Is it Pure Evil or Innocent Fun? The origin of Halloween and whether Christians should celebrate it
Article By Paige Townsend // EEW Magazine Online // Faith + Culture
Photo: Retales Botijero/Getty/Illustration: EEW Magazine
Want to start an argument? Get two Christians in the same room with conflicting views on Halloween.
Some say it’s just a fun day for kids to dress up and eat candy; others say it is a hellish celebration in which followers of Christ should never participate.
What say you?
Halloween dates back more than 2,000 years. Europe’s Celtic peoples celebrated their New Year’s Day on Samhain (SAH-win) – what we simply know as November 1. On Halloween or Samhain Eve, the Celtic believed spirits walked the earth on their way to the afterlife. Demons, fairies, and other creatures were believed to be lingering.
According to the American Folklife Center at the U.S. Library of Congress, Celtic peoples sacrificed animals to the gods and gathered around bonfires wearing costumes, possibly to avoid being possessed or to confuse the roaming spirits. They also are said to have blackened their faces and worn masks to impersonate dead ancestors.
The origin of trick-or-treating is linked to Celts dressed up as spirits, going door-to-door, participating in silly acts for food and drink. Historians say this could have been inspired by an earlier custom of leaving food and drink outside the door as offerings to supernatural beings.
Samhain later underwent a transformation, as Christian leaders changed its original intent. In the seventh century, Pope Boniface IV made November 1 All Saints' Day, also known as All Hallows' Day. Samhain, however, carried on with a new name, All Hallows' Eve, later becoming "Halloween."
Now, having established the origin of Halloween, what are your thoughts about it?
Should Christians choose not to participate at all in Halloween, the popular American holiday which is set to bring in billions of dollars in revenue for businesses? Should churches continue to offer up a faith-based alternative like the ever-popular "Hallelujah Party" or not?
Is there something inherently evil about Halloween, or is that only part of the marketing of the spooky holiday? Could Halloween be completely harmless and all in good fun? Is 1 Corinthians 8 a good guide to re-purposing Halloween, even though its origin is in the occult?
Verses 5-8 say the following.
For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as indeed there are many “gods” and many “lords”), yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live.
But not everyone possesses this knowledge. Some people are still so accustomed to idols that when they eat sacrificial food they think of it as having been sacrificed to a god, and since their conscience is weak, it is defiled. But food does not bring us near to God; we are no worse if we do not eat, and no better if we do.
Is Halloween a trick of the devil or a treat for the kids? It depends on who you ask.
