Apologetics/Blog: Should Christians Celebrate Halloween?

It’s finally All Hallows Eve, so it’s time to wrap up this month by answering the burning question amongst Christians of: “Should I celebrate Halloween?” It seems there’s three camps in this debate – those who hate Halloween, those who think it’s fine, and the ones who are mostly neutral. So, who’s correct?

Well, I don’t think anyone is necessarily correct. This is a matter of opinion.

On the side of the Christians who don’t celebrate Halloween, there’s the argument that this day stems from the Celtic holiday of Samhain. Samhain was a holiday marking the end of the harvest season and was generally regarded as the beginning of winter. Herds would be returned from pastures and land tenures would be renewed. However, they also believed that on this day, the border between the living and the dead blurred and the spirits would return to Earth and those who had died that year would journey to the otherworld. Gods would come as visible beings and play tricks on mortals, making it a time fraught with dangers. As protection, hearth fires would then be lighted, and people would wear disguises to scare off the spirits. Meanwhile, mediums and diviners would be making bank since that was considered a good day to divine matters like marriages, health, and death.

However, when Ireland and Britain became Christianized, the church gradually replaced Samhain with All Saints Day. In the 7th century, Pope Boniface IV put All Saints Day on the calendar and set it for May 13. However, in the 8th century, Pope Gregory III moved it to November 1, making October 31 All Hallows Eve (hence Halloween).

From this, we can see the point of those who don’t celebrate Halloween. Even though it did become Christianized to a degree, some of the traditions continue to be observed, such as dressing up and carving pumpkins or gourds. While these traditions can be innocent, some people (like Wiccans) still practice them as closely as they were originally practiced in the days of the Celts to connect with the spirits or some hippie stuff like that.

However, on the side of the “Halloween is fine” crowd, there’s the fact that despite Halloween’s pagan roots, overtime it became something lighter, good even. By the end of the Middle Ages, trick-or-treating as we know it was introduced. Previously, the tradition had just been “guising” (dressing up to scare off spirits). This was replaced with “souling” in which poor people (especially children) would go to houses and offer to pray for the souls of the dead in exchange for food or money. A few hundred years later, dressing up in costume was combined with this tradition and visitors would offer to do a “trick,” such as a dance, for food or money.

Fast forward to the U.S., where we get our first mention of trick-or-treating in 1927. In the early days of American Halloween celebrations, mean tricks and pranks were the main forms of celebrations. During the Great Depression, the pranks became dangerous, with pranksters flipping cars and cutting down power lines. Thus, more groups started promoting trick-or-treating as a way to prevent the pranks. After WWII, trick-or-treating became cemented as an American tradition after sugar rationing ended and comic strips like Charlie Brown promoted it.

Because of this, I’m personally in the “Halloween is fine” crowd. It’s been so diluted and Americanized from what it once was that it’s pretty much an excuse now for Americans to buy exorbitant amounts of candy and play dress up. If you want to go trick-or-treating, dress up, etc. I think that’s fine. It’s a whole day dedicated to doing that. And if you’re someone who still feels uncomfortable or neutral about Halloween, that’s also cool. Ultimately, it’s a matter of opinion.

Until next time,

M.J.