Halloween Hoopla

I don't "celebrate" Halloween. But I still think this is funny. Instead, I just re-post the same thing I wrote last Halloween. Hopefully this explains why I'm not out dressed up like John Kerry.

Halloween Madness

Every year at this time it happens. For whatever reason, I end up disclosing to someone that we don't "celebrate" Halloween at our house. The person to whom I'm disclosing this usually looks at me like I'm guilty of assisting Al-Qaeda or other such Un-American activities. Let me take this opportunity to set the record straight on this whole "Not Celebrating Halloween" thing.

For a start, let me make some assurances. My family and I are not; (a). followers of some extreme fundamentalist cult (eg, snake-handlers), (b). against children getting an opportunity to accelerate the rotting of their teeth with hoards of candy, (c). bad neighbors, or (d). the type of people who see a satan worshipper behind every bush.

Both my wife and I trick or treated as children and, for the most part, we both turned out okay. Neither of us has had any bad experiences with Halloween. We simply don't believe in making a big deal out of a Pagan Holiday. Frankly, we're mystified that so many others do. It isn't so much that we're against Halloween as it is that we don't really see why it is celebrated in the first place.

As Christians, paganism is anathema to our entire belief system. However, we know many well-meaning people who are also Christians and feel free to go through all the usual Halloween celebrations. We don't think any less of them for doing so - unless of course they really go crazy with it. (then we just think they're generally weird anyway.) In fact, we do hand out candy to all the costumed kids in the neighborhood that come to our door. (We would never hand out tracts in lieu of candy!) Our children don't participate in Halloween parties and they don't dress up in costumes but otherwise we don't make any big deal out of it.

Retailers, though, do make a big deal out of it. I'm convinced that the biggest reason most people get into Halloween is due to the fact that it is hyped by retailers. Aside from Christmas, this is a real money making opportunity. The fact that retailers go overboard in selling us on this event is just one more reason why we don't pay much attention to it.

Sometimes it is difficult to find good information about Halloween. There is a wealth of information available on the internet. Unfortunately, it is difficult to distinguish between those who are overly hysterical and those who provide antiseptic but historically accurate information. If you are interested in knowing a little more about Halloween as a pagan holiday, check out this page written by a person I know and trust.

Halloween is just a pagan holiday. "Celebrating" it isn't a big deal, but if your beliefs run counter to those of a typical pagan, you might want to re-consider.

Note: In light of all the evil that seems to be running wild in the world, it would also be good to keep this in mind.