Reasons Why We Don’t Celebrate Halloween
Why We Don’t Celebrate Halloween
Halloween is coming up quickly, which means costumes, candy, and door-to-door escapades for many. Lots of families (especially children) look forward to this holiday every year because they so enjoy the costume parades, parties, and of course – all that candy! But, like some other families, we won’t be participating in any of this.
Why not? Halloween, in its current form, is pretty innocent. What’s wrong with cute bunnies bobbing for apples and eating lollipops?
Well, Halloween is one of those issues that some feel more strongly about than others. I’ve had plenty of friends and neighbors over the years who chose to participate despite Christian beliefs. I’ve had several who chose not to trick-or-treat, yet chose to dress up and participate in parties or other holiday happenings. I believe we are all called and convicted on this issue on an individual basis. We all have our own comfort levels with this. I think this is the way it should be. So this article is really meant to share my personal convictions with you, not to speak to your convictions.
Our reasons for not celebrating Halloween are really two-fold: first, it is a pagan/satanic holiday. Second, it is based around junk food. We are opposed to both.
Halloween began as a celebration of wickedness and Satan worship. It is rooted in pagan tradition. Although the original ways it was celebrated bear little resemblance to the way it is celebrated today, I still find myself uncomfortable with it. Children may dress in cute costumes and get candy from neighbors, but this isn’t the way everyone celebrates. There are icons of witches, skeletons, ghosts, and other “evil” things. People, especially teenagers, play tricks on others (egging homes, toilet papering homes, etc.). Sinister stories are passed around. Some, who participate in pagan religions, celebrate with special rituals (some of which are Satanic). Although some of you are thinking “And what does that have to do with dressing your child up , going to a party and bobbing for apples?” It’s the entire spirit of the holiday that makes me uncomfortable.
I personally don’t even like the idea of getting candy from strangers! I don’t like trying to dress the kids up to be something they’re not (not because I have anything specifically against it, I just don’t really want to mess with it). The spirit of the holiday just makes me uncomfortable, so I don’t really want to participate or have my kids participate.
I might have considered participating because of my own fond memories of going trick-or-treating as a child. Yes, I did go. I wasn’t raised in a strong Christian home (and my parents still wonder why I don’t let my kids trick-or-treat). But then there’s the issue of the candy.
Candy.
People go out and buy bags and bags of “fun size” candy bars and boxes. Tons of sugar in so many different forms, plus artificial colors and flavors. No redeeming nutritional value at all. It used to be, 20 or 30 years ago, that sometimes neighbors would give out toys, apples, raisins, or homemade treats. These days we’re advised not to eat any homemade treats, so most people don’t bother to make them or give them out. This means that everything is store-bought and laden with junk.
So once you look at the way that Halloween is celebrated today, it’s primarily about junk food! To me, that is just as harmful as the spiritual roots of Halloween, albeit in a different way. I just don’t want my kids eating that much candy!
And lest you think I am too strict, and that “once a year isn’t going to hurt them,” let me tell you something I discovered recently. I gave Daniel a vitamin C tablet, which I later discovered had corn syrup in it (grr). From this tiny, tiny amount of corn syrup, Daniel’s bottom turned red, then broke out in open, bleeding red sores. Yes – a tiny amount of corn syrup cause bleeding red sores on my son’s bottom! So not worth it. I can’t allow him any candy at all.
That’s where we stand on Halloween. Again, I’m not trying to convince anyone of what they should do about Halloween; these are just my personal convictions.
Do you celebrate Halloween? Why or why not?
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