Because this question comes up every year, I am updating and reposting this blog from two years ago. I have studied spiritual warfare for many years, so you might assume that I strongly encourage believers to avoid anything related to Halloween. That’s not exactly the position I take, as seen below.... Read More
In the 1950s dressing up as ghosts, goblins, and witches and going trick-or-treating, baking a Halloween cake, having a Halloween party, bobbing for apples, hollowing out a manglewurzle or pumpkin and putting a candle in it, and lighting a bonfire were considered harmless fun--old customs that people observed on All Hallows Eve, customs like greening the church for Christmas, exchanging gifts on Christmas Eve, eating pancakes on Shrove Tuesday and hot cross buns on Good Friday. They were traditional ways of marking the changing seasons of the year. In the ensuing years the kill-joys have worked to turn the eve of Hallowmas, the feast of All Hallows, into something dark and sinister. For the ancient Celts the new year began in November. Dressing up as ghosts, goblins, and witches, playing tricks on others, giving food to those who demanded it, and lighting bonfires was their way of protecting themselves from what they believed stalked the night on the eve of the new year when the barrier between this world and the Other World, the world of the dead, was particularly thin, and all kinds of supernatural creatures were abroad. Now these customs are simply a reminder that we no longer need such things for our protection. We have Christ. They also provide us with a wonderful opportunity to meet and befriend our neighbors - a natural block party. Rather than cowering in fear like the Celts of old, let us use this night to be what Christ has called us to be - his representatives in our neighborhood, our community, and the world.
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