OVERVIEW

The celebration of Halloween is suddenly growing in the United States. For many it is a fun way of celebrating autumn. It appeals to some as a way to spoof darkness and evil beings. Commercialism has found in it a way to reap a bonanza of profits (now second only to Christmas). Committed pagans or witches obviously take the event much more seriously.

People who object to this holiday and its growth do so for several reasons. They may reject its heightened commercialism, feel it is too long (preferring a week or two week’s celebration to the month-long hoopla it has become), some are leery about its emphasis on the dark side of our lives. Some seriously reject this celebration, and keep their children from it for religious reasons....as a pagan and secular threat to their Christian (Jewish or Muslim) faith.

What better source for an article on Halloween than the newspaper of the city of Salem, known for its famous 17th century witch trials, a town nicknamed for witches and using them as its mascot, having its own official witch and several real covens (see articles on witches under the topic Religion). Crowds coming to Salem this Halloween clogged the highways and bothered many residents and businesses.

This article has used New Hampshire College history professor, Julianne Cooper, a resource. She believes the holiday is a celebration of the dark side of the world as well as escaping our day-to-day identity.

Halloween, of course, is the celebration of the other. It’s a chance for everyone to become free spirit, that free person crossing the boundaries. Along with that is the masking. You can change your identity even for a short period of time. You can be different. Historically there have always been festivals to allow this. It’s to let off steam in society.

Today’s Halloween has three principal historic roots. The Celts celebrated Samhaim as the end of summer on October 31st. Believing the return of dead spirits at that time, they would extinguish fires in their homes and break into a raucous celebration to frighten the spirits away. Later in the 1st century B.C., the Romans modified this holiday to fit their own tastes. Christians began celebrating All Saints Day (in May) in the fourth century; it became an established festival in the West by the 7th century, and later was celebrated on November 1st. The evening before (October 31) became the Hallowed Eve (from that Halloween).

Cooper understands the notion of demons to have entered general consciousness. You will hear people say, "Whatever possessed me to do that?" She believes in the (evident) reality of evil and that it should be tangibly confronted.

Involved in any serious theological discussion of Halloween, is the whole matter of sacred and secular, to what extent people of faith should celebrate secular values and occasions, the notion of evil, the idea of demons, and the place of black and white magic.

Americans try to keep a sharp line between church and state; religion and secular affairs. Jews and Muslims do not face quite the same problem Christians do. They are minority religions in Europe and America. Their holidays (for instance the Jewish Rosh ha-Shana, Yom ha Kipuurim, and the Muslim Ramadam) are kept religiously and subculturally, and are not so much in danger of being corrupted by commercialism. But since Christians are predominant, their holy days have become holidays; and All Saints Eve, Christmas, and Easter have both holy and secular meaning.

Cooper understands the notion of demons to have entered general consciousness. You will hear people say: "Whatever possessed me to do that?" She believes in the (evident) reality of evil and that it should be tangibly confronted:

I think there is evil and we need to personify it. If we can see it and we can picture it, we can deal with it. We somehow feel more comfortable if we are in control of it...Evil exists whether we want to admit that or not. Like sin, it is whatever stops you from becoming a fully functioning human being.

One reader, Josh from Ipswich, wrote: "I think Halloween has gone a little too far. Halloween is the time when people seem to celebrate spooks, Dracula and the devil. I don’t think people should spend almost as much money celebrating the devil as they do the birth of Christ."

Most kids will grow up wanting to go "trick or treating" at some point. Teenagers may want to visit a haunted house, a scream in the dark, or a Halloween party. Parents and youth leaders will be divided in reagrd to the celebration of this secular holiday.

Some will argue that as children need the mystery and evil of fairy tales, so it is good for them to act out dark images and personages. Others seek safety in avoiding the symbols of Halloween. Those with reservations about this holiday either go along with the neighborhood but tone it down, or take a strong stand and have nothing to do with it.

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION AND DISCUSSION

1. What is your earliest recollection of celebrating Halloween or watching others celebrate it?
2. Do you think this article is a fairly objective introduction to the issue of participation in a popular, seccular holiday?
3. How have you seen the celebration of this holiday change?
4. How do you separate the religious from the secular in celebrations like Christmas, Easter, and Halloween?
5. Do you believe we need both national (secular) and religious holidays and celebrations?
6. What do you most enjoy or fear about Halloween?
7. If you object to the celebration of Halloween on religious grounds, to what extent would you criticize those who find it to be a lot of fun?
8. How would you teach your children or a youth group about Halloween?

IMPLICATIONS

1. Halloween has grown greatly in public and commercial popularity. Its growth and popularity are primarily a problem as they conflict with religious sensitivities.
2. There are those who will take the biblical "Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live." (Exodus 22:18) and "Abstain from all appearance of evil" (1 Thes. 5:22), quite literally and choose to have nothing to do with Halloween.
3. Others will speak to limit the extent of Halloween practice in order to avoid dangerous extremes, too much commercialism, or too close an association with the occult.
4. Still others may embrace Halloween as a proper secular holiday for fun and a spoof of various dark fears.
5. As with most aspects of secular culture, it is money-driven. Commercial interests are the most important determining factor. Commerce does have to read the culture; it doesn’t just dictate but picks up, amplifies and manipulates cultural trends.
6. Individuals, families and groups decide whether to go along with the culture, oppose it counter-culturally, or try to stay with the culture, lessen its evil or toxic effects and encourage its positive aspects.

Dean Borgman cCYS