Oct. 31, 2009 - To Hallow or Not to Hallow
I was going to leave this alone because I know not everyone agrees on this topic, but a rather interesting comment came to my attention this week that I thought worth sharing. Let me preface by saying first that I have not read this woman’s blog, other than this one post, so can not endorse anything you may find there. Also, I am not suggesting that everyone must approach October 31 the same way we approach it. So first, the quote. It comes from this blog http://asmallcornerofnowhere.blogspot.com/2009/10/happy-halloween.html . The writer of the blog is a self proclaimed witch who homeschools her children. Here’s the quote:
“I am somewhat shocked at the fundy churches who have "Harvest Day" celebrations to keep their flock away from the evils of the pagan holiday. Umm... does no one do their homework anymore? Samhain IS a harvest festival. Your jack-o-lanters with Jesus cut out on them are a really fine hallmark of the pagan reverence for the dead on this day. Your bonfire? Well... if you knew how that tweaked the nips of every pagan looking for an excuse for rolicking good Sabbat revelry, well... would you still do it? Seriously, people... if you're going to co-opt a pagan holiday, then proceed to secularize the h*** out of it with candies and Power Rangers costumes, and THEN eschew it for something else, at least take the time to see that your something else isn't rife with even MORE pagan symbolism than the thing you were trying to eschew in the first place.”
For our family we have decided to opt out of the Halloween scene. We do not dress up, we do not go to halloween parties (even glorified "harvest" parties), we do not give out candy at the door. The most common response I have to this is, “But it’s all in fun.” That may be, but it doesn’t change what they are celebrating “in fun.” We did not come to this decision lightly. We spent quite a few years (really, quite a few fall seasons) praying about this decision and doing our research. Without having seen the above quote, we realized that she is right. Another common response is, “It doesn’t matter what its origins are. It’s what it is now that counts.” I can assure you that while the origins are not entirely irrelevant, we came to our decision not because of the origins of Halloween, but because of what it is today. Take a look at the facts.
There is more crime on Halloween night than any other night of the year. Do I really want to be part of a holiday that encourages this?
You don’t have to go far down the street to see that the holiday is all about death. Do I really want to be part of a holiday that glorifies death, whether or not this is the participants’ intention?
The justification of “it’s all in fun” is also a concern. Should we really make light of things that are very real and very dangerous?
Church parties that “clean up” Halloween aren’t really changing it. They are simply taking out the most offensive elements in order to free their consciences to participate in what they like about the holiday. As noted in the above quote, even in good intentions some of these celebrations incorporate traditions that we would really not want to participate in if we truly understood what they are.
And I have asked myself why? Why is it such a big deal to simply not participate? What is so wonderful about the celebration that we have to make all kinds of excuses and changes to it in order to not miss out on the fun? What really would we be missing? Dressing up and eating candy? Surely we don’t need Halloween for that. Furthermore, if it really is a night that is important on the occultic calendar (and it is) why are the churches bending over backwards in order not to miss out? Why, I ask myself, are we not responding with prayer against the evil of the night instead? Even if you choose to ignore the satanic activity of the night, believing that it doesn’t matter as long as you don’t personally participate in that specific portion of the holiday, there is still the matter of increased criminal activity. Ask any policeman and he will confirm this. Should we not be responding in prayer rather than trying to see how much we can legitimately celebrate? It just doesn’t make sense to me.
Again, I write this not to point fingers or to tell others what they should do. Please don’t comment that I should just chill out because it’s all in fun. As I said, we did not come to this decision lightly or quickly, and it's ok if you disagree with me. I simply suggest that you do so with full knowledge of the information and in prayer. Is there really anything in the Halloween celebrations valuable enough to be worth cleaning up just so we won’t miss out? Think about it.
Comments
Nov. 1, 2009 - Hallow or not to hallow
Posted by Anonymous
Good blog Heather. It is such a shame that to our shame this is not aired and talked about in our Christian community. That we may be a light in the world instead of compromising.
How have we raised such "right on the mark" kids? We are blessed you have a husband who agrees with you. We are pleased our grandchildren have instilled in them the truth of what the world is doing.
