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Originally Posted by Found Goat
With Halloween forthcoming, it is that time of the year when many people turn their attention to confectionery and possibly the fear of acquiring cavities. (No, Halloween was not invented by money-grubbing dentists, as some dentured conspiracy theorists believe.)
As one who was raised into a puritanical community, to celebrate All Hallows Eve was taboo and any congregant caught doing so would likely have been called on the carpet if not excommunicated for the infraction, if unrepentant and continually unpresentable whilst in attendance at church services. The heathenish holiday conflicted with our Bible-based faith. We were schooled as to its origins, and viewed it as a spiritually deranged observance, steeped not in mere superstition, but in demonism. We learned about the donning of masquerades for these original observants, and how this served in their opinion a practical purpose. The practitioners seriously believed these frightful facades would help ward off malevolent spirits lingering about the earthplane.
Nowadays, children and even some grown-ups dress up in Halloween costumes for the sheer fun of it. For the most part, it has become a secular, commercialized holiday. Over the years, I’ve heard of some rather creative trick-or-treaters. The boy who went about begging for candy as a pretend ghost-buster. The man who went about with sack in tow wearing no unusual attire whatsoever. When asked what he was, he’d introduce his doppelganger.
Although I have long since moved on from my sectarian upbringing, and recognize several creatures of the fey dimensions, I continue to find it a bit curious whenever I hear of people observing this holiday who identify themselves as Christian. I realize the celebration no longer has any relation to actual pagan practices, but for a Christian to observe a holiday that involves make-believe ghouls, goblins, skeletons, and other spooky beings still puzzles me. It would seem to border on a type of transient interfaith that is contradictory to this life-affirming, light-bearing religion.
What are your thoughts on this? Do you feel Halloween conflicts with the Christian faith, even though Scripture doesn’t explicitly prohibit it?
Personally, I wonder what churchgoers would think of their female minister if they were to learn of her having gone out on Halloween night disguised as a sorceress or succubus. Would they simply shrug it off, and think nothing of it? Find it amusing? Request of some leftovers? Praise the Lord?
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