According to my latest poll about if you celebrate Halloween or not, 2 people voted "No", 1 person voted "yes" and 2 of us voted that we do an alternate activity. I would love to know what the alternate activities are. I will share what we do around our house at halloween time. My husband and I decided early on in our marriage, before our oldest was born, that we would be a Christian family who did NOT participate in celebrating a holiday that glorifies Satan, witchcraft and darkness. (our opinion) We knew we wanted our children to be "lights in the world and salt of the earth" but we were drawing a line with some activities. Because our 2 daughters attend public school, we choose to pull them out of school at lunch time (the afternoon in our district on 10/31 is a costume/halloween parade followed by a classroom party with snacks, games and a craft.). As a teacher, I worked in a school that banned halloween due to it not being a multi-cultural holiday (meaning many families who had children in our school, a private early childhood center, did not celebrate certain holidays that mainstream Americans celebrate). When our oldest was a toddler/preschooler, we would go out to dinner at a local restaurant and then rent a movie to watch in a darkened house with just a candle lit. I always decorate my home and porch with autumn/harvest decorations. We do not carve pumpkins based on the fact that when people do this it is to drive away evil spirits. We teach our daughters that Jesus is the one who drives away the evil spirits/demons, not a candle inside a pumpkin! (and yes, we know many families who prefer to say they are lighting the pumpkin to let it represent Christ, but in actuality this tradition was from witchcraft so we choose to not do this). Now that our children are older and in school, we pull them out and take them out to lunch. For 4 years we would check into a hotel near us and swim in the pool all evening followed by a late dinner. I would drive them to school the next day. One year (2004) we had the privelage of going to Boston for halloween weekend and watching the Red Sox Parade (the year they won the world series). Since my husband is from the south shore area of Boston, we are big Red Sox fans! This was a fun way to spend the weekend. We followed that up by swimming in the hotel pool and spending time in my husband's hometown with the grandparents. Because my oldest is now in high school, she will attend school all day (holiday celebrations don't occur in the upper grades in our district) and I will pull out my youngest and take her to lunch. We will then rent a dvd for evening and I will make a special dinner and eat picnic style in a family room lit only with candles. We keep all the rest of the lights in the house off. Homework will be done right after school, same as usual. After dinner and the movie we may head over to our church for Halleluia Nite which is a party for all children ages 3-5th grade. Cost is minimal; it is also an outreach to the community with a gospel presentation first in the sanctuary, followed by arts and craft tables, face painting, balloon toss, bobbing for apples, pie contest (trying to hit the awana leader in the face with a shaving cream "pie") and a hayride outside around the church grounds. It is a great alternative for families with younger kids who do not want to promote the secular celebration of halloween. Children are given small bags of candy as "prizes" if they have parental permission. Are you a Christian who celebrates Halloween? Please share why you do and what you do. Are you a Christian who does an alternate activity? Why? and what do you do? 07 October 2007
Autumn Celebrations
According to my latest poll about if you celebrate Halloween or not, 2 people voted "No", 1 person voted "yes" and 2 of us voted that we do an alternate activity. I would love to know what the alternate activities are. I will share what we do around our house at halloween time. My husband and I decided early on in our marriage, before our oldest was born, that we would be a Christian family who did NOT participate in celebrating a holiday that glorifies Satan, witchcraft and darkness. (our opinion) We knew we wanted our children to be "lights in the world and salt of the earth" but we were drawing a line with some activities. Because our 2 daughters attend public school, we choose to pull them out of school at lunch time (the afternoon in our district on 10/31 is a costume/halloween parade followed by a classroom party with snacks, games and a craft.). As a teacher, I worked in a school that banned halloween due to it not being a multi-cultural holiday (meaning many families who had children in our school, a private early childhood center, did not celebrate certain holidays that mainstream Americans celebrate). When our oldest was a toddler/preschooler, we would go out to dinner at a local restaurant and then rent a movie to watch in a darkened house with just a candle lit. I always decorate my home and porch with autumn/harvest decorations. We do not carve pumpkins based on the fact that when people do this it is to drive away evil spirits. We teach our daughters that Jesus is the one who drives away the evil spirits/demons, not a candle inside a pumpkin! (and yes, we know many families who prefer to say they are lighting the pumpkin to let it represent Christ, but in actuality this tradition was from witchcraft so we choose to not do this). Now that our children are older and in school, we pull them out and take them out to lunch. For 4 years we would check into a hotel near us and swim in the pool all evening followed by a late dinner. I would drive them to school the next day. One year (2004) we had the privelage of going to Boston for halloween weekend and watching the Red Sox Parade (the year they won the world series). Since my husband is from the south shore area of Boston, we are big Red Sox fans! This was a fun way to spend the weekend. We followed that up by swimming in the hotel pool and spending time in my husband's hometown with the grandparents. Because my oldest is now in high school, she will attend school all day (holiday celebrations don't occur in the upper grades in our district) and I will pull out my youngest and take her to lunch. We will then rent a dvd for evening and I will make a special dinner and eat picnic style in a family room lit only with candles. We keep all the rest of the lights in the house off. Homework will be done right after school, same as usual. After dinner and the movie we may head over to our church for Halleluia Nite which is a party for all children ages 3-5th grade. Cost is minimal; it is also an outreach to the community with a gospel presentation first in the sanctuary, followed by arts and craft tables, face painting, balloon toss, bobbing for apples, pie contest (trying to hit the awana leader in the face with a shaving cream "pie") and a hayride outside around the church grounds. It is a great alternative for families with younger kids who do not want to promote the secular celebration of halloween. Children are given small bags of candy as "prizes" if they have parental permission. Are you a Christian who celebrates Halloween? Please share why you do and what you do. Are you a Christian who does an alternate activity? Why? and what do you do?
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So after discovering this, what is a reasonable conclusion? As Christians you and I are placed in this world to be a light in a world of darkness. There is no lasting benefit to ignore a holiday that exists around us, but it also does harm to celebrate Halloween as it has originated and grown over the centuries.
My suggestion? Christians should be teaching their children (age appropriately) that:
there is a spiritual world filled with goodness from God and evil from Satan (Eph. 2:1-10);
life with Christ has power over darkness (I John 4:4); and
those who celebrate Halloween either are unaware of its roots, or are intentionally promoting a world where evil is lauded and viewed as an ultimate power.
To counter the evil influence of Halloween, we need to join together and celebrate the reality of the heroic efforts of Christian saints over the evil in their day. Many leaders in the past -- and present -- have fulfilled the mandate of destroying the works of the devil through their sacrificial commitment to Christ and His Kingdom.
Too, rather than “hide” in the face of evil, we should unabashedly and boldly create an alternative that is positive and uplifting; that celebrates good over evil and the triumph of God over Satan. We need to provide an environment that also makes room for heaps of fun while using the day as a “teachable moment” to celebrate God’s protection, provision and purpose for our lives.
Amen! Thanks for visiting and for sharing your comments. We have had lots of neighbors ask us why we don't celebrate so one year we explained the real meaning of halloween and they were astounded. They had no idea about the real roots of this holiday. This year we are doing the church activity and participating in the gospel presentation that will be open to the public. My teen will help to serve the younger children. We also pray for neighbors who are "still in the dark".Thanks for reminding me about Ephesians 2 also! I think I will include thos Scriptures in our devotional reading that nite! God bless you!
This post is chock full of great ideas! Our kids are raised now, but we never celebrated Hallowe'en with them as they were growing up. I've covered a few alternate ideas in this post.
(I hope that answers your question.)
Hugs 'n prayers, e-Mom
Dear e-mom, thanks so much for your post! I read it and loved it! what great ideas. When I get a chance I am gonna add your site to my sidebar! Blessings to you!
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