Halloween: What it is and what we've made it

Halloween: The " Hallowed Eve" of All Saint's Day. What is All Saint's day? This is the day where all Saints, known and unknown, who have obtained the beatific vision in heaven are celebrated/commemorated. What's the beatific vision? A visual perception of God. So, where do we get whatever it is we do on October 31st? Check out this line of history:

The Celtic holiday "Samhain" was celebrated October 31st - November 1st and it was a symbol to mark the end of the harvest. The people believed that the border between this world and the spiritual world became thin on Samhain; because some animals and plants were dying, it thus allowed the dead to reach back through the veil that separated them from the living. The Gaelic custom of wearing costumes and masks was an attempt to copy the spirits or placate them. Turnips were hollowed-out and carved with faces to make lanterns and were also used to ward off harmful spirits. This holiday eventually became associated with the Christian holiday of All Saints Day.

So here we are. LOOK HOW CUTE! The little ghosties and pumkins and crossy in the graveyard! Don't forget the little bunny with the skull on his ear.

The world has taken this spirit-placating ritual and turned it into something scary. I mean, fun. We carve pumpkins because it's easier than carving turnips. We dress up as characters, ghosts, witches, and whatever else society has told us we need to fear or placate, such as murderers with chainsaws.

TRICK OR TREAT! Hey mister, you gimme candy or I throw eggs at your car!
Good times, eh?

The first time I experienced western, commercialized Halloween was in 6th grade. I was in Canada going to public school and my Mom called up another girl's mom and asked if I could go trick o' treating with them. (Yep. That's how popular I was) I dressed up like a Renaissance princess and threw on my winter coat and got out there! It was great. I got candy in my pillowcase from little old ladies that smelled like prunes. I was enjoying myself, until we went to the haunted house. I can still feel the fear clutching my insides to this day. We descended a long, dark staircase into a red lit room. There were body parts all over the floor. (I was eleven, guys, gimme a break.) The mom I was with started to clutch my arms harder as we shuffled through the disgusting mess. My heart raced and pounded in my ears as things moved and jumped all around us, but everything stopped when we got to a large room with nothing but a chair in the middle. A chair with a dark, hooded figure slumped over. You couldn't see it's face. We could see the exit just outside the room and we were headed straight for it, inching around the thing in the chair, when I lost my breath. It disappeared. You know that scream that isn't really a scream? It happened. The thing in the chair raised only it's head. A skeletal, flesh-stretched, empty head with wide bulging eyes and a grimace ready to devour. "I am the evil one," it whispered, moving only it's mouth. At that moment the mom who was digging her claws into my arms gave a guttural cry and harshly shoved me towards the door. I scampered as fast as I could to get out but I could feel it watching me, chasing me even. I knew it was right behind me I could feel it! Closer and closer it almost had me! Then I was outside. And it wasn't behind me. I was eleven. Canadian Halloween wasn't fun anymore.

I grew up in Ukraine. You know what their decorations are for Halloween? No pumpkins with happy faces, colored leaves, cute little ghosties and funny dancing skeletons. They had decapitated dolls with blood smeared on their faces. Satanic symbols. Statues of demonic creatures. Posters of possessed children with white eyes. You know why? Because they wanted to be like North America and celebrate this awesome time of fright and bite, but they missed the memo that everything was supposed to be fake.

Halloween therefore became a celebration of all that is dead and/or evil. Does that sound like something Christians should be associated with? And you wondered why your church always threw a "fall/festival/party" thingie in their gym on October 31st.

What people don't realize is that while they're eating candy corn and telling spooky stories about hooks being left on car doors is that in other parts of the world girls are being abducted and sacrificed to Satan by witches and warlocks because they know it's their night to shine. Oh yes, it happens. Shocked? Halloween is not all fun and games. It's real. Just like ghosts are not just happy whispy sheet things, they are otherwise known as demons and they have real power. And you know what's even scarier than that? It here. In your America. It's infiltrating the happy holiday you've created and turning it into something else and you don't even see it. But those of us who know what it could be see it behind every corner. Be on guard.

What's wrong with candy? Everyone eats candy. - Nothing.
What's wrong with costumes? It's just dressing up! - Nothing.
What's wrong with pumpkins? They're just lit-up gourds! - Nothing.
What wrong with being spooked? Everyone likes a good scare! - Nothing.
What's wrong with pretending that it all means nothing? - Everything.

The meaning behind Halloween is huge. For some people it's a festival of orange and black. For others, it's a thing of great evil that they've seen. Don't forget that what you take delight in could be somebody else's nightmare.
Is it possible that it might not really be worth it?

REMEMBER WHAT WE ARE REALLY HERE ON EARTH TO CELEBRATE.

And who's celebration is Halloween? Do you think it matters to him how you've changed it? It's still his day. Isn't it? Think about that.

So go ahead. Have fun. Trick and treat, scare and scream, get decked out to your hearts delight, but don't forget what you're doing and what it could mean to the person next to you on the street; the person who you could be sharing Christ with.

Hey, here's a thought. If Jesus were to hang with you on Halloween night and go all trick 'o treatin', what would he dress up as?

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.
Phillippians 4:8