Halloween

Millions of children celebrate Halloween each year with costumes, parties, and hijinks. But what are they celebrating? Where did these customs arise? Some Christians strongly denounce any involvement in this spectacle of ghost, witches, and evil spirits. Others wonder, "if it's 'All Hallow's Eve,' what in the world is 'holy' about it?"

The truth is that Halloween's deepest roots are decidedly pagan, and unlike Christmas and Easter, it has kept those pagan roots, despite its now Christian name. The controversy surrounding this holiday goes back well over a thousand years to when Christians confronted pagan rites of appeasing the lord of death and evil spirits. But the early Christians didn't simply speak out they tried to institute a Christian alternative. All Hallow's Day (November 1) was a celebration of all "the holies" -- those people who had died faithful to Christ.

Light against darkness. Life against death.

But Halloween in our culture has become an odd mixture of tributes to Draculas and roaming spirits, TV super-heroes and comic characters, and costume parties. Through the centuries, Christians of most persuasions have tried to transform this pagan holiday into a Christian one. How does one take a genuinely Christian stance today?

Certainly of all people, Christians should be joyful. The challenge is to use the creativity of the Creator to celebrate both the light and life He brought into this world, and His victory over evil--and evil spirits --- which extends into the next.

-Harold Myra-

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