This post is for the "Christians and Halloweeen" Synchroblog. Please visit my fellow synchroblogers, listed at the bottom of this post.
When I was in elementary school (1st-3rd grade) we sang this song in music class every year in October:
When I was a girl, Halloween was a mystical adventure for me...being out at alone night, running around with my friends...dressing up silly or scary; not to mention the candy haul. Back in those days, people still felt relatively safe letting their children roam the neighborhood without an adult, because everyone knew everyone, and all the parents knew that other parents would look out for their kids. Seems idyllic, huh?
We would be given a flashlight and a pumpkin bucket and trick-or-treat for hours. Then we would return home to pore over our treasures; trading the things we didn't like for things we did. Of course, there were the disappointing finds: the toothbrush from the dentist around the corner, the raisins from the people on 36th street, the mandarin orange from the old man up on the hill. Then there were the FULL-SIZED candy bars from the people in the next neighborhood, who we always felt were wealthy. How else could they afford to not pass out the little miniature candy bars?
I remember the year our parents became suspicious of Halloween...the rumors were rampant, all over the news: weird people were hiding things like razor-blades or cyanide in the Halloween candy they passed out. I was probably 11 and suddenly, our night was not our own. We were instructed not to eat any of the candy until our parents inspected it. We had to throw away everything that looked the lest bit suspicious or as if it had been tampered with. We were no longer allowed to roam alone or visit the homes of people we didn't know; because somehow these suspicions expanded to include evil-children-eater-witches who might kidnap us like in Hansel and Gretel.
To me, Halloween was innocent. It meant nothing more to me than Candy-with-a-capital-C. To my parents, suddenly it became one more thing to worry about. However, even with their concerns, they never eliminated Halloween altogether, they simply put out a few boundaries to keep us safe. They didn't take us out of Halloween, they just used common sense about it.
One day, I grew up and became a parent...and for the first time became aware of the Christian controversy surrounding Halloween. Suddenly we were inundated with lectures about the evils and demonic forces surrounding the holiday. We noticed churches were having something called a "harvest festival" on October 31st so their members could avoid traditional Halloween activities. Somehow pumpkin carving, bobbing for apples and wearing costumes on October 31st were "safe" when done in a church, but evil when done in the neighborhood.
We tried to obey the church's ideals about Halloween, but somehow my husband and I couldn't see fit to rob our children of the fun...so we would get them cute costumes and let them trick-or-treat at a few homes of people we knew. We were chastised by some of our Christian friends for even doing this much, so we were careful how much homage we paid to this pagan holiday.
Fast forward a few years and I've realized a few things. When I left the church, I my eyes were opened to the hypocrisy; how we would label certain traditions as evil, then take those same traditions, "clean them up" and make them our own.; instead of Halloween, we'll call it a "harvest festival", but it's more or less the same thing.
Trust me, I've been a good charismatic, and I understand about demonic spirits and all that jazz. I've studied all the arguments against this celebration. Yes, Halloween may have it's roots in some pagan ritual from eons ago. However, in my world, Halloween as it is practiced in the US is no more a pagan holiday than Christmas or Easter. All three have pagan traditions incorporated into them, but the holidays are simply what we make of them.
Halloween is a great opportunity to be 'missional', to get to know your neighbors, be a part of your community. Talk to the people who come to your door, learn who they are. Pass out candy with a smile, so the world can see we Christians don't think ourselves too good for this simple and fun tradition. When we thumb our noses at what the rest of the world does, we make enemies instead of friends.
I have found that with a few common-sense boundaries, our children can experience the this event safely. In my house there are no bloody or gory costumes. My children don't trick-or-treat unaccompanied. We check their candy.
We also gather with friends in the neighborhood, we often eat together and share food with our friends and neighbors. We talk with people in our community we might not yet know.
Instead of trying to take this holiday out of the world, we simply use our heads, for God gave us brains, and continue to be in the world.
Our pagan friends will celebrate Samhain this night; we will be celebrating food, community, and in the end, Love.
Please visit my fellow synchrobloggers. I will update post links as they become available.
When I was in elementary school (1st-3rd grade) we sang this song in music class every year in October:
H-A-Double-L-O-Double-U-Double-E-N Spells Halloween
H-A-Double-L-O-Double-U-Double-E-N Spells Halloween
Halloween means ghosts and goblins,
Skeletons, monsters and howling cats.
Spooky masks and jack-o-lanterns
Witches and devils and big black bats.
H-A-Double-L-O-Double-U-Double-E-N Spells Halloween
H-A-Double-L-O-Double-U-Double-E-N Spells Halloween
Halloween means ringing doorbells,
Scaring the people who open the door.
Trick-or-Treat gets you candy and apples,
Then go to the next house and get some more.
H-A-Double-L-O-Double-U-Double-E-N Spells Halloween
Halloween means ghosts and goblins,
Skeletons, monsters and howling cats.
Spooky masks and jack-o-lanterns
Witches and devils and big black bats.
H-A-Double-L-O-Double-U-Double-E-N Spells Halloween
H-A-Double-L-O-Double-U-Double-E-N Spells Halloween
Halloween means ringing doorbells,
Scaring the people who open the door.
Trick-or-Treat gets you candy and apples,
Then go to the next house and get some more.
When I was a girl, Halloween was a mystical adventure for me...being out at alone night, running around with my friends...dressing up silly or scary; not to mention the candy haul. Back in those days, people still felt relatively safe letting their children roam the neighborhood without an adult, because everyone knew everyone, and all the parents knew that other parents would look out for their kids. Seems idyllic, huh?
We would be given a flashlight and a pumpkin bucket and trick-or-treat for hours. Then we would return home to pore over our treasures; trading the things we didn't like for things we did. Of course, there were the disappointing finds: the toothbrush from the dentist around the corner, the raisins from the people on 36th street, the mandarin orange from the old man up on the hill. Then there were the FULL-SIZED candy bars from the people in the next neighborhood, who we always felt were wealthy. How else could they afford to not pass out the little miniature candy bars?
I remember the year our parents became suspicious of Halloween...the rumors were rampant, all over the news: weird people were hiding things like razor-blades or cyanide in the Halloween candy they passed out. I was probably 11 and suddenly, our night was not our own. We were instructed not to eat any of the candy until our parents inspected it. We had to throw away everything that looked the lest bit suspicious or as if it had been tampered with. We were no longer allowed to roam alone or visit the homes of people we didn't know; because somehow these suspicions expanded to include evil-children-eater-witches who might kidnap us like in Hansel and Gretel.
To me, Halloween was innocent. It meant nothing more to me than Candy-with-a-capital-C. To my parents, suddenly it became one more thing to worry about. However, even with their concerns, they never eliminated Halloween altogether, they simply put out a few boundaries to keep us safe. They didn't take us out of Halloween, they just used common sense about it.
One day, I grew up and became a parent...and for the first time became aware of the Christian controversy surrounding Halloween. Suddenly we were inundated with lectures about the evils and demonic forces surrounding the holiday. We noticed churches were having something called a "harvest festival" on October 31st so their members could avoid traditional Halloween activities. Somehow pumpkin carving, bobbing for apples and wearing costumes on October 31st were "safe" when done in a church, but evil when done in the neighborhood.
We tried to obey the church's ideals about Halloween, but somehow my husband and I couldn't see fit to rob our children of the fun...so we would get them cute costumes and let them trick-or-treat at a few homes of people we knew. We were chastised by some of our Christian friends for even doing this much, so we were careful how much homage we paid to this pagan holiday.
Fast forward a few years and I've realized a few things. When I left the church, I my eyes were opened to the hypocrisy; how we would label certain traditions as evil, then take those same traditions, "clean them up" and make them our own.; instead of Halloween, we'll call it a "harvest festival", but it's more or less the same thing.
Trust me, I've been a good charismatic, and I understand about demonic spirits and all that jazz. I've studied all the arguments against this celebration. Yes, Halloween may have it's roots in some pagan ritual from eons ago. However, in my world, Halloween as it is practiced in the US is no more a pagan holiday than Christmas or Easter. All three have pagan traditions incorporated into them, but the holidays are simply what we make of them.
Halloween is a great opportunity to be 'missional', to get to know your neighbors, be a part of your community. Talk to the people who come to your door, learn who they are. Pass out candy with a smile, so the world can see we Christians don't think ourselves too good for this simple and fun tradition. When we thumb our noses at what the rest of the world does, we make enemies instead of friends.
I have found that with a few common-sense boundaries, our children can experience the this event safely. In my house there are no bloody or gory costumes. My children don't trick-or-treat unaccompanied. We check their candy.
We also gather with friends in the neighborhood, we often eat together and share food with our friends and neighbors. We talk with people in our community we might not yet know.
Instead of trying to take this holiday out of the world, we simply use our heads, for God gave us brains, and continue to be in the world.
Our pagan friends will celebrate Samhain this night; we will be celebrating food, community, and in the end, Love.
Please visit my fellow synchrobloggers. I will update post links as they become available.
Phil Wyman - The Christians and the Pagans Meet for Samhain
Lainie Petersen - Our Own Private Zombie: Death and the Spirit of Fear
Julie Clawson - Trappings of a World in Which we Do Not Believe
John Morehead - Rethinking Evangelical Postures on Halloween
Sonja Andrews - Vampire Protection
Adam Gonnereman - What's So Bad About Halloween?
Reba Baskett - Halloween....why all the madness?
Steve Hayes - Halloween Synchroblog
KW Leslie - The Christian Harvest Festival
John Smulo - Hallmark Halloween
Mike Bursell - Hallowe'en
Sam Norton - Do Not Be Afraid
Steve Hollinghurst - Removing Christendom from Halloween
David Fisher - Vampires or Leeches
Sally Coleman - Encountering hallow-tide Creatively
Kay - Halloween: Four Perspectives
Johnny Beloved - Apples and Razorblades
Alan Knox - Fall Festivals and Scary Masks
Dan Allen - Why Christians don't like Zombies
Paul Walker - Peering Through the Negatives of Mission
Sea Raven - The Season of Samhain
Lew A - Halloween: My experiences
Timothy Victor - Appropriating Halloween and Creating Liminal Times
Nic Paton - Making Space for Halloween
A few additions:
Barb - The Heart of a Child
Bryan Riley - Bloated Body Parts
Lainie Petersen - Our Own Private Zombie: Death and the Spirit of Fear
Julie Clawson - Trappings of a World in Which we Do Not Believe
John Morehead - Rethinking Evangelical Postures on Halloween
Sonja Andrews - Vampire Protection
Adam Gonnereman - What's So Bad About Halloween?
Reba Baskett - Halloween....why all the madness?
Steve Hayes - Halloween Synchroblog
KW Leslie - The Christian Harvest Festival
John Smulo - Hallmark Halloween
Mike Bursell - Hallowe'en
Sam Norton - Do Not Be Afraid
Steve Hollinghurst - Removing Christendom from Halloween
David Fisher - Vampires or Leeches
Sally Coleman - Encountering hallow-tide Creatively
Kay - Halloween: Four Perspectives
Johnny Beloved - Apples and Razorblades
Alan Knox - Fall Festivals and Scary Masks
Dan Allen - Why Christians don't like Zombies
Paul Walker - Peering Through the Negatives of Mission
Sea Raven - The Season of Samhain
Lew A - Halloween: My experiences
Timothy Victor - Appropriating Halloween and Creating Liminal Times
Nic Paton - Making Space for Halloween
A few additions:
Barb - The Heart of a Child
Bryan Riley - Bloated Body Parts
44 comments:
Thanks for speaking so openly about your celebration of Halloween and the shifts in your experience over the decades.
It is quite sad how our world has changed to be so "unsafe". With all the superstitious hoo-ha about Halloween there's little attention focused on the evil within and perpetuated by people. I'm quite glad about this, as the 3 celebrations - Christmas, Easter and Halloween - still bring out the good in people and still foster community.
well said Erin- vreating a safe space where we can share love and friendship an excellent move!
I love hearing about your experiences!
By the time I was old enough to start trick-or-treating, the days of kids going off on their own (in my area at least) had already ended. My sister and I were always accompanied by our parents, who also always inspected our candy. I still remember the year my old church decided to quit having a Halloween party (and even the whole "harvest festival" bit ended a couple years after that), and I thought the whole thing was silly.
you are dead on about this being an opportunity to get to know people. i always struggle with meeting new people and reaching out to others. my wife and i live in seminary housing so there will obviosly be no trick-or-treating around here but we are going to some friends and helping them pass out candy at their house. should be a good time. maybe get to know them and some of the trick-or-treaters a little better. thanks.
-dan
Erin,
Great post! I appreciate how you've found a way to be missional during Halloween. I think we should all think like this on all days - especially special occasions and holidays.
-Alan
i miss my laptop. with four people and one computer in my house i now have very limited online time! argh!!! i am missing my cyber community!
anyways, my take is similar to yours, erin, except my folks were not church goers. i never heard about the unchristian, satanic aspects of the big H until I became a christ follower at age 18. i distinctly remember being engrossed in the conversation parents from my homegroup were having about how to deal with that bane of a holiday: halloween. at that moment i knew that one day i would have children and i would have to teach them to stand up against evil, and doggonit, they sure weren't going to participate in the devil's ways with me, their christian momma, there to protect them.
so when my kids came along we readily took them to the church sponsored holidays, and only to houses of people we personally knew on our street. this seemed ok, not pushing it, and definitely never ever any kind of wicked or scary costume. but one year the youth psator of our church asked me to give a talk about the origins of halloween. i was on youth staff at a lovely, conservative church here in portland. my research began primarily with a book by steve russo called Halloween. he is a christian alarmist, um, i mean author, who outlined in a thoughtful and analytical way the spiritual dangers of halloween. (it's really a rite to honor the god of death, btw, all that candy and costuming is devil worship no matter how cute you think your little princess or pirate is when they knock on the neighbors door and beg for a tootsie roll)
as i read mr russo's book, my research radar kept flashing me. i finally realized that perhaps mr russo's christian world view could be getting in the way of a clear and scholarly examination of the roots of halloween and how that translates to today's practices in american families.
using the power of google i decided to see what pagans themselves had to say about this holiday. my search eventually took me to one of the biggest witchcraft sites in cyberspace, www.witchvox.com i easily navigated the site and found a treasure trove of articles by established pagan thinkers and writers, like Isaac Bonewitz and Kerr Cuhulain. These two guys had a whole lot to say about the past of Halloween and the present, and they also addressed the misguided hysteria of Christ followers like me. For instance, they wondered why believers would freak out over the decidedly pagan roots of certain Halloween traditions, but fully accept without debate the equally pagan roots of Christmas or Easter (and fyi, blowing out birthday candles and making a wish is a form of casting a spell...)
by the end of my research i realized that halloween was primarily a series of rites that surrounded harvest time and the onset of winter, and yes, there are pagan traditions embedded in it's past, but no, according to the pagan writers i checked out, there is no link between the big H and the god of death.
So, ever since then, my family and I enjoy the merriment and community aspects of one of the funnest holidays of the year. What other time will you see kids and parents out on the sidewalks knocking on dozens of doors whilst wearing elf ears (that would be me) and an elvis presley wig (that would be my son)?
i respect the idea that christ followers would be wise to not participate in idol worship or pagan rites. but halloween, as you have pointed out erin, is neither. not the american version of it anyway.
(thanks for letting me psuedo-synchroblog at your digs, erin!)
Erin
I don't need to participate in the synchroblog because you wrote so eloquently my experience. I'll live vicariously through you!
I thought it ridiculous one year when the children were "allowed" to come to the church halloween party dressed up as a bible character.
I said to my husband well, should I go as the devil?
;)
All silliness aside.
You really summed up my feelings on the subject.
Tim - Thanks for commenting! I agree with you. I'm glad we have these "pagan" holidays.
Sally - Thanks!
Jarred - I have noticed fewer "harvest" events lately. I wonder if churches are figuring out that their fear of so-called "Pagan" rites is, *ahem*, a bit unfounded.
Dan - Good for you guys for going out into the community with friends.
Alan - I agree.
Removing ourselves from this holiday is removing ourselves from one of the biggest community evenings of the year.
Pam - You can preach - ahem - write here anytime!
Honestly these days I think the Christian fear of Halloween is actually a bit of an insult to Pagans. Suggesting that dressing our kids up like princesses and pirates and gathering candy is anything at all like the rituals and celebrations the Pagans have during this time of year is ridiculous.
Rhonda - I think my experience is pretty typical American.
While we try to keep the kids reigned in a bit with their costumes, we don't insist they are bible characters, either.
Pam - You can preach - ahem - write here anytime!
ha! nothing gets my preach on like a hot topic such as halloween.
are you all better yet?
Harvest festival?
That's funny! That's very funny!
If there is one thing that Christians do that probably DOES have a pagan origin, it's harvest festivals.
Halloween is a Christian celebration that was nicked by neopagans, but harvest festivals? Those were definitely celebrated by pagans before Christians started foing them.
Very nice, and I agree completely.
That doesn't happen often!
What pagan holiday are we celabrating? I don't know. Don't care. Just put my kids in a costume and let them get as much candy as two hours allows. (That is all Dad can take)
On the costume thing. I've come to have no issue with the witches and vampires, and other traditionally scary costumes. What I can't stand are the real life evil costumes like pimps - especially the girls who dress like pimps. That depresses me.
Pam - I am doing better. Thanks for asking.
Steve - You crack me up. The whole thing is the convoluted mess that Christians are up at arms against when they don't really even know what it's all about.
Adam - Thanks!
Nate - Yup. Costumes and Candy.
This used to be my favorite holiday until I was diagnosed with diabetes...hey maybe Halloween IS evil after all!
Julie - So true. I can't believe the trampy things they want the girls to wear. And for some reason this year my boys both wanted to be these horrible gross gory bloody things...scary is OK, but I put down my foot at blood and gore.
Erin and all, I also don't allow some costumes. I have told the kids that if we are going to pretend to be someone we need to take into consideration who they are. We would not let our child dress as a hooker so why would we allow them to dress as a murderer. I have told my little boys that I want them to choose someone who is a "good guy" or a "hero". I think this allows for a fun night but keeps the perspective of what the Father would want us to stress to our kids. But maybe I'm not entirely 'free' yet ;)
Love your conclusion. We always seem to overcomplicate the simple. We make religion out of relationship and fear out of faith and in the end lose sight of what matters.
Barb - Until this year we have made the boys dress as "good guys"...they have been firemen, doctors, Spiderman, Batman...oh, we did let one of them be Darth Vader the other year.
This year they both wanted to branch out, so we let them go a little further and be a little scary, but still put limits on them,
Brian - I love the way you put that. Thanks for commenting!
Great post.
I echo your comments about being a 'good charismatic...and all that jazz."
And I too have seen the hypocrisy.
After all, Easter is originally a pagan holiday!
Thanks David. It's sad how we try to "clean" secular things up and then call them "good". The origins are still the same.
Thanks for the awesome post. Can you PLEASE tell me where you downloaded that song or send it too me? I've been looking to download it to play for my kids for halloween, just as when I was a little boy. Thanks!!!!
Martin
great post :)
yep not really that demonic is it - altho i guess i can understand why some people get the heebies.
Where i start to scratch my head is on the sheer size of the consumer machine that swings into play - all well and good to share candy and meet your neighbour's but the sheer cost is scary - and lets me wonder what our response as a christian can be to the glut?
I wrote something on this last yr:
http://jasonclark.ws/2006/10/31/halloween-this-is-a-festival-that-consumer-culture-has-subverted-from-christianity-were-subverting-it-back-with-apologies-to-pagans/
Martin - I found it HERE. If you click the album cover you can download the whole thing. If for some reason it doesn't work when you're there, keep trying, because I think they might have been having bandwidth issues. It's not the greatest quality, but it does the trick.
Paul - I agree...we do try to keep it on the cheap because it can easily become another consumer-driven thing like Christmas.
Nice post Erin!
Our pagan friends will celebrate Samhain this night; we will be celebrating food, community, and in the end, Love.
Exactly, which is what Samhain is about, except that our beloved dead & ancestors are invited to the feast. Like some Orthodox Christians, many Pagans believe in a one-storey universe, where the dead can drop in to say hi.
Yvonne - Welcome, I'm glad you stopped to comment.
You said Samhain is also about food and love and community...and I suppose I knew that...but since I don't have any first-hand knowledge or experience I didn't want to risk mis-representing it by saying so.
Thanks very much for sharing.
http://www.extremepumpkins.com/pukingpumpkin.html
Sue - LOL the puking pumpkins are some of my very favorite works of art!
We don't do Halloween here in Oz, but if we did I would have a hoot carving puking pumpkins.
They remind me of the garden gnome my brother used to have sitting in his front yard, with an axe impaled in its skull. (Maybe I have a strange sense of humour).
Erin - I must say that your blog is rapidly becoming my favorite read. I love this post of yours as well as the many insightful responses. Although it leaves me little room to maneuver, as once more my intended responses have pretty much been taken.
I thought I had one left but Yvonne got to it first. I was thoroughly amused by the harvest festival being done by a church to separate it from halloween, as Yvonne is correct that this is precisely what Samhain is. We are big on harvest festivals, we have several of them. In fact, that terminology would touch closer to us than "All Hallows Eve."
Research will show, contrary to a couple of the claims made or relayed, that Samhain wasn't nicked by neopagans. Quite the opposite. Halloween was one of the early attempts to "clean it up".
It will also show that few traditions believe in the existence of a "God of death" let alone revere the figure. There was no such god named Samhain recorded in any reliable document I have seen.
I agree with Pam that stating that trick or treating is what our rites are on this holiday is insulting, or would be if I actually concerned myself with what people who only got their information spoon fed to them thought of me.
As for myself, I don't even join my daughter when she goes trick or treating with my wife. I would love to at some point, but there is always so much to prepare, and so much to do. Not that this helps much, as I am frequently interrupted in my own preparations by trick or treaters coming to the door. Perhaps this year I can saddle someone else with the chore of treating all of these innocent young kids who come to our door as the part of one of the fun moments of growing up.
(Treating them with candy. No demonic energies are being handed out at my door.)
Hi Steve - I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed your response here.
I don't really profess to know anything about Samhain...I have read one or two books on Wicca and Druidry, but I know that Neo-paganism is about as varied as Christianity, so I realize each perspective is just that, one perspective.
I'm going to go look at your October and November archives from past years to see what you've written on the subject.
Oh My God, I haven't heard this song since 1988, when I was in Kindergarten, I feel like a kid all over. Thank you!!!!!!!!!!
did you happen to go to folsom elementary school?
No I didn't go to Folsom, but I am pretty sure this song has been used all over the country for decades. I was in elementary school in the 1970's.
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