Three Reasons You Should Celebrate Halloween

On By Elisha McFarlandIn Blog Posts

Pumpkins

Halloween, the spooky holiday. Commonly understood as Christianity’s most controversial holiday, Halloween is the subject of much talk during the month of October. Kids, excited for a new holiday, prepare their costumes weeks in advance. Moms buy literal pounds of candy, ready to give it out to any hungry trick-or-treater. Dads buy new garden hoses, preparing to spray any potential pranksters (see Calvin and Hobbes for more details).

Today is Halloween day. In just a few hours, children will be preparing to don costumes and eat candy. Across the continent, hundreds of thousands of children wait in joyful expectation. However, many parents are anxious.

Halloween is a holiday that provides potential kidnappers easy access to stray children. On a day with throngs of children in the streets, who would miss one? This, and more, goes through every adult head during Halloween.

Despite its drawbacks, Halloween is often described as one of the most fun and enjoyable holidays that we celebrate. After all, who doesn’t love dressing up to get free candy? However, too many, Halloween isn’t a question of safety but a matter of conscience.

Across the United States, thousands of parents lock their doors and close their blinds, quietly protesting what they claim is “a dark holiday that celebrates death”. While their claims may have some legitimacy, I personally believe that all Christians should celebrate Halloween, and here’s why.

  1. Halloween is, despite contrary belief, not a holiday that celebrates death. History.com tells us that it was actually begun as a day to ward off ghosts:

…..Halloween is a holiday celebrated each year on October 31, and Halloween 2019 occurs on Thursday, October 31. The tradition originated with the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, when people would light bonfires and wear costumes to ward off ghosts. In the eighth century, Pope Gregory III designated November 1 as a time to honor all saints. Soon, All Saints Day incorporated some of the traditions of Samhain. The evening before was known as All Hallows Eve, and later Halloween. Over time, Halloween evolved into a day of activities like trick-or-treating, carving jack-o-lanterns, festive gatherings, donning costumes and eating treats. (History.com Editors 2019)

This day was not begun as a celebration for the dead, but actually the opposite. It was originally started as a day to ward of ghosts. Eventually, it was combined with another holiday: All Saints Day, which celebrated the Roman Catholic saints. Obviously, the origin of this date had no ill intentions.

  1. Even in modern times, the holiday itself is not intended to celebrate the dead. While many chose to “celebrate” death by wearing grim costumes of skeletons and demons, others chose a more innocent route. Many little girls dress up as princesses, and many boys chose to dress as a ninja or pirate. Christians, we should not assume that a holiday is evil simply because many celebrate it that way. If we are to do as we are called and minister to the unbelievers, then that means we must also “become all things to all peoples” (English Standard Version, 1 Corinthians. 9.22). One of the most wonderful ways to witness to people is through imitating their customs. Isn’t it a known fact that “imitation is the highest form of flattery”? So, instead of cowering in your house, why don’t you dress up as a cowboy and witness to the other parents on your street? Give out candy and Bible verses. Do something to impact your community through Halloween.
  2. Candy is amazing. Enough said.

Halloween is another fun holiday that can go two ways. Either you can overthink it and look at the people around you for its meaning, or you can focus on the Creator of this holiday and simply enjoy what it has to offer while witnessing to your neighbors. Instead of a gravestone in your yard, put up something awesome like a “He Has Risen!” sign over an empty grave. Christians, let’s remember to focus on the Creator of the holiday, not the participants. Enjoy your candy!

 

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“History of Halloween.” History, https://www.history.com/topics/halloween/history-of-halloween

The Bible. English Standard Version, Crossway, 2011.

 

 

 

 

31 thoughts on “Three Reasons You Should Celebrate Halloween”

  1. Robert

    We don’t need Halloween to ward off ghosts/demons, because Jesus has done that for us! We don’t need to dress up pagan festivals in “Christian” clothes, as if that someone legitimises them.

    But yeah, let’s share the gospel this Halloween! Is Halloween celebrated in Uganda?

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    2. Amen! We don’t celebrate for a number of reasons, so I think those are great points to bring up.

      Also, I think that, these days, Halloween attracts demons instead of warding them off as people glorify Satan and not God. When we as believers take the blinders off, the un-Biblicalness of Halloween becomes apparent and gives us all the more reason to pray. But yes, let us evangelize in all seasons and as God opens the doors for us to do so!

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  6. Anneka @https://annekareyne.wordpress.com

    I’m really curious to hear more of your opinions on Halloween with Bible verses and stuff because I find your opinions interesting, as I don’t celebrate it. ( that doesn’t sound too good, but it’s supposed to be friendly, not harsh 😀 )

    Is that the only website that says Haloween is not celebrating death?

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      1. Anneka @https://annekareyne.wordpress.com

        Okay gotcha. Do you have like any other bible verses that support like your opninon on haloween? i’m insanely curious!!

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  7. Dude you said this amazingly! I 100% agree you! Also I am doing that exact thing for the first time this year; I’m giving people christian encouragements along with candy. Also I’d never heard of how it was started, that’s super interesting! 😀 I just gotta say, this is one of my favorite posts you’ve ever done! You’re posts are always so cool and interesting (I guess that’s one of the pros about living in Uganda 😉 )! Anyways keep it up man! 😀

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  8. I didn’t know the history…awesome job with this! I definitely learned something. I don’t agree you can celebrate it, (though we’re handing out candy this year because little kids don’t know right from wrong). And I promise that wasn’t passive aggressive. XD. It’s my opinion. Sorry, this comment was a mess. 😛 Nice job!

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  10. I personally celebrate it and I think you said this really well, but I also would be reeeeeeally careful about how this came out- despite all good intentions it did come out a tad passive aggressive for the many awesome people on here who have super valid reasons for NOT celebrating Halloween. Do remember that many Christians who choose not to celebrate it have good reasons for doing so, and aren’t necessarily “locking their doors and closing their blinds to shut out the world”. You may celebrate Halloween, and that’s totally great, so do I!! But just because you do doesn’t mean that everyone SHOULD feel comfortable doing so.

    Many of my Wiccan friends will celebrate Samhain today, and for many Christians, it feels wrong to them to be celebrating a holiday with others who participate in ritual worship. (Which is funny, because very few of the Wiccans I know have a problem with celebrating with Christians, despite how much they disagree with our beliefs. I think maybe we’re a little too uptight sometimes, but that’s a whole other rabbit trail. And however it historically began, some Wiccans WILL participate in rituals to speak to the dead on Halloween night, so your whole point about how “Halloween protects us from demons/ghosts” just doesn’t add up, and it makes sense why. And as Robert said so perfectly, as Christians we don’t need a holiday to ward off ghosts because that’s already been done for us.

    As always, feel free to disagree!! I love discussions and I’ll never judge you no matter what your beliefs, celebrations, or lack thereof. Sorry this post got so long. 😉

    Liked by 1 person

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    1. That’s fine, but to date, I haven’t found one good reason for a Christian to NOT celebrate it, although your particular reasons, while true, don’t necessarily apply to all other Christians. Also, I apologize if I came out passive agressive 🙂

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      1. havenjean06gmailcom

        To be clear, I myself celebrate Halloween and that doesn’t violate my moral conscience, but I think saying that there isn’t one good reason someone shouldn’t simply isn’t realistic. There are MANY reasons why someone shouldn’t, many of which make a lot of sense to me.

        It might be because:

        -Halloween marks the eve of the Feast of Samhain, which begins the year on the Wiccan calendar, not only historically, but also today, as it is used by many to communicate with the dead.
        -The ‘ward off ghosts and the dead” thing that you were saying isn’t a sign of good intentions…in fact the opposite. BECAUSE many were using Halloween to ward the dead, fearful villagers would dress their children up in costumes to hide them from ghosts, and left out treats to appease them. If you think this qualifies as “no ill intentions” then I don’t think you spent enough time studying the topic.

        As I said, the post in question is really well written and I hope this doesn’t come out as a criticism. But as someone who’s grown up in Uganda myself, being in America, having friends who practice Wicca, and actually witnessing Halloween traditions has given me a dramatically different perspective. I think instead of assuming this is just an innocent holiday that everyone has blown out of proportion, you should do thorough research and try to be okay with not everyone celebrating certain holidays that you might.

        Liked by 1 person

      2. Firstly, your comparisons with the Wicca, while valid, don’t apply to this since they are completely different. We are talking about the average American. Secondly, warding off ghosts was, in that day and age, a valid reason because people were very concious of the spiritual realm. Having lived in Africa, you should understand that. Obviously, this doesn’t apply today-now, Halloween is just a holiday to get free candy and dress up in costumes. Do some take it too far? Absolutely. But that doesn’t mean Christians should go against it. After all, there are MANY people that misuse the internet, and every single Christian I know of in the USA has access to wi-fi

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  12. I don’t see anything wrong with celebrating Halloween. It may have been born of the unrighteous superstitions of man, but it means nothing of the sort today. However, an even more important holiday to celebrate, one which is almost completely forgotten in our world today, is Reformation Day. This is a day that is extremely important in Christian history, and it focuses more directly on our savior.

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