I lived thirteen years of my adult life in Japan where they have their own “festival of the dead” every August. It isn’t anything like the “Halloween” we know, but is actually a span of several days when they believe the spirits of ancestors return the homes of their families. There are many ceremonial traditions that take place during this time, including preparing food for the spirits, cleaning the graves, lighting lanterns to guide the spirits, etc. Although it is considered “cultural” and “traditional,” it is very real to the Japanese people. I can honestly say that as a Christian, I have experienced a dark, spiritual oppression during those times. Maybe it was because of these experiences that I was surprised when I returned to America in the early 1990′s to find how popular it had become to decorate for Halloween with such dark and scary themes. As a child, I had wonderful memories of going door-to-door to get candy and have everyone admire my costume. It made me sad to return and find so much darkness. It reminded me some of the darkness in Japan.

After having a child, I had to decide what to do about the whole Halloween issue. My husband and I decided to treat it the same as we do for Santa – we didn’t really mention it either way. We didn’t promote it or condemn it. We don’t make a special trip to go down the Halloween decorations isle at the stores, but if we happen to end up there, we don’t make a big deal out of it. I do try to follow up with casual talks about God’s Word, promises of His presence so that we don’t have to be afraid, and that for a Christian, death is not a dark thing. Also, we want to be a living testimony in our neighborhhood. All of the younger kids in our neighborhood tend to congregate at our home on a daily basis. Although it can be tiring, we are thankful for the opportunity we have to be a positive influence on these kid’s lives. We knew that if we were to shut off the lights at Halloween, we could forget about that influence for many of them. We decided to be a bright light on a night that can be very dark. We turn lots of lights on, greet the children with excitement and try to give out candy that kids actually like! We know that they may remember our kindness when they are older.

All of that said, I still can’t say that I am completely comfortable with the empahsis that our culture puts on Halloween. I think as Christians we need to do what we can to influence our culture and it’s traditions. By God’s grace we will try to do just that.

Bet you never expected to see such a long comment from me! Don’t worry – it won’t happen very often.

MB

Couldn’t agree with you more Don….. Whether we like it or not, as Christians in America, we are a part of this American culture. There are many things that have found their way onto our shores from Europe and they don’t carry the same meanings or purpose that they did in the “old country”. Halloween, taken as a day for children to dress up and collect candy is really innocuous when it comes down to it. Just like to me it is a non-issue if parents want to have Santa Claus visiting their house on Christmas eve — even though portions of Santa’s roots are from Christianizing the worship of Odin with Saint Nicholas.

The question with these cultural traditions is not necessarily where their roots are from, but rather what we as families and a culture actually do with them. On halloween are the kiddos celebrating and worshiping sam hain or other demons??? VERY doubtful, their focus is on a good ole sugar rush…. In the same way with Santa it adds a different twist, a different excitement, and mystery of sorts to the tradition of giving gifts to one another in that holiday season — there’s no problem with it as long as we don’t lose focus on He who has given us the ability to have these different traditions and still have the freedom and ability to worship Him.

Unfortunately we as Christians tend to get much to uptight over the little things making ourselves look like legalistic fools.

I guess I may have opened a pandora’s box here, but hey — life would be really boring if we didn’t have at least a little excitement

blessings….

theFuzzy

Thanks for stopping by. You do understand that my remarks were in no way meant to esteem pagan religious beliefs? I have no tolerance nor respect for religious false teaching or pagan idolatry of any kind. The point I’m making is that in America almost no one associates Halloween with whatever ancient festival it may have originated from. I only meant to recall the fun of a good old fashioned American pastime and to lament on how it has been ruined by some in the evangelical community.

http://halloweenchoiceorg.bravehost.com/