Around this time of year the party shops are stocking up on skeletons, fake carved pumpkins, witches outfits and much more. The spectre of Halloween looms large again. When my children were little I remember just wishing it would go away. I never really understood it very well. I knew it came over from the USA where it was big, I knew that from American sit coms. There was pressure from my kids for me to allow them to go trick or treating because they wanted to be part of the fun.

Some Christians I knew saw it as very evil. I'm not sure why but I pretty much ignored it and some of my children did go out trick or treating, on some occasions with me following them for safety reasons. I feel a bit weak about my lack of resolve to ban it but I also feel that by doing so and drawing a lot of attention to it, I would make it all the more attractive to them. They wanted to be part of the fun. In the USA I am told that you can just dress up as anything… just dress up as Superman, or Snow White, or some other creature. It's just a party.

It does have a somewhat dark past though. Halloween culture can be traced back to the Druids, a Celtic culture in Ireland, Britain and Northern Europe. Roots lay in the feast of Samhain, which was held annually on October 31 to honour the dead. The Celts believed the souls of the dead roamed the streets and villages at night. Since not all spirits were thought to be friendly; gifts and treats were left out to pacify the evil spirits and ensure next year's crops would be plentiful. This custom evolved into trick-or-treating.

Apparently as Christianity spread into Celtic lands, the popes introduced All Saints Day in order to honour saints and martyrs, to replace the pagan festival of the dead. This became an opportunity for remembering before God all the saints who had died and all the dead in the Christian community. November 1 finally became the designated day, hence October 31 was known as All Hallows (Saints) Eve or Hallowe'en.

I imagine there are a lot of parents caught in the same quandary as I was. Is this an issue big enough to make a fuss about? Is there a way to explain it to kids and maybe reclaim it or reinvent it for Christians. For an extreme negative view I quote from the Jeremiah Project website,

It (Halloween) does not have even one single redeeming virtue. It is custom born out of pagan superstition. It is a demon-inspired, devil-glorifying, occult festival. It is an evening holy unto evil, death, and divination. The Scriptures tells us to “Abstain from all appearance of evil.” [1Thess. 5:22] [url=http://www.jeremiahproject.com/culture/halloween.html]http://www.jeremiahproject.com/culture/halloween.html[/url]

Does anyone have wisdom on the best way to manage it? How do you manage it with your children?