CAN CHRISTIANS CELEBRATE HALLOWEEN?
A conflict between traditional views and modern interests
When you are happy to go to the Halloween party on October 31st, there are a group of people who may not be as happy as you. They are struggling and want the day to pass asap. They are Christians, believers in God, not the devil.
There are different opinions on the origin of Halloween, most of which believe that it originated from the traditional festival of British Celts to celebrate the harvest. Celts believe that the last day of October is the end of summer and the beginning of winter, which is called “Day of the dead” or “Ghost Festival”. It is said that all kinds of evil spirits come and go on this day, and the souls of the dead will leave the underworld and wander around the world, which is especially dangerous that night. To scare away evil spirits, Celts put on masks.
However, as time goes by, Halloween is separated from its original meaning, which comes from the absorption and reinterpretation by Christianity and other Pop cultures. In fact, most countries began to celebrate Halloween because of the influence of American culture at the end of the 20th century. Nowadays, more young people think it’s just a way of relaxing and partying, not having anything to do with religion.
Is it really relaxed for everyone to go to the party this evening? Two devout Christians from the local church community in Preston gave their very different perspectives from the young people:
Patrick Mason is a 52 years old staff in Tesco thinks that Halloween is driven by the shop or big supermarket to make money in many cases. In a few years ago, it didn’t get people’s attention. But people found there is an opportunity to make money from it in recent years.
“They can sell more chocolates and sweets before another big festival of Christmas. I am OK for that, but I think the decoration and costume are horrible. It’s an option of business to make money and it’s very much money! As a devout Christian, I don’t interest in that. And you know I work in a shop. I have to ignore as I can,” said Patrick.
He pointed out that the Halloween now in England is American import. “As a Christian l don’t agree with the celebration of darkness and evil. Jesus tells us the world should be light.”
When it comes to opposing opinions, he does have some friends who are Christian but support to accept Halloween. “People in different churches might have different opinions. They think that is fine, is harmless. We don’t judge other people, but we stand for what we believe,” he said.
Extra reading for opposing opinion:
My suggestion? Christians should be teaching their children (age appropriately) that:
there is a spiritual world filled with goodness from God and evil from Satan (Ephesians 2:1–10);
life with Christ has power over darkness (1 John 4:4); and
those who celebrate Halloween either are unaware of its roots, or are intentionally promoting a world where evil is lauded and viewed as an ultimate power.
To counter the evil influence of Halloween, we need to join together and celebrate the reality of the heroic efforts of Christian saints over the evil in their day. Many leaders in the past — and present — have fulfilled the mandate of destroying the works of the devil through their sacrificial commitment to Christ and His Kingdom.
Michael Timmy, a 73-year-old retired man who is a Christian same as Patrick to the anti-Halloween celebration of dangers, darkness and death said: “Christianity is all about life, love and light. I know there are many churches now will have lighting party instead of celebration while people have Halloween.
“Children will dress up with good things like an angel. We don’t want to frighten anyone. I can’t understand why people will think to scare others is a good idea, especially for kids. We believe there are spirits in the world.”
However, the celebration of Halloween seems to be a kind of fashion for young people. Michael had met “treat or trick”. He will treat them for sure and give them sweets and chocolates, but also give the leaflet of their church, which can explain to them that is not for fun, it’s kind of danger behind it. “I will tell them something about our Christian faith as well. We will use this occasion to help children to see the other side of the life,” Michael said.
“I hate to see children dress up as something bad or horrible like a ghost. We are Christian, we love children, so we want to see them bright and happy but not dark and death.”
In a society of business and capital, sometimes faith can’t change too much and it’s impossible to stop people celebrating Halloween, but he will use this Halloween to tell people their opinions, and he doesn’t want to engage in it too much, he added.
Reference:
by Hongda Zhong & Yuerong Huang
