Ultimately, it's up to the individual family to decide whether to do Halloween or not, and it's up to the same familial unit to uphold the religious significance of Christmas or not. Just because people sing Christmas carols and attend the Nativity Mass, that doesn't make them a born-again Christian who's going to Heaven when they die. So it is with people who dress up as witches or ghosts and go trick-or-treating, they're not going to Hell because of that. And changing the name from Halloween to Harvest yet still have all the same contraptions of Halloween is just plain dumb. In my eyes. It's what's in your heart and mind that counts.