Halloween

This post is a bit of a long one, so grab a tea of coffee:)

This year I have noticed Halloween alot more it seems to becoming more and more common or the norm. There have been more children's programs on television more Halloween things in the stores, last year we even had our house toilet papered. (In Australia Halloween has only been popular about the last 10 years it is growing in popularity every year). I can't remember doing any Halloween craft at school or even talking about it when I was a child.

Also this year my eldest who is 6 has been asking me about Halloween and why don't we celebrate it. A few days ago she came home from school wanting a Halloween party, she had no idea what it was other than lots of lollies and you get to dress up and have scary things around. (She goes to a Christian School, must have picked it up from friends) So this started my research into what is Halloween what is the history behind it so I can give an informed answer to Mikayla. I was always told as a child that Halloween was evil and we don't celebrate it, and back then it was not in your face as much.

As a mother I try and give answers that are as correct as possible I like to know all the facts so I can answer my children as best as possible. This is why I have been researching Halloween I did not know enough about it to answer all of my daughters questions so I asked her if I could have a couple of days to find out more and then we will have a chat about it.
The info I have here is only an outline to give background to Halloween. I have not included everything I read or found out. From what I have read Halloween has strong links to in paganism.
The History of Halloween.

The term Halloween is shortened from All Hallows' Even (both "even" and "eve" are abbreviations of "evening", but "Halloween" gets its "n" from "even") as it is the eve of "All Hallows' Day", which is now also known as All Saints' Day. It was a day of religious festivities in various northern European Pagan traditions, until Popes Gregory III and Gregory IV moved the old Christian feast of All Saints' Day from May 13 (which had itself been the date of a pagan holiday, the Feast of the Lemures) to November 1. In the ninth century, the Church measured the day as starting at sunset, in accordance with the Florentine calendar. Although All Saints' Day is now considered to occur one day after Halloween, the two holidays were, at that time, celebrated on the same day. Liturgically, the Church traditionally celebrated that day as the Vigil of All Saints, and, until 1970, a day of fasting as well. Like other vigils, it was celebrated on the previous day if it fell on a Sunday, although secular celebrations of the holiday remained on the 31st. The Vigil was suppressed in 1955, but was later restored in the post-Vatican II calendar.

Halloween, or Hallowe’en, is a holiday celebrated on the night of October 31. Halloween activities include trick-or-treating, ghost tours, bonfires, costume parties, visiting "haunted houses", carving Jack-o'-lanterns, reading scary stories and watching horror movies. Irish immigrants carried versions of the tradition to North America in the nineteenth century. Other western countries embraced the holiday in the late twentieth century. Halloween is celebrated in several countries of the Western world, most commonly in the United States, Canada, Ireland, Puerto Rico, Japan, New Zealand, United Kingdom and occasionally in parts of Australia. In Sweden the All Saints' official holiday takes place on the first Saturday of November.

Halloween was perceived as the night during which the division between the world of the living and the otherworld was blurred so spirits of the dead and inhabitants from the underworld were able to walk free on the earth. It was believed necessary to dress as a spirit or otherworldly creature when venturing outdoors to blend in, and this is where dressing in such a manner for Halloween comes from. This gradually evolved into trick-or-treating because children would knock on their neighbours' doors, in order to gather fruit, nuts, and sweets for the Halloween festival. Salt was once sprinkled in the hair of the children to protect against evil spirits.

Human and animal sacrifices were held and other paigan rituals.

I also found this site written by a Christian, it has alot of helpful information about Halloween.

http://www.jeremiahproject.com/culture/halloween.html

Halloween looks like so much fun to children, blind fun while celebrating the very thing we as Christians try and keep away from. It is marketed to Children. More and more children's shows are having Halloween specials (and I am very fussy about what my children watch) just this morning my son was singing a Halloween song that he heard on a kids show while I was having a shower.

My family will not be celebrating Halloween, to us it will be just another day. Now that I understand it more I can give reasons why we do not celebrate Halloween, my answer will not be because empty learnt responses like it is evil or our Church does not agree with it or as a Christian I don't think we celebrate that. My answer will be because it goes against God and everything the bible tells me. It celebrates satan and all that is evil, it invites evil spirits. I do not want any of these things in my house or my life. I have found some bible verses that clearly show us where we should stand on Halloween. As my children get older I will be able to share these verses with them as I explain why we do not celebrate Halloween.

1 Thessalonians 5:21-22 ("Test everything. Hold on to the good. Avoid every kind of evil.")
James 1:27 ("keep oneself from being polluted by the world")
3 John 1:11 ("do not imitate what is evil")
Romans 12:9 ("abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good.")
Deuteronomy 18:9-14 (do not learn to imitate detestable ways, including spiritists, sorcerers and witchcraft)
Ephesians 5:11-12 ("Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness" / "live as children of light")
1 Timothy 4:1 (don't "follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons")
1 Corinthians 10:21
2 Corinthians 6:14-17 ("what fellowship can light have with darkness?")
Philippians 4:8 (think about pure, lovely, noble things)
1 Corinthians 11:1 ("follow the example of Christ")
1 Corinthians 10:31 ("whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God")
James 4:7-8 (submit yourselves to God / resist the devil / purify your hearts)
Ezekiel 44:23 ("…teach my people… to distinguish between the unclean and the clean.")
Proverbs 22:6 ("train a child in the way he should go")
Matthew 18:6 ("if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin…")
Hosea 4:6 ("My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.")
John 3:19-20 (people love darkness instead of light)
Romans 13:12 ("put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.")
Ephesians 6:11-18 ("take your stand against the devil's schemes.")
1 John 5:19
2 Chronicles 7:14

These two youtube links are interesting especially the second one I would suggest you watch the second link when there are no children around.

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=blYGAUTbbFo

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=zQjrsCWhOqY&feature=related

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=-M_6K1aj89w

Great blog post

http://heartofthematteronline.com/2008/10/23/halloween-for-christians/#comment-19253