Reflections on Halloween

Halloween.

There are so many differing opinions about Halloween and whether or not to celebrate it, especially amongst evangelical Christians.  I understand how it must be harder to make this decision when one has young children.  Today's culture emphasizes the family fun in dressing your child up in a cute costume and going to family and neighbors homes to get candy. 
I do not have children, but I know how I feel about Halloween. 

I would first of all point out that whether or not you celebrate Halloween, it is each persons decision.  If all of my family and each of my friends celebrated Halloween, I would respect their opinion and not hound them for the decision they made for their family. 

I recall as a child how we never celebrated Halloween.  We never went trick-or-treating or even carved a pumpkin.  As a young child, I didn't understand why, but I never questioned the decision my parents made.  Each Halloween, we would make up small bags of candy and put a chick tract in each one and then hand them out to the children who would come to our door.

The one thing that stands out to me most (even at my age!) in my memory was how very frightened I was to open that door and see the awful masks and costumes.  As I got older, I actually would refuse to open the door, because I was so frightened.  Now, I understand that today's generation of young children is used to seeing scary things on TV.  In fact, most video games and new movies have some underlying (or blatant!)gore, guts, violence, and superhuman creatures (werewolves, zombies, vampires ect.).  But I would ask, is that a good thing?

Someday, when I have children of my own, I want them to be innocent; how children should be.  Children learn about violence and the scary things in life too soon even without us showing them.  So why are we exposing children to these things?  For the sake of getting candy?

This past Tuesday, I drove to my community choir rehearsal at 6:30, right when the trick-or-treaters were coming out.  The majority of people I saw in costume were teenagers and adults, most of whom were dressed as something utterly terrifying or in some scantily-clad costume, made up with what looked like pounds of makeup. 

My general question when deciding which holidays I will celebrate is this: "Does this holiday serve a genuine purpose?  What does this holiday teach?"

Christmas serves as a time when we remember the birth of Christ, our Savior.
Thanksgiving serves as a time when were recall the historical day when the pilgrims and Indians helped each other.  It is a time to give thanks.
Easter (or Resurrection Sunday, as I prefer to call it) serves as the day when we remember that Christ arose from the dead. 
The 4th of July commemorates the time in history when America declared her independence from Great Britain.


The list could go on, but Halloween?
Historically, Halloween was a time of superstition, fearing that the souls of the dead would haunt or come back to life.  Costumes were worn to trick the spirits of the dead into thinking that they were also spirits.  Lanterns were carved and a candle placed inside to symbolize the soul which was forever in purgatory, or a "in between place" between heaven and hell. 
Even if I don't consider the history of the "holiday" (and I use that term loosely, because I do not believe that it can be considered a "holy day"), and look at the facts that it is a day designated to dressing up in costume and getting candy from people, I do not find that convincingly beneficial. 

There are ways to have fun as a family without doing what everyone else does. 

I don't feel that as a child, I was deprived of a good thing when my parents decided to keep us from celebrating Halloween.  I had my fill of dressing up as historical characters for National History Day (for school) and acting different parts in church dramas and cantatas. 
Oh, and I was never deprived of candy either.  We each were allowed to have two pieces of hard candy each Sunday morning, before church.  😊😊😊😊😊

So no, I won't be celebrating Halloween.  The darkness of the day, scariness of the history, and pointlessness in general were enough to convince me to make this decision in my life. 

Please, don't hate me if you disagree.  I merely explain why I have decided not to acknowledge Halloween as a holiday.