WWJD By Dr. Richard Youngblood
Question: Doesn’t Halloween originate in paganism? Should Christians participate in Halloween?
In an
effort to replace an ancient pagan festival of the dead with a celebration of
dead saints, the ninth Century Roman church proclaimed November 1 as “All-Saints
Day” or “Hallowmas (cf. Christmas). But
over the centuries many pagan traditions for the evening preceding
November 1 have been retained and developed into “All Hallows Eve” or
“Halloween.” The ancient Celts claimed
that spirits of all who died in the past year roamed the earth beginning at
sunset on October 31. To ward off these
spirits, they offered food and drink, built bonfires on sacred hilltops and
performed rituals that included animal and human sacrifices to pagan gods.
Through the centuries
Halloween has become associated with occult practices such as sorcery, magic,
wizards, witchcraft, warlocks, astrology, horoscopes, divination,
fortune-telling, tarot cards, palm-reading, crystal ball gazing, soothsaying,
omens, Satanism and spiritualism. Many
American customs such as the jack-o-lantern originated with our British
ancestry. However, trick-or-treat seems
to have developed with American young men who used Halloween as an excuse for
mischief: turning over outhouses, breaking glass and doing other destructive
things.
For
most of us today Halloween has become a time for children’s parties, games and
dressing up as cartoon or other playful characters. Churches sometimes have parties for dressing
up like Bible characters. Participating
in Halloween in this way no more endorses the pagan background than using the
names of the days of the week endorses their ancient pagan and mythological
origins.
While
we appreciate the innocent adaptations, I do believe it is important to teach
our children the difference between this and many of the activities often
associated with Halloween. Just before
entering the Promised Land, God said to the Israelites: “When you enter the
land the LORD your God is giving you, do not learn to imitate the detestable
ways of the nations there. Let no one be found among you who sacrifices his son
or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens,
engages in witchcraft, or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead. Anyone who does these
things is detestable to the LORD” (Deut. 18:9-13).
Have
fun on Halloween, but make a clear distinction between what is genuinely to be
“Hallowed” (kept Holy) and what is not “Hallowed.” [Send questions or comments to University
Church of Christ, 801 N. 12th,