Should Christians celebrate Halloween?
Years ago, the answer to this question seemed to be a resounding NO, but I have noticed over the years, the celebration of this holiday has begun to creep back in among the holiness people. Perhaps it is simply due to a lack of knowledge as to the origin of the day so maybe this feeble attempt of explanation will help someone who may not realize the implications behind this dark holiday.
I understand everyone is entitled to have their own beliefs and convictions but every true Christian (Christ follower) must seek to be pleasing to God in every aspect of life.
Halloween is a holiday that many folks have deemed harmless or mainly geared to the childish fun of costumes and candy, but there is a much more sinister origin and meaning behind this day. (Sadly, this mindset of naivety has permeated even mainstream Christianity)
As Christians, we must stand firm on God's Word and walk in the Light. We are commanded to "cast off the works of darkness".
Romans 13:12 ...let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light.
Ephesians 5:11
And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.
As Christians…
(in Light of His Word)
I believe we should not participate in or celebrate the holiday of Halloween…
But as parents….
Our children often see all the fun and silliness of dressing up in costumes and all the thrill of going door to door to get free candy.
Unless we know for ourselves and can truly explain to them the "whys" behind the reasons we should not celebrate Halloween, they often feel like they are ones missing out. They want to have fun like everyone else.
As parents, we know that Christians are to live in contrast to this world’s ways of living. Christians are to BE the light in the darkness; we are not of this world; we are simply "pilgrims" passing through, on our way to Glory. As Christians, we are called to “come out from among the world.” (2 Cor. 2:17).
These commissions we are given as Christians may cause conflict between partaking in worldly practices and obeying God's commands. Halloween is one such example. The principles given in the Word of God give us clear guidelines as to the "whys” we shouldn’t be partaking in this type of revelry.
When you’re walking in fellowship with God, living even close to the borders of darkness is displeasing to God. Why? Because God IS light (1 John 1:5-6) He has nothing to do with darkness. The fact is this: Halloween has its roots in darkness, evil, witchcraft, and satanic practices...
No matter how adorable the kids look in their costumes and no matter what reasons one may give for why they believe it is acceptable to celebrate Halloween, it doesn’t change the fact that this “holiday” is a celebration that is way too close to "darkness" for Bible believing children of God to be comfortable justifying--at least not when we want to “walk in the light as He is in the light.” God isn’t "in" Halloween at all...(not even a little bit) so why would we want to raise our children to justify even the “fun” side of darkness and Satan?
So, How can we explain to our kids why we choose not to celebrate Halloween?
First off, let's look at the origins/history of Halloween itself.
Halloween (or the holiday that became the basis for Halloween as we know it) began over 2000 years ago as a Celtic festival called Samhain (pronounced SOW-in "ow" as in cow). The Celts and other tribes of people lived in what is now the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Northern France. Their New Year began on November 1st. They hosted a festival that began the previous evening honored Samhain, the Lord of Death. The celebration marked the beginning of the season of cold, darkness, and decay .The festival marked the end of the harvest, the changing of seasons and the passing of the year. It was celebrated at the end of every October and was essentially the Celtic "New year's eve". Celts were a very superstitious people and they believed that on the night before the new year, the barriers between the world and the spirit world became weakened and spirits of the dead (especially those recently departed) could return to earth to roam freely for an evening--"the day of the dead" if you will...
The Celtic people began the practice of wearing costumes to "confuse" the spirits of the dead to avoid being abducted or harmed by these spiteful ghouls. (This was the origin of costume wearing at Halloween.) The Celts sought to win the favor of their dark god, Samhain (the Lord of Death) and obtain the favor of these malicious, revenge hungry ghosts by honoring them. On the evening of the festival, the Druids, who were the Celtic priests, ordered the people to put out their hearth fires in their homes. The Druidic priests then built a huge New Year’s bonfire made out of oak branches (which they considered sacred) and burned animals and crops. It has been said that they even sacrificed people in hopes of appeasing Samhain and his dark horde of demonic forces.
The Druids built a huge bonfire
to ward off evil spirits.
(Stonehenge is rumored to be a supposed site of these occultic types of rituals.
These rituals were performed in the belief that they would protect the crops and flocks from demonic influence, for without them, the Celts believed that they couldn’t beat the perils of the season or ward off the activities of the deities who were also believed to perform various tricks at this time of the year. The Celts believed that on the Feast of Samhain, the spirits of their ancestors would rise up from the cold fields and graves and come into the warm homes and cottages of the people, and thus had to be greeted with decorations and festivities, parties and acceptance, in order to get “protection” for the household from evil spirits during the coming winter months. They would also leave food and other treats on their doorstep to appease the spirits so they would not destroy their homes or crops but instead move on down the road. (This is where dressing up in costumes and going door-to-door seeking treats comes from.)
So, in its origin, the Feast of Samhain was a rite designed to protect humans from the ‘evil’ activities of these "undead" wandering spirits. It was, in essence, a bargain with the dead so they’d stay away and cause no trouble during the coming year. Each family then relit its hearth fire from the New Year’s fire. During the celebration, people wore costumes made of animal heads and skins. They told fortunes about the coming year by examining the remains of the animals that had been sacrificed — an occult practice which is referenced in Ezekiel 21:21: “For the king of Babylon stood at the parting of the way, at the head of the two ways, to use divination: he made his arrows bright, he consulted with images, he looked in the liver.").
This last day of October was also the occasion for another neighboring tribe's ancient fire festivals where they lit huge bonfires on hilltops to frighten away evil spirits. The date was connected with the return of herds from pasture, and laws and land tenures were renewed. The souls of the dead were supposed to revisit their homes on this day, and the autumnal festival acquired sinister significance, with ghosts, witches, hobgoblins, black cats, fairies, and demons of all kinds said to be roaming about. It was the time to placate the supernatural powers controlling the processes of nature. In addition, Halloween was thought to be the most favorable time for divinations concerning marriage, luck, health, and death. It was the only day on which the help of the devil was invoked for such purposes.
When Rome conquered the Celts and their neighboring tribes in 43 AD, the traditions of Rome and the practices of the Celtic people converged over the next 400 years. Even the seemingly harmless activity of "apple bobbing" became part of the yearly festival... (Apple bobbing was originally a Roman game during their festival celebrating Pomona, their goddess of fruitful abundance. This festival was traditionally celebrated November 1st) Rome also celebrated several other festivals whose sole purpose was to honor the dead. Thus, the festival of Samhain became more and more rooted in death.
In the 8th century, the pope moved the holiday of "All Saints Day or All Hallows Day" to November 1st. All Saints Day was a day set aside to honor all the deceased Christian saints of the Church. The night before (Oct 31st) was designated as "All Hallows Eve" and was celebrated much the same as the festival of Samhain had been.
It was in the 16th century, in the country of Ireland, that the practice of the people themselves going door to door wearing costumes during the festival began. They would dress up in disguises and sing songs to the dead in exchange for a sweet treat. Later, Irish and Scottish people began to carve lanterns from turnips and put them in their windows to frighten away the evil spirits that supposedly lurked about on that evening. When these people later migrated to America, they exchanged the carving of turnips for pumpkins... They would hollow out a pumpkin and carve an appearance of a demonic face into the pumpkin's skin and affix a lighted candle inside. These lanterns were hung allegedly to frighten away witches and evil spirits.
(The term "Jack-o-Lantern" is thought to have came from an old Irish legend of man named Jack who became stuck between this side and the otherworld. He supposedly couldn't get into either Heaven or Hell. Thus, he was destined to roam the earth, carrying a lantern carved from a turnip)
The English colonists, in early America, were swift to reject the festival of Samhain/All Saints Eve because of its ties to witchcraft, sorcery, and the occult. The religious colonists were very paranoid about witches, supernatural powers of darkness, and the works of the Devil ( just looking at the history of the Salem Witch Trials is evident of their opinions on the matter.)
However, as more people immigrated and America grew, the practices began to be revived in towns and communities. What once was a celebration of a fruitful harvest and grateful expression to a Divine Creator once again took on a darker meaning. By the end of the 19th century, “Halloween” ( "Hallow Eve" ) was an accepted and commonly celebrated holiday in the United States.
In the beginning, many of leaders and townspeople who organized these events had good intentions. They wanted the celebration to be a fun social event for their communities. They banned all of the frightening components, such as ghosts, witches, goblins, and death....but it didn't last long... soon, all the wickedness and frightening parts began to reappear. Within a couple decades, the pagan practices of the Celts and the Irish began to reemerge.
Immigrants to the U.S., particularly the Irish, introduced these secular Halloween customs that became popular in the late 19th century. Mischief-making on this day by boys and young men included overturning sheds and outhouses and breaking windows, and damage to property was sometimes serious. In later years, this has come to be observed mainly by small children, who go from house to house, often in costume, demanding “trick or treat”. The neighbors, to avoid having tricks played on them, offer the children treats like fruit, money, and sweets.
So, why did any Christians align themselves with these sinister rituals in the first place? How did the ancient Druid/Celtic festival honoring the “Lord of the Dead” ever creep into the practice of the “Christian Church”?
People fail to realize that MANY ancient heathen practices became ingrained into the customs/celebrations of the post-Apostolic (after the New Testament) Church, including almost every pagan festival known to the Roman Empire. Halloween was no exception.
When Romans conquered their lands, the people learned to become more like everyone else, in order not to "make waves". Many people found it much easier to adapt and become like those around them, rather than being persecuted for their non-conformity
The carnal Christians in that day were no different than the carnal Christians in our day. They wanted to "fit in" with society. They wanted to be part of their communities and partake in the societal events. They began to partake in the rituals and customs of their day in order to "not stand out" or be too radical (or too different). but there were some rock-solid Christians of that day that recognized that compromise was not an option. They chose to be true to their faith and some ended up paying the ultimate price for their decision. While they may have lost in the physical sense, they were the true winners because they stood true to their beliefs and knew that they were living for a "blessed hope"!
Ok, now…
We've covered great deal about the history behind Halloween, but we haven’t even mentioned much information from the Bible itself.
Is there anything about Halloween in the Bible?
Of course!
Just because the word “Halloween” isn’t specifically mentioned in the Bible doesn’t mean that God is okay with it or that there isn't anything in there that can help us to know how we, as Christians should respond to this "day of the death".
In fact, everything we need to know (about how to respond in every aspect of life) is found within the pages of the Holy Writ.
“All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished for every good work.” (2 Tim. 3:16-17)
So, Let’s just look at the reasons we can learn from the Bible about why we shouldn’t celebrate Halloween.
1. As we have discussed, Halloween clearly has occult implications, being a direct offshoot of the ancient pagan beliefs of the cult of Druidism.
The fact that these practices today are largely symbolic for the average person doesn’t lessen the implications. Christianity itself is closely related with symbolism. Being baptized and partaking in the Lord’s Supper are major outward symbols of faith, and of great spiritual importance (relating to the work that God does in us through Jesus); and these customs are performed out of great significance (one by command of Jesus himself, the other by His own example). In a similar fashion, acting out ceremonies that are symbolic of devilish and demonic works also carry great spiritual significance.
So what’s wrong with doing something which only has occult implications?
It is that connecting with occultism causes spiritual pollution in our churches, our homes, and our own souls and those of our children. It actually renders people “unclean”. The Bible makes it very clear that to have any association with witchcraft or evil spirits actually defiles a person:
“Regard not them that have familiar spirits, neither seek after wizards, to be defiled by them: I am the LORD your God”(Lev.19:31).
“Which thou hast commanded by thy servants the prophets, saying, the land, unto which ye go to possess it, is an unclean land, with the filthiness of the people of the lands, with their abominations, which have filled it from one end to another with their uncleanness.” (Ezra 9:11).
You may have noticed that over there in Eph.5:1-16, “uncleanness” is often referred to as something which believers should avoid.
The Christian has been cleansed by Christ from the filthiness of the flesh and his former evil deeds:
“…But ye are washed, but ye were sanctified, but ye were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God” (1 Cor. 6:10)
“…Him that loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood.” (Rev.1:5)
Is it really fitting that we should overturn that cleansing by polluting ourselves with the powerful symbols of wickedness and sorcery through participating in a festival which has its roots in satanic activity and paganism of the very worst sort?
2. We as people of God are to disassociate ourselves from evil works.
Like I have said before, and now reiterate yet again: We are to be a people set apart from worldly living to live a life of holiness:
Deuteronomy 18:9-14
[9] When thou art come into the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not learn to do after the abominations of those nations. [10] There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, [11] Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer. [12] For all that do these things are an abomination unto the Lord : and because of these abominations the Lord thy God doth drive them out from before thee. [13] Thou shalt be perfect with the Lord thy God. [14] For these nations, which thou shalt possess, hearkened unto observers of times, and unto diviners: but as for thee, the Lord thy God hath not suffered thee so to do.” (Deut.18:11-14).
“Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them” (Eph.5:11).
15 And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? 16 And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” (2 Cor.6:14-18).
3. We’re not only called to refrain from the actual practice of evil, but we are also called to have nothing to do with things which even appear to be evil.
“Abstain from all appearance of evil”
(1 Thess.5:22).
The word “appearance” is a translation of the Greek word eidos, the external outward appearance, which comes from eido, to see, to perceive with the eyes. In other words, Paul is commanding us to abstain not only from actually practicing evil but also from doing anything which may be perceived by others as being evil. “Abstain from all appearance of evil”. Surely the celebrating of Halloween and participating in its activities falls under that command.
4. The primary emotion invoked by Halloween is not that of love or happiness… What is the main emotion associated with this holiday?
FEAR!!!
What does the Bible say about fear?
2 Timothy 1:7 - For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.
So if fear is not given by God, it, by default, must come from Satan. There are only two entities out there! So if God doesn't cause us to fear, we should not seek to "scare" ourselves or others in the name of “having fun”.
1 John 4:18 - There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.
This verse says that fear hath torment. There is nothing worse than being afraid. It doesn't matter if your fears are irrational or unfounded, fear is unsettling and can be totally debilitating. Thus, we shouldn't celebrate a holiday that preys on this type of emotion.
Proverbs 29:25 - The fear of man bringeth a snare: but whoso putteth his trust in the LORD shall be safe.
Another argument I have heard is "Other holidays are pagan holidays too! and You celebrate those! Why pick and choose? Halloween is the same thing!"
I recognize there are pagan/secular/heathen origins to other holidays that we as Christians DO celebrate--namely, Christmas and Easter. Christmas has Santa Claus and Easter has the Easter Bunny...but these holidays, while they have been paganized and commercialized, are not really in the same league as Halloween, which still has all the blatantly evil trappings about demonic ghouls and satanic rites. Christmas and Easter (or more aptly put, Resurrection Day!) originated with Jesus himself. As man left the true "reason for the season" and began to follow after his own ways, these holidays/times of feasting and celebration have become secularized to make them still enjoyable for those who do not hold fast to the teachings of Scripture. But even as secular holidays, these holidays are NOT AT ALL a celebration of death, demons, and Satan as Halloween is.
To be clear: I am not here to force my beliefs or ideas upon anyone. I am simply trying to delve into the history, origin and meaning behind this holiday in hopes that if we, as parents, can understand the door we are opening by allowing our children to participate in Halloween. Once invited in our homes, the Devil often takes up full-time residence... Ever heard that old saying..."Give him an inch, and he will take a mile." ?
Obviously, you and your family are free to disagree with this line of debate and to continue to commemorate darkness and demons if you wish to do so. But I personally don’t want to see my kids pretending to be blood-sucking vampires. (While we all know vampires are not real in a physical, non-symbolic sense, demons do suck the individuality and life-force out of a person and possess/take them over, and that is what vampires represent. ) It’s not a joke nor is it cute! Demons are for real. Witches are for real. Sorcery is for real. There is nothing good, clean, or funny about any of it. To encourage our children to be involved in such things in any way is irresponsible and can be detrimental to their spiritual life. I find it sad that so many people think that the impersonation of satanic entities is “good, clean fun”.
But with all that being said, our pastor has always taught on the "Law of Replacement",
when you take away something bad, you must fill the void with something good. As Christians, not only should we not allow our children to celebrate Halloween, but we should also seek to develop creative solutions to "replace" it with.
A church-hosted (or multi family hosted)
Harvest Fest is a wonderful example of replacing a holiday celebrating the dark side with a celebration that seeks to promote thankfulness and gratitude for the abundant blessings bestowed upon us by our Heavenly Father. There is no dressing up in costume, darkness, or performing of pagan rituals at these types of gatherings, but rather, they are full of LIGHT—clean happy fun, fellowship, games, and laughter. They seek to celebrate "LIFE" instead of celebrating or fearing the dead. There is no ghosts, ghouls, goblins, witches, or demons to be found.
At our own Harvest Fest, everyone in our church buys bags of candy and one sweet lady donates her time to sort it all and divide it up to make candy bags for our children. This "replacement" ensures our children still enjoy the thrill of ripping into a surprise bag of candy and they can enjoy all its sweet, sticky goodness without having to compromise and walk into "the dark" to get it.
We must educate ourselves so that we are equipped to explain these kind of things to our children…. “Because I said No” or “Because our church doesn't believe in it” are not adequate enough answers!
They will not rebel or buck against these types of things if we can give them deep explanations as to the reasons why we say “no” as parents. It is our job as parents to search out the Scriptures and be equipped to give them the Truth. We are commissioned by God to “train” our children… to teach them to discern right from wrong—light from dark.
Kids can understand far more than we adults give them credit for. Teaching them the true meaning behind Halloween at an early age is a sure way to “keep back the dark”. If they understand it for themselves, it keeps them from feeling deprived by not partaking in it or even from feeling curious about the forbidden.
With God’s help, (and using His Word as our manual) We CAN raise Godly, Holy kids, with strong convictions, in a dark, sin-sick world.
Let me encourage you, Mama. Don’t let up! Stay true to God’s Word. Seek His Wisdom! His Ways ALWAYS work! (despite being usually unpopular with the multitude— but Exodus 23:2 has our instructions on tha—Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil; In God’s economy, the “IN” crowd isn’t the group you want to be found with…He’s all about the minority-- the chosen few…)
Don’t allow the worldly crowd to become your “influencers”… Get around good, Godly, Holiness folks and allow the truth of God’s Word to be your authority!! You won’t regret it!!
From my heart to yours,
-Tiphanie ❤️
(Halloween today is still revered as a "holy night" by those who continue to practice the dark arts of witchcraft and sorcery. (Don't fool yourself. There are more witches and sorcerers practicing today than you would ever imagine.) They still use this night for their rituals. Witches still celebrate Halloween as the "Feast of Samhain." )
On a side note:
Schools are removing any religious significance from Christmas (often called winter break) and Easter (spring break). Isn't it ironic that most public schools still celebrate Halloween even though it has occultic origins?
Thanks so much for all the time and prayers you put in this article for those who didn’t realize this ♥️🙏