I’ve been meaning to write an article about this every year, but here’s the TLDR:
The church created Halloween as a Christian alternative to a pagan harvest festival.
Ironically, many churches now hold a Harvest Festival/Party as an alternative to Halloween!
Short version:
-In the 8th Century, the church moved All Saint’s Day from May to November 1st, and the celebration the night before was known as All Hallow’s Eve.
-Many (but not all) scholars believe the church did this to supplant the pagan harvest festival of Samhain.
Slightly longer version quoted from history.com:
“On May 13, A.D. 609, Pope Boniface IV dedicated the Pantheon in Rome in honor of all Christian martyrs, and the Catholic feast of All Martyrs Day was established in the Western church.
Pope Gregory III later expanded the festival to include all saints as well as all martyrs, and moved the observance from May 13 to November 1.
By the 9th century, the influence of Christianity had spread into Celtic lands, where it gradually blended with and supplanted older Celtic rites. In A.D. 1000, the church made November 2 All Souls’ Day, a day to honor the dead.
It’s widely believed today that the church was attempting to replace the Celtic festival of the dead with a related, church-sanctioned holiday.
All Souls’ Day was celebrated similarly to Samhain, with big bonfires, parades and dressing up in costumes as saints, angels and devils. The All Saints’ Day celebration was also called All-hallows or All-hallowmas (from Middle English Alholowmesse meaning All Saints’ Day) and the night before it, the traditional night of Samhain in the Celtic religion, began to be called All-Hallows Eve and, eventually, Halloween.”
All add a few more links to the bottom, but here’s my premise:
Instead of ceding Halloween to Satan as some sort of high day in the satanic church, let’s put the Holy back in Halloween and redeem the day.
So, how do we do that? First, here’s what I won’t do:
I WON’T
Celebrate witches, ghosts, goblins, or sorcery
The Bible IS clear on sorcery and witchcraft, so that’s really not up for debate.
So, I won’t decorate with skeletons, spiders, webs, white ghost sheets, and witch hats.
But, before you get too concerned about this, wait for the last point!
Also, I won’t try to scare you.
That’s not a theological thing. I just don’t like jump-scare stuff or horror flicks.
I won’t condemn you.
How you celebrate or don’t celebrate is really a matter of conscience.
If you want to dress up, hand out candy, and decorate, I’m good with that!
If you’d rather turn the lights out and ignore the doorbell, that’s fine too!
Lastly, I won’t be afraid or freaked out by the symbols of death.
One of the reasons, historically, for a festival that looks at these symbols is to mock them.
By making cartoonish representations of them, we declare that they are without power!
“Where, O death, is your victory?
Where, O death, is your sting?”
The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.
But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
I Corinthians 15:55-57 NIV
I WILL
Use the opportunity to meet my neighbors.
Hide if you want, but I think it’s a great time to get to know my neighbors and build a bridge!
Bless children with a fun time to dress up in fun costumes and get a bunch of candy.
There’s lots of fun costumes out there that aren’t creepy! Let kids be kids!
LEVERAGE the holiday to share the love of Jesus with my community.
Whether it’s Trunk or Treat, some other outreach, or just working on building bridges to my neighbors,
this is a great opportunity to be SALT and LIGHT, even if we do with SUGAR at NIGHT!
Think I’m wrong? Let me know! Fact-check me at the links below.
More links:
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Halloween
https://www.worldhistory.org/article/1456/history-of-halloween/
https://www.reformation21.org/articles/halloween-a-distinctly-christian-holiday.php
https://www.christianity.com/wiki/holidays/is-the-origin-of-halloween-rooted-in-a-pagan-holiday.html
This one is so extensive, I haven’t fully digested it: https://calvinistinternational.com/2013/10/30/halloween-creation-recreation/
This one is really good too, and makes extensive use of C. S. Lewis, whom I love: https://kuyperian.com/halloween-a-very-christian-holiday-indeed/
https://younggospelminister.blogspot.com/2022/10/all-saints-eve-case-for-christians-to.html
Cover image from: https://www.heathergillis.com/should-christians-celebrate-halloween/
Andrew's Thoughts 