To wonder why some Christians have a problem with Halloween?

[JellyDiamonds]

The first time I encountered this was at Uni when a girl I was friends with refused to partake in any Halloween celebrations whatsoever on the grounds that it was "evil". Her family were evangelical Christian, and even though she was more relaxed in her religious beliefs than them she wouldn't budge on Halloween. It was a shame as she missed out on all of the fun. But she'd never celebrated it, and her family would go out on the 31st to avoid trick or treaters.

I don't understand it? My mum was raised a Christian and has always loved halloween. She sees it for what it is, a bit of fun for kids.

I feel a bit sorry that these people won't allow their children to take part in the same customs that their peers do. Doesn't it leave them feeling a bit left out at school etc?

Should these people just get a grip and stop being intolerant?

I dont like it. Never have. I did it when I was a kid but things were different back then. Kids took gates of hinges, played knock doors, threw eggs on doors. None of this dressing up going knocking for sweets.

I think its a load of bollocks.

For me it's not just a bit of fun. I absolutely believe there are demons, evil spirits, Satan. I don't believe they have any more power or freedom on October 31st than any other day of the year, but I don't think we need to be inviting them in or suggesting to children that they need to be appeased either.

Was the idea not that the spirits were abroad on that night, and dressing up (not necessarily as something evil) confused them and thus protected you? Or was that something my teacher made up?

We didn't do the asking for sweets with menaces - it was always about doing a song or something. I always thought trick or treat was something that came in later, but maybe I just grew up in a more backward place

"Interesting comments about costumes - I have noticed that these days almost all the costumes you see are witch/zombie/vampire type things, whereas when I was young (I sound really old, I'm only in my 40s) people would dress up as all sorts: superheroes, characters from books etc, and only some people as witches . We went out guising and we would do a song or a poem, but again it wasn't anything 'horror' related."

Really? I would have said the exact opposite.

OO yes, dressing up confuses any spirits and so does carving a scary face into pumpkin or a turnip

I don't like halloween. Christians don't always have to do whatever everyone else does.

I teach my children that its better to give than to recieve. Its nicer to go round to your neighbours and give them something nice rather than to demand sweets off them.

I heard people starting dressing up to scare away the evil spirits?

Just what I was told...

My (very limited) understanding of the origins of Halloween is that it was a pagan festival (Celtic, I think - new year?) in which spirits of the deceased were said to roam the earth for a day. It was then 'subsumed' by the Christian church as 'All Hallows Eve' (night before All Souls Day), and like many 'Christian' festivals/rituals, would have kept many of its pagan routes.

That's disputed by Christian scholars. Christmas and Easter are almost certainly originally pagan holidays that were Christianised, but there is some evidence that All Hallows (old name meaning 'All Saints') was originally celebrated in Spring time, and was moved to November much later (originating with German Christians, so nothing to do with Celtic practices).

It's always seemed to me that Halloween is more indisputably Christian (in origins) than Christmas. (But of course, celebrations and practices do move and change from their origins, so I'm not criticising anyone who is not comfortable with current practices).

In fact, now I think about it, its strange that there haven't been attempts to 'claim back' Halloween for the Saints, as there have been attempts to make Christmas more about Christ.

To me it is just ignorance, I would say most people who don't like it have no idea what Hallowe'en is and so they think it is to do with evil, the devil etc. which it most certainly isn't. It was the celebration of the end of the old year in olden times, when the spirits of the dead wold go onto the otherworld and the spirits of the ancestors could come back for one day. People would light fires to keep the darkness away (we now light fires on 5th November instead) and dress up, I think you may be right OOAOML in saying it was to confuse the spirits.

If people were to look into the history of things instead of assuming they think they know there wouldn't be so much prejudice in this world.

We are going to a Hallowe'en party on Friday hosted by a Christian family who thankfully aren't so ignorant.

Maybe the rural backwater I grew up in was actually ahead of the curve Emily? Although possibly it was more to do with the fact that we didn't usually have bought Halloween costumes (I don't think supermarkets sold them those days, certainly don't remember them) but would dress up in whatever we normally used for dressing up, or would make (ok our mums would make) one.

We always had turnip lanterns, I was quite surprised when I had children and realised everyone had pumpkins these days. Easier to carve though!

these days almost all the costumes you see are witch/zombie/vampire type things, whereas when I was young (I sound really old, I'm only in my 40s) people would dress up as all sorts

Can I ask what part of the country you are from? I'm from South East of UK, similar age bracket, but totally different experience. When I was young Halloween was all about a particular 'spooky' type of costume.

The idea that you could dress as anything for Halloween seemed really strange when I first heard of it (in my 20's?) - I thought it was an idea that had come over from America.

I was brought up Roman Catholic - Halloween was taboo, it showed a complete disrespect of the dead, and their families left behind.

It was akin to having balloons, streamers and air horns during the minutes silence on rememberance day.

There was a mass, but it was solemn - not a celebration.

Do you feel sorry for the kids who get 'left out' of Christmas and Easter due to different religious family beliefs??

We discussed this on another thread recently and I learned all sorts.The pagans celebrated the end of summer/start of winter with a festival Samhain. The Catholic church decided to ntake over the festival with All Hallows eve and all saints day. When Catholicism was subdued in this country,some of those traditions died down but inpockets of Catholicism they continued ie Ireland and Scotland. Alot of celts emigrated to the USA where they had total freedom for such celebrations to flourish and so it became big in the states and has been re-imported to the UK but the traditions have become muddled.I think the Catholic tradition was to dress as ghosts and go and visit neighbours.The ghost outfits symbolising something scary to frighten away the evil spirits that were said to be in abundance on that night.
What we are left with now is Catholic churches celebrating it as a religious festival (and sometimes having Saints parties where you dress as a saint and people guess who), pagans celebrating it as it traditionally was, and then Jo public celebrating it as an excuse for a party/American import.
Where that leaves the Christians who are not Catholic and not so much into saints etc is that you either join in the pagan festival, or the party going that is totally ignorant of the origins, or you say,we prefer not to celebrate it at all or have a light party,where the kids have fun without all the gory stuff. We either do nothing,or go to a 'Light Party'.

Cross posted there with lots of others...now off to Google a bit more as to which came first Samhain or All Hallows eve!

I have been threatening my children that I will send them to the local church 'light' party instead of doing Halloween if they misbehave. They have been very good this week.

You can't have light without dark, my son (9) says.

I'm from rural Scotland dream. Maybe everyone's parents were just too mean to buy witch costumes? But I genuinely don't remember many people wearing them.

I was brought up as RC as well

We always did apple bobbing, eating a cream cake without using your hands and peanut rolling

No dressing up but then it wasn't such a big thing in my area all those years ago

From about the age of 18 I have watched scary movies and decorated my house, the children have only started trick or treating in the lags few years although we have always dressed them up, had a party type atmosphere etc

In our area you only approach houses with lit pumpkins. Dd (12) is going out this year, ds1 (15) was put off last year by comments about being too old, ds2 wants the sweets but feels uncomfortable asking for them so I doubt they are going out this year

I'm not sure it's true that "most Christians" in the UK are against women priests.

Sadly you might be right about equal marriage though.

www.loc.gov/folklife/halloween.html

this is quite an interesting background explanation,although I realise there are hundreds!
And I realise OP's question was more about why Christians often opt out,but I think that has been answered by a few people.I also find more and more of my friends who are not religious starting to object to Halloween as it has become more gory and also more commercial.

"I do remember a few teen parties where fortune telling cards, ouija boards, etc. played a part. I think that opens doors which should be left firmly shut." agree with this wholeheartedly. Personally I am still fairly open-minded in terms of belief etc but I do believe that there are certain things, spirits, the dead, that sort of thing which we have no place messing with.

As for comparing Halloween to Christmas, easter etc what a ridiculous idea. It's only really in the past fifteen years or so that Halloween has become such a huge phenomenon in this country. When I was little you had apple bobbing and occasional trick or treating, but nothing like we have it now.

And to those suggesting that people not "celebrating" Halloween are prejudiced and comparing it to prejudice against gay marriage etc, that is frankly incredibly insulting to people who face actual prejudice on a daily basis. Not wanting your kids to dress up as the devil and go demanding money with menaces from the neighbours isn't prejudiced - it's a choice.

I have never allowed ds to go trick or treating and only once have I ever opened the door to trick or treaters, and they were fourteen year olds. I told them to go home.

and I wonder how many of the people who think that people should "get a grip" over Halloween are the same ones who withdraw their children from any kind of mention of God in schools.

I'm from rural Scotland dream. Maybe everyone's parents were just too mean to buy witch costumes? wink But I genuinely don't remember many people wearing them.

Or maybe the traditions were just different in Scotland :). I do remember my Scottish Teacher telling us that we had to do a dance or sing a song on the doorstep to get our treat, and us all looking horrified at her, because round our way if you had done a dance rather than screeching 'trick or treat!' people would have just been confused!

(The Halloween she described always seemed a lot nicer and more sophisticated than anything we did in our bit of England!)

Not just christians, btw, most (if not all) religions have a problem with halloween as it is seen to be celebrating the dark side.

I also deeply dislike the idea of teaching children to demand sweets with menaces.

Oh, sorry, but I've just GOT to laugh at this ^^. Bingo, bingo, bingo!

Samhain was around before All Hallows Eve vdbfamily, it is a pre-christian pagan festival that dates from Celtic times.