Halloween and All Saints Day

Article about Sowing Seeds of Faith and Internet Ministry

“Halloween & All Saints Day"

I have a confession to make! This is going to be so hard for a preacher to admit. Gulp! I love Halloween. No, I’m not kidding… I really love Halloween! I love the candy, scary costumes, more candy, horror movies, jumping out of the bushes screaming, “Boo!” Oh, did I mention the candy?

Our school held Halloween carnivals with costume judging, cake walks, bobbing for apples and other games. Inevitably, a few of the wilder boys would bring water balloons and bomb the crowd until we ran out of ammunition or were collared by a teacher. Halloween brought out the prankster in us. After all, when else can you knock on a stranger’s door, scream “trick or treat” in your scariest voice and the only response you receive is a free bar of candy? What a great day to be a kid! Or is it?

After becoming a preacher, I was warned about the dangers of celebrating Halloween. “If you allow your children to participate in Halloween (Trick or Treating, costume parties, etc.) you are allowing them to play on ‘the devil’s turf,’ and Satan will definitely press his home court advantage.” wrote William Schnoebelen. Stories abound of witches and devil worshippers meeting throughout the night.

Others pooh, pooh the warning as merely the ravings of mad fundamentalist crusaders out to spoil every child’s good time. Halloween is an opportunity to play dress-up. Halloween inspires creativity and imagination that seems to be missing today. One internet site writes: “Halloween is a chance to trot out all of our silly superstitions, our fear of the dark and laugh at them.”

Which view is right? “All of them. No, I mean none of them! Larry, what do you mean?”

Halloween actually began with the ancient Celtic tribes who lived in the British Isles. November 1 was a day of honoring the dead and celebrating the New Year. Christians combined the ancient practices and came up with All Saints Day, a Sacred Christian holiday meant to honor the Saints of the church who died, especially those who have been martyred for their faith. The night before became known as All Hallow’s Even or “holy evening,” later shortened to Halloween. In others words, Halloween is a unique blend of pagan and Christian rituals all designed to help us remember those who have died.

Paul says in his first letter to the Corinthians, “I try to find common ground with everyone so that I might bring them to Christ.” (9:22) I like this attitude because we are urged to treat people and their beliefs with respect and look for common ground before sharing our love of Jesus Christ.

So, both views are right. We can participate in Halloween activities with caution but we should also honor those who have passed away. Especially during these uncertain days when we face the threat of crashing passenger jets and biological terror. The worst perception of terrorism is the fear that evil lurks everywhere. Halloween is our way of saying to evil, “I am not afraid of you. I will not give in to you.”

One of my favorite Halloween emails emphasized this point: A lady had been baptized. One of her co-workers asked her what it was like to be a Christian. She was caught off guard and didn’t know how to answer but she saw a jack-o’-lantern on her desk and answered: “It’s like being a pumpkin.”

“What do you mean by that?” the other worker asked.

“Well, God picks you from the patch and brings you in and washes off all the dirt on the outside that you got from being around all the other pumpkins, Then he cuts off the top and takes all the yucky stuff out from inside. He removes all the seeds of doubt, hate, greed, etc. Then he carves you a new smiling face and puts his light inside of you to shine for all to see. It is our choice to either stay outside and rot on the vine or come inside and be something new and bright.”

Halloween is a reminder for me that evil forces may occasionally have their day… or night but as sure as the sun comes out each morning, the next day will belong to God and the Saints of the church who will all rise from their graves on their way toward the promise of heaven. Now that I think about it, I may never look at a pumpkin or Halloween the same way again. Honestly, I still like the candy best.

(An alert reader notified me that the pumpkin email is written by Liz Curtis Higgs and "Pumpkin Patch Parable.")

For part 2 of "Halloween and All Saints Day: Reader Response," click here.

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Last modified October 24, 2001.

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