Trick-or-Treat?, Part I

The air is getting chilly. The leaves are beginning to turn. Pumpkins and corn are cropping up at all the local farms. And, Christians across America are beginning to grow uneasy as Hallowe'en approaches. Is it just a lot of fun and silliness for one magical night of the year? Or, is it a celebration of evil? This series of articles is going to attempt to delve into some of the questions that Christians raise about this ghoulish holiday and my own approaches to how to answer those questions. My hope is that, by the end of it, you will have come to understand one Christian mother's viewpoint regarding Hallowe'en, and that you will feel better informed to make your own decisions regarding the holiday.

Some notes: It is not my intent to persuade others to come around to my way of looking at things. I likewise have no wish to be converted from my own way of thinking. However, all viewpoints will be welcome in the comments section, provided that they are respectful, as I would love to make this a place for discussion.

That said, I think I will begin by giving a little history lesson on Hallowe'en. In order to understand our present-day traditions, I believe it is important to know a little something about where those traditions come from.

While it is true that many Northern European countries held pagan celebrations on and around October 31st, the holiday of Hallowe'en, or All Hallows Eve, is actually a Christian invention. It came about in the 9th century when Pope Gregory IV moved the Christian feastdays of All Saints and All souls from May, that they might be celebrated simultaneously on November 1st, making the final night of October a Vigil or Eve of the holy days. (Today, all Souls Day is celebrated on the 2nd of November as it's own holiday.) All Hallows Eve happened to coincide precisely with Samhain, the Celtic festival of the dead. It seemed fitting to the Celts to combine their reverential day of the dead with the new Christian celebration.

Samhain--later Hallowe'en--was thought to be a day when the barrier between the "real" or natural world and the spiritual realm was weakest. It was thought that on this night, spirits, both evil and benign, were free to roam the earth, even interacting with the living. This belief not only gave rise to traditions honoring deceased friends and family members but to a fear of wandering abroad on All Hallow's Eve, lest you meet with an evil spirit. One can easily conclude that the natural human fear of mortality, made most tangible on the day of Halloween, might over time give rise to traditions involving other fears: witches, devils, skeletons, and especially the dark.

Sir Francis Bacon, in his essay "On Death" wrote, "Men fear death as children fear to go in the dark; and as that natural fear in children is increased with tales, so is the other."

Humans love to be frightened in a safe atmosphere. Being scared triggers the adrenaline rush we identify with a "fight or flight" syndrome. When people are capable of getting this rush in a way that is not endangering to them, they feel pleased. It's the reason why many people enjoy going to horror films or riding scary amusement park rides. Not everyone enjoys being frightened in the same manner, but all of us enjoy getting that rush of adrenaline when we personally feel we are in no danger. (Some daredevils even like it when they are in danger.) Many Hallowe'en customs, such as telling scary stories or visitting haunted houses and hayrides, were developed around this natural human urge.

Moreover, people desire to be able to face their fears in a playful way. Children play at "cops and robbers" and are forever pretending to kidnap and kill each other. These role playing games help children to cope with the realities of death and danger in a safe atmosphere where they can test their skills and aid their maturing emotions. This is why many classic fairytales and folktales contain episodes which parents find alarming and disturbing but which actually, so modern psychiatry tells us, aid children in their emotional development. They help children to confront their fears in a pretend manner. But, children aren't the only ones who crave this sort of confrontation with their fears. Adults, too, enjoy being able to face the frightening and unknown in a manner of pretend or play. Such feelings are natural and there is nothing inherently evil in indulging them within reason.

Most Christians would see nothing wrong with seeking an adrenaline jolt from a roller coaster ride or helping a child to face her fear of the dark by reading her a folktale. So, we must assume that these foundational elements about Hallowe'en are not the ones Christians may find distressing. Some people are distressed by the holiday's pagan origins. However, the Christmas tree was also a pagan symbol originally, and most Christians seem to have come to terms with their bedecked evergreens. And, one can hardly say that dressing up as a princess or giving out candy or picking apples from a barrel with your teeth is the work of the Devil. What is it, then, about Hallowe'en that is so peculiarly upsetting for many Christians? One might argue that it is the mystique of fear itself that surrounds the holiday. However, I am willing to wager that it is more likely the symbolism of Hallowe'en and the broader issue of magic and fantasy that most disturb Christians. I will adress this symbolism in my next post. The following one will deal with magic.

In the meantime, if you have any questions or comments to pose about Hallowe'en, I'd be very glad to hear them and attempt to answer or incorporate them in future posts.