When the children were toddlers, I just loved dressing them up. When Halloween came around it was like utter bliss. All of the little one piece outfits that they come up with from bugs, fruit, candy and those cute super heroes. It’s all fun, until your kids become independently astute. Then the questions start…
“Mom did you know that Halloween started as a Pagan holiday?”
“Mom how long did you celebrate Halloween when you were young?”
“If we celebrate Halloween are we still Christian?” — WOW —-
The power of a book …. Hooray for Education…
What happened to the fun of Halloween?
So here we are the day before Halloween and I'm wondering if there will be a mad dash for last minute costume. Given the age of the kids now, we can no longer fake it. It was already discovered that the Right Jolly Ol Elf, has nothing to do with Christ's birth. It was somehow revealed that an adult sized furry animal with two long ears had nothing to do with Christ's resurrection. However, just from a cultural perspective, there was still some indirect resemblance to celebrating something Godly. But how should we explain Halloween.
We are focusing the kids on the truth, so the truth had to prevail. Thankfully the History Channel, which is usually based on facts, offered an overview of the matriculation of Halloween. Where Christians celebrate life, including eternal life, Halloween is a bit different. The ancient origins focused on celebrating the end of Summer and the new Celtic Year on November 1st. The last day of October life is blurred with the dead, and supernatural elements are afoot. The Christian church, for a time, attempted to replace celebrating the dead with All Saints day. Given the fun element of Halloween, outside of worshipping the dead, it just was too challenging to stop.
Year after year with commercial economic influence created our current Halloween. But again, what does it have to do with Christianity? Nothing at all. So the question becomes, if you are doing a derivative of a religious practice, with no intent of celebrating the actually religion you are emulating, are you going against your own beliefs (yeah that was a bit long). I do not think so. The intent of our actions and beliefs makes a huge difference. Our family's intent is not to celebrate the dead, as we are giving away Treats. And we do not ever give away any tricks. This annual practice in no way has compromised our belief systems growing up and is not having an impact on our children.
Therefore as long as our children are enjoying it, we are supporting it.
Trick Or Treat!
Great article