October hosts one of the most controversial festivals on the calendar: Halloween. In my travels through the years and the churches, I have come across various attitudes toward and interpretations of this highly commercialised sweetfest. I am coming to a time when I need to decide what I am going to teach my children about this, so I thought I would share some of my ideas.
So, can we observe any of the modern traditions of Halloween or should we lock ourselves in the house with the lights out?
The Feast of All Saints on November 1st and All Souls on Nov 2nd meant that a vigil was traditionally held on October 31st. Various legends and traditions in the early church held that the dead were particularly strong in this world on this vigil night. We should take this opportunity to pray for the departed of the last year. Trick or treating probably descends from the tradition of going around the village asking for a ‘soul cake’ in exchange for praying for a particular departed soul and carved pumpkin lanterns may have originally had faces and a light to represent those that were prayed for. Presumably they had nicer expressions back then...
We have dwelt on death for quite long enough now, time to move on. All Saints day is a celebration of all those who are good, who have triumphed over death and now sit with the Father. Satan is forever trying to pull us down to death, but we know how to beat him. What better way to show him that he will never win but to laugh at his attempts? Dress your kids or grandkids up in their monster suits and show Lucifer exactly how much we fear him. Remember the Riddikulus curse in Harry Potter? Teach the kids to laugh in the face of evil, brush off their Armour of God and suit up. Christ has come and he’s already won.
So this year, I’m inviting some guests round, carving faces on orange halves and lighting the pith. We’re going to have fellowship, remember those we have lost, then we’re going to eat too many sweets, put on silly outfits and laugh. The Bible tells us to*.
*Psalm 37:12-13. For instance
