Did you know Halloween is a religious holiday? It is!
The term “Halloween” itself is a shortened form of “All Hallow’s Eve.” That word “hallow” is the same one that appears in The Lord’s Prayer: “hallowed be Thy name.” The noun form refers to a holy person or saint.
All Hallow’s Eve is just a fancy way to say “the eve of All Saint’s Day,” which is a sacred day indeed, when Christians around the world commemorate our martyrs and other faithful pilgrims who’ve gone before us.
An Act of Faithfulness
In the same way we Christians have a Christmas Eve, we have an All Saints Eve. On Christmas Eve we keep vigil for the arrival (or celebration of the arrival) of the Holy One.
On Hallow’s Eve, we prepare to commemorate our many holy ones by making fun of evil and even, perhaps, acknowledging in a playful way that none of us is perfect. That’s the business with costumes. We’re poking fun at scary and even deadly things because we know that God has it all sorted out. And I’d argue we can even be poking fun at our own imperfections, confident that God’s work within us is ongoing.
We can do these things because God has conquered evil and death in the world once and for all. And while this reality is hard to believe sometimes, our practice of Halloween can be one terrific night of faithfulness–of reassuring ourselves that, by God, we do know how this story ends, and it is the very essence of a a happy ending.
5 Reasons Christians Should Love Celebrating Halloween
Let me offer 5 reasons Christians should love celebrating Halloween:
- Celebrating Halloween is a way of affirming that God has overcome evil once and for all.
- Costume wearing is a way of mocking evil and reminding ourselves that we’re not perfect! Amen?
- Candy!
- Celebrating Halloween Christianly can have a good influence in communities where Halloween is sometimes an excuse for vandalism and other delinquencies.
- It’s a splendid opportunity for us to have a good time with our children–to be present with them, to walk in the dark with them (reassuring them that the dark is okay, even wondrous), and to have some fun. I don’t know about you, but I’m a big fan of fun.
So stay safe, enjoy yourselves (enjoy your children!), and know that God is ever with us, calling us steadily onward to a glorious future that has already begun.
Question: Do you have a favorite Halloween tradition? I’d love to hear about it! You can leave a comment by clicking here.
I wouldn’t have thought of the making fun of evil, but I’m not sure that’s particularly wise. I’d still rather dress up as someone I want to aspire to or wish I could be than as something destined for destruction.
For my family, we live in a family neighborhood and Halloween is the one day a year kids come to our door begging us to give them the Gospel. We have fun picking out kid friendly tracts (from the Genesis Movie this year) and good chocolate to put in weather-proof baggies. I greet visitors dressed as an elf or choir member and a warm smile. I’m not fond of the gore some people celebrate (I see more horror movie material than demonic), but the princesses and super heroes are always a delight.
Thanks, Chad! Very informative.
You’re welcome, Ryan, and thanks for commenting!!
I’m really torn on this. I’m a pastor and there is so much in the Bible about not inviting anything demonic into our lives. It’s scary to see kids dressing up like the devil. But does that mean I don’t want to see my kids hanging out with the neighbors in their superhero costumes?
We all have to make decisions about what is best for us and our families. Personally i like the idea of poking fun at evil. Fact is, Jesus has already won this fight. As Christians we know how the story ends, and it’s a story that’s already begun. Does that mean we shouldn’t take evil seriously and that we don’t acknowledge the unspeakable horrors that still rampage the earth today? Of course not! But once a year I think it’s a good and holy practice to thumb our noses at evil, in essence saying “Ha! Your days are numbered, evil one!” That’s what the scary costumes are about for me.
Hope this is helpful to you, Ben. If not or if you simply disagree, that’s okay. We’re all fellow pilgrims on the journey, trying to figure it out as we go.
I’ve never thought of that. Thank you for your perspective
I know the story of Halloween and have always enjoyed it with my children. As a teacher we weren’t allowed to refer to Halloween in a Christian way and some parents thought it was awful to celebrate Halloween in the classroom. It gets very touchy when you’re working with the public and their children. You keep your opinions to yourself and let the parents believe whatever they desire. I love Halloween. I can say that openly now that I’m retired.
Let’s face it, Christmas, Halloween, and Easter are Pagan holidays that have all been hijacked by First millennia Christianity. Then again. they have been “modernized, and romanticized” to what they are today. Christ has been largely left out of Christmas, Easter is all about eggs and Easter bunnies, Halloween is all about ghosts, Goblins and how much candy you can get from your neighbors.
If one tries to inject religious ideas into these holidays chances are pretty good that you will be met with jest or crude responses.
BTW Anita dear, I did tend to slow grow out of that rebelliousness. Have you forgotten the 16′ high Christmas trees when you were in High School and college?
I lowered my standards enough to “martyr trees” for no good reason other than trying to please my family. — Dad
Yes, I realize you grew out of your rebellious stage ;). I can’t be a hardliner on Halloween if I’m not a hardliner on Christmas trees, though ;).
Thank you for sharing a completely different perspective on Halloween. I grew up in a family that never trick-or-treated, never passed out candy and never carved pumpkins. My dad even felt that celebrating Christmas was on the verge of being heathen (he tried to nix the whole Christmas tree idea one year, so my sisters and brother and I cut branches from the bottom of a pine tree, tied them together and propped the ‘tree’ up in a corner of the living room). I’ve carried the belief of Halloween’s inherent evilness into my adulthood and carried on the no-acknowledgement of the tradition. So, thank you for making me think–I especially like reasons 1, 2 and 5.
Anita, you’re very welcome. That image of you and your siblings propping up pine branches is both heartbreaking and poignant. Bless you.
My family hadn’t celebrated in decades, but this year we’ve moved into a neighborhood crammed with kids. It is too good an opportunity to miss out on. We found some great kids’ tracts, went to Aldi for good candy, and the kids had a blast packing baggies (the tracts won’t get ruined by the rain).
Now, all that’s left is for me to carve some crosses on our big pumpkins and light candles in them come dusk. It’s not every day kids come begging at our door, so we’re praying this seed will sprout and grow in the months and years ahead.
We didn’t buy any dress up things on purpose, but we’ve got superhero caps, princess tiaras, and a lamb outfit for the little one. It’s going to be fun!