Parents who follow a religion ......

[superbagpuss]

what do you do about halloween?

We are Christian (liberal but church going) and our children go to a C of E school

I don't allow my children trickle treating and we don't dress up but do have a tub of sweets if anyone comes to the door - we live in a family friendly estate and its pretty safe.

As my DC get older they may question this - anyone have any ideas or experience?

"because even if it started off as a Christian festival" it didn't though. It is a pagan festival.

Samhain is a pagan festival (and god/goddess bless my brothers and sisters who celebrate it) All Hallow's Eve is part of a Christian festival, incorporating All Saints day and All Souls day.

In The Satanic Bible, Satanist Anton LaVey writes that the main two Satanic holidays (after one's birthday), are Walpurgisnacht and Halloween. Other holidays are the two solstices and the two equinoxes. Five to six weeks after each of the solstices and equinoxes are the "legendary Satanic revels" (a reference to the cross-quarter days).[1][2]

Not saying Wiki is the fount of ALL knowledge but don't think Christians are completely paranoid.
I should have said that last year we were in Austria for All Hallows Eve and it showed me something very different and beautiful.The house we stayed in was an old monastery,connected to a church and graveyard and on Oct 31,the graveyard was full of families,decorating family graves and lighting candles.In the eve,the whole village gathered in the church,we had to stand outside as no room to get it,and celebrated the occasion. So when I said we do not celebrate Halloween I meant we don't do the witches and scary thing but we might go to church or to an alternative party.

Myabe not paranoid, but cowed by a crackpot like LaVey into thinking we have to hide away from celebrating our own festival? I think not.

argh, pc playing up. I mean to add, that would be like not celebrating Christmas because Coca cola co-opted Saint Nicholas.

Mine go trick or treating (well, DS is too old now) we put cobwebs in the hall and pumpkins by the front door. On All Saints Day we go to Church.

Trick or treating doesn't involve menacing vulnerable people. Children dress up, go to the houses of their neighbours who have indicated their willingness to participate by putting out a pumpkin lantern, knock on the door, say the ritual greeting of "trick or treat" show off their costume, tell a joke or do some sort of vaguely spooky performance, get a sweetie, say thank you and move on.

We do have Mischief Night locally which does sometimes involve menacing behaviour, but I don't know of anyone whose children have been involved in Mischief Night pranks. It's a very different thing.

vdbfamily- what rubbish.

The so called Satanic Bible was written in the 1960s.

I could call Thursdays "Cheese Day"- it doesn't make it so.

We have a 'halloween tea', we make scary food (together) and have it for dinner, no trick or treating as they are teenagers now; it stops when they go to high school. We also go to a church party on the 31st :)

My kids atre teenagers, DD loves Halloween, but has outgrown many of the usual party tricks.

I am a practicing witch. I have never involved my family or children in my craft. Part of me woould love a big Samhain celebration, but I will keep things low key, with celebration food etc.

bigbluestars I am not sure what you are saying.Are you saying that 31st Oct is not celebrated by Satanists or are you saying they don't exist or are you saying the fact that it is an important date to them should not stop others enjoying it?
I guess that having read what everyone has said on this thread,it would be reasonable to conclude that if people want to enjoy the fun in the way that atheists enjoy Christmas, why not? But if Christians wish to not partake,as some atheists chose to do with Christmas/Easter, then that should also be accepted,or if Christians wish to have a light party,like an atheists 'Christ free' christmas then that is fine too. Halloween is a lot of things to different people and I guess coming from a non-conformist Christian background (not big on Saints!) we probably never really knew much of the Christian festival bit of it, we just avoided the pagan bit!

I think that Bigbluestars was pointing out that as Christianity was around long before Satanism, it seems a bit silly for Christians to change what they do just because Satanists do something a bit different around the same time, especially as Satanism is very much a teeny tiny minority religion.

What I'm saying is that Satanism is a load of hooey, without even the argument from antiquity to support it. And The Satanist Bible was written in the 1960s by a charlatan/Sally Morgan of his time as a publicity stunt.

We celebrate All Saints Day the next day and also All Souls. We frequently go to All Saints parties where all the children dress up as a favourite saint and there is a parade. They then each read out a few clues about the saint they have chosen to dress as and then the other children guess who they are (if it is not extremely obvious!). The families all pray and sing together and then there are lots of games and a big feast. It is especially popular with Catholic families who choose not to focus on the dark and scary aspects of Halloween. Halloween was originally the 'een (evening/eve) of All Hallows (All Saints) Hallow means Holy. You will find many churches called All Hallows.

Candles are blessed and prayers asked of all the holy ones in heaven who share in Christ's life.

Litany of the Saints. "Ora Pro Nobis" means "Pray for us" in latin

Gosh. Where do you live? I have never been to a party where I've dressed up as a saint!

FrancisdeSales that sounds lovely.As I said before,our experience of the celebrations in Austria were very memorable.

I live in Germany, our family will be going to an All Saints party here this year and we also lived in the US where many families and parishes had All Saints parties and celebrations.

We are going to England on Tuesday morning so I'll ask my friends if they are planning an All Saints party there! It may not be so common there because Catholicism was suppressed for so long and people were banned from public parades and expressions of their faith for hundreds of years. There used to be many public traditions such as Mystery and Miracle plays performing stories from the bible, the Life of Jesus and stories of the saints such as the York cycle of forty-eight pageants that were banned at the reformation.

I see it as a time to remember all those who have gone before me, for good or ill, and to give thanks for the lives of the people we have loved and lost. I see it as a chance to look mortality in the eye and blow it a big raspberry.

we don't do seances or ouija boards, or actively contact the dead, but we will light a few candles and ask the saints to pray for us.

I'm a Pagan, and this is almost exactly how my Halloween goes. Fewer saints, probably. It's also a welcoming of winter, and a celebration of the end of one year and the beginning of the next.

Far from the Devil worshiping of some Christian imagination - after all, Pagans are no more able to 'worship' Satan than Atheists are able to 'worship' God.

I am a Christian and raising my children as Christian.

I have explained the ancient origins of All Hallows' eve to them as scaring away all the bad spirits before all Saints day. I've also explained that when Christianity came to Britain the festivals were overlaid on top of pre-existing Pagan festivals.

We're Scottish, we go guising not trick or treating, no demanding sweeties with menaces here - no party piece no sweeties!

I consider it an extremely old folk festival which engenders wonderful colourful community spirit - seeing packs of polite, joyful children freely interacting with their neighbours is a lovely, lovely thing to see. Last year it was howling here, tipping down with rain and wee happy drenched Gouls and Ghosties were all welcome at our door.

I see it in no way as conflicting with my faith.

For those Christians who think it is hypocritical- I assume you avoid eggs and bunnies at Easter?

This thread has been really interesting and challenged some of my previous thoughts. It would seem that an ancient tradition in this country was more or less ended when Catholicism was initially repressed and maybe only continued by pagans and brave pockets of Catholics. Certainly most Anglican churches I know do not make much of it as a religious festival these days. I am guessing that because lots of Irish and Scottish catholics decamped to the USA, that is why it became such a big thing there as they had the freedom to celebrate again. It has now been reimported to the UK as an excuse to party but has lost most of its symbolism.I am sure a very large percentage of the UK would not know that it had either anything to do with the end of harvest/preparation for winter or dressing up to scare of the spirits that would be active on 31/10. For most people it is just genuinely an excuse for a party.
If you talk to people about it being an important day for pagans/witches etc,most people laugh at you for actually thinking witches exist.I find that odd too.
Anyway....not sure where this has left me but certainly lots to think about which is a good thing.