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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To wonder why some Christians have a problem with Halloween?

215 replies

JellyDiamonds · 29/10/2014 16:12

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?

OP posts:

ghostyslovesheep · 31/10/2014 10:29

brilliant post Punk!

BackOnlyBriefly · 31/10/2014 11:20

Good point about scaring/upsetting yourself using these things. Though I suspect if someone has a serious problem like a breakdown after using an oujii board that probably means they have had it drummed into them that it's all real.

christians celebrating a pagan festival loved that.

Nice one, PunkHedgehog!

headinhands · 31/10/2014 11:42

Yeah totally. Someone who claims to have suffered long term mental illness because of a ouija board would have had pre existing issues. This is another beef I have about Jesus casting demons out of sick people. We know illnesses are caused by viruses and wrt to mental illness they can be in response to a situation or there's a genetic component. But to suggest it's because of demonic activity is appalling let alone the fact that there is absolutely no reason for us to think they exist. Why would Jesus have further entrenched peoples prejudices about mental illness. He could have used the opportunity to teach is about genetics and prejudice and how people with mental health problems are just like people with physical health problems, they want to be understood and supported to live a good life. Not have people think they're possessed. Not on Jesus, not on.

Tanith · 31/10/2014 11:44

People celebrate what they're comfortable with. Some Christians won't use the Bunnies, eggs etc either for similar reasons. Claiming symbols exclusively for any one religion doesn't work, especially these days when most religions have borrowed from each other (fireworks, for example).

The simple answer to Op's question is that some Christians don't celebrate Hallowe'en because it isn't a festival they celebrate. Why this is a problem for anyone else, I don't know! No-one criticises Pagans for not celebrating Divali, or Hindus for not celebrating Chinese New Year.

No doubt in a month's time we'll have the usual demands that Christians shouldn't celebrate Christmas because it's a Pagan festival

For the record, working in Early Years I get to celebrate the lot I have been struck by the similarities of many of them.

BackOnlyBriefly · 31/10/2014 11:45

it's almost as if Jesus didn't know about those things :)

Tanith · 31/10/2014 11:58

As a Jew, Jesus is documented as celebrating the festivals of his own culture at the time.

headinhands · 31/10/2014 12:08

tanith I work with children too. I love their questions. I remember sitting in on an RE lesson about Jesus last year and one boy saying 'why did Jesus do magic tricks?' And the teacher saying 'it wasn't magic' and the boy saying 'how did he do it then?' And the teacher suddenly being too busy to discuss it with him. Priceless.

bigbluestars · 31/10/2014 12:44

punk I agree. I am a witch. I am an atheist and I don't believe in supernatural powers.

ProudAS · 31/10/2014 14:25

Headinhands- In the time of Jesus it was commonly believed that evil spirits were the cause of illness so his contemporaries would have believed that he was casting them out. Maybe he could have set people straight about the real causes but he was perceived very much as a revolutionary as it was and it might just have been too much. We can't judge what happened 2000 years ago by modern standards.

BackOnlyBriefly · 31/10/2014 14:31

So.. you're saying he simply cured some people of a mental illness with his powers, but made some pigs go crazy and told everyone that it was invisible demons that he'd sent from one to the other so as not to burden them with new experiences they might not understand and have trouble coping with?

JustSayNoNoNo · 31/10/2014 15:09

I'm in my 50s. In rural Scotland we absolutely had to 'do a turn' before anyone would give you sweets etc. Now live in urban Scotland and this certainly continued until we stopped getting 'guisers' about 7 or 8 years ago.

As a child I got ridiculously excited about being able to choose a 'false face' (mask) in Woolworths. They were papier mache originally, then made of thin plastic. when I was very small, that was the extent of the costume. Later we would add a witch's hat & cape.

Turnip lanterns were the thing - we carved them in school! - and ate the raw turnip too. I can still smell burning turnip, mmmm.

I first encountered Hallowe'en avoidance 20+ years ago when DD and I attended a baby group held on Baptist church premises. That was an eye opener for me.

At uni, a Catholic friend was genuinely worried that her sister's baby would arrive on Hllowe'en.

bigbluestars · 31/10/2014 15:11

justsay- oh the acrid smell of burning turnip with a wee bit of candle inside. I can smell it now..........

ProudAS · 31/10/2014 15:15

I'm not saying that necessarily. The bible cannot be taken literally and the pigs could be symbolic, also did he ever actually say that he'd cast out demons or was that the perception of the onlookers? Maybe he did give more of an explanation but it was too much for his contemporaries to take in.

headinhands · 31/10/2014 15:35

also did he ever actually say that he'd cast out demons or was that the perception of the onlookers?

And you could say the same about all the rest of it. If you explain away the nonsensical stuff by saying it was symbolic or allegorical or that's how it was interpreted what's intellectually stopping you from saying that about the virgin birth, the miracles, the crucifixion, even the concept of god itself.

Maybe he did give more of an explanation but it was too much for his contemporaries to take in.

I thought it was the inspired word of god? So you think some of what Jesus taught was forgotten or misinterpreted. Again what's to say that about the stuff you like I the NT? Why only make excuses for the stuff that is weird or unpleasant? Whose to say that when he said he was gods son he meant he was like a son of god and so on ad infinitum?

BackOnlyBriefly · 31/10/2014 15:42

ProudAS, with that argument you can dismiss the whole book. :)

No doubt in a month's time we'll have the usual demands that Christians shouldn't celebrate Christmas because it's a Pagan festival

Tanith I think you were kidding, but sometimes it's hard to tell without seeing expressions.

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