Halloween in our Modern Society

Halloween is a very popular holiday in our modern society. Almost everyone knows about the spooky festivities and spine chilling activities. We could try to cover it up with the notion that it’s about spending time with the ones you love, but at its core it really just exists so big business can get your money. This works really well. However, I would make the argument that this fact by itself is not the biggest concern about Halloween. The main concern I would like to address is that some of it might look innocent, but there are other times its more sinister.

It is for this reason that many Christians censor, Gospelize, and even avoid Halloween altogether. This makes us have to raise the question: Is it right for us to celebrate Halloween? I say the answer would be yes, but we need to participate wisely.

Well, I would like to start out by comparing Halloween to other holidays and seeing what it is that makes it stand out from the crowd. I’ll be comparing it to Christmas and looking at Halloween’s origins. First off, both are commonly criticized for being about the money, and like any other major holiday they have their own similar, but unique activities: Trick or Treating is comparable to carolling, carving pumpkins to decorating the tree, handing out candy to giving gifts, etcetera . The activities seem quite similar, but the underlying themes are quite different. Christmas seems to be more innocent in its presentation. It originates as a reminder that God came down to earth for us. Halloween is infamous for being darker, raunchier, and more adult than other holidays. A good scare might be fun for some, but the chances are that activities like a haunted house would not be considered appropriate for a family with young children. It too has religious origins as a Christian alternative for the pagan celebration Samhain known as “All Saints Eve.” Despite being christianized, it still had many pagan traditions mixed in. Over the course of many generations, it became what it is today. Do it’s evil origins make it bad? Not necessarily. Halloween has changed so much since then that it’s hardly even the same. We need to understand Halloween and Samhain are very different and not the same. Samhain was initially a holiday about hellish creatures, but a new coat of paint and several big changes make it Halloween today. Modern Halloween is not about worshiping satan or paying respect to demons, but rather just some spook and a bag of candy. Sure, it still might be more grim than other holidays and there are parts we should avoid about it, but it really Isn’t too hard to make it more innocent for the littles and appropriate for the Church. Just remember to “be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.”

I’m going to continue comparing Halloween to some other holidays. Easter and Christmas are definitely more christian than Halloween, but this is already established as a poor reason to quit. Looking into this some more, I actually found that Easter and Christmas are BOTH guilty of Pagan traditionalism. The title “Easter” comes from the name of the pre-christian England Goddess called Eostre, which in part defiles the meaning of the holiday. As for Christmas, you ever hear of a thing called a yule log? The name “Yule” also has a pagan origin. Yule was the name of a Norse holiday which later became Christmas. They would burn their captives alive at a yule log. Tell me, does that sound Christian to you? Of course, all christians still celebrate these holidays. So why should we ban halloween? We should carefully investigate everything so you can learn about what is true.

In conclusion, Halloween is rough around the edges. It’s not as safe or innocent as other holidays, but even then it can be made modified to be more so. And a reminder for next year; “Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness.” Halloween can be sketchy, so remember to partake in a way that is Godly.

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