A reader writes:
I grew up celebrating Halloween, and my kids love it, too. But our Catholic homeschooling group is discouraging members from celebrating it and having an All Saints' Day party instead (though they're holding it on Halloween!). Other Christian groups in the area are having Fall Festivals or Harvest Moon Festivals. Should we attend one of these instead, or can we still celebrate Halloween and be good Christians?
More and more Christians are asking the same question, as an increasing number of churches and Christian youth groups offer alternatives to Halloween. (One that the reader did not mention is a "Reformation Day Party," celebrated by some Protestants.)
The decision to attend such events is, of course, entirely up to the parents, but the broader question needs to be addressed: Is Halloween anti-Christian?
The quick answer is no. The long answer (which I discuss in "Should Catholics Celebrate Halloween?") is that, despite the claims of many non-Christians and an increasing number of Christians that Halloween is a "pagan holiday," it really has no pagan origins.
Halloween is the vigil or eve of All Saints' Day, a Christian feast to honor all the saints who have passed from this life and are in Heaven. The feast and thus the vigil were instituted in the early eighth century, and it would be over a thousand years later before anyone tried to claim some connection between Halloween and the Celtic harvest festival of Samhain.
It is true that, like most great Christian feasts, non-Christian elements have entered into popular celebrations. (The Christmas tree, for example, was adopted from German pagan customs.) But the Christian Celts (the group most responsible for the modern traditions of Halloween, including jack o'lanterns, trick-or-treating, and costumes) could incorporate these elements without fear precisely because they (the Celts) were Christian--and had been for four centuries before Halloween was first celebrated!
There's no reason for Catholics not to celebrate Halloween if they wish. We should, of course, keep in mind that it is the vigil of the great feast of All Saints--a Holy Day of Obligation--and conclude our celebration of Halloween with Mass on All Saints' Day.
For more information on the history and Christian origins of Halloween, check out "Should Catholics Celebrate Halloween?"
If you have a question that you would like to have featured in our "Reader Questions" series, send me an e-mail at catholicism.guide@about.com. Be sure to put "QUESTION" in the subject line, and please note whether you'd like me to address it privately or on the Catholicism blog.
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In younger days, I remember having fun being whomever I wanted on Halloween, basking in a personal fantasy. I remember putting together costumes as a sailor, an angel, a farmer… it was a chance to scavenge for clothing and be creative. Halloween lately is about mass-produced costumes, not so creative anymore, but over time showing more and more fascination with death and the macabre. Yes, there were always ghouls, but now there are more. Even little children want to be something gruesome or ugly. I understand many parents’ concern.
I disagree with you. Halloween is not a Christian holiday it is satan’s day. I researched it many years ago and as a result stopped letting my girls trick or treat. I do not tell anyone not to celebrate it but as for me and my house WE SERVE THE LORD. Marlene
I live in a small , friendly village, most of our community attend church regularly, but this does not stop us from letting our children have great fun on halloween, my own children have long since left home, but I still enjoy decorating my house & garden for halloween & seeing the joy on the childrens (trick or treaters) faces, when they see the decorations and receive their treats & my own joy on seeing the children so excited and happy, Much the same as the joy I feel at seeing the childrens excited faces at the family services in our church or the cold, red faces of the children who come carol singing to my door every December, to raise funds for our village church/village hall For goodness sake “get real!” how many people do you know that have turned to satanism because they participated in trick or treating as a child?!! The church is struggling to fill their pews, they need to move with the times & listen to what the young people (not just their parents) want. Not one single person I know, Christian or not, considers halloween to be “satans day” I find that statement so shallow & tunnel visioned. Please research again, with an open mind
& you will find some thought provoking theories. Do this not just for yourself, but for your children, who deserve to enjoy life without unrealistic “religious boundaries”
I do not believe for a second that Christians, Catholics or anyone should consider celebrating Halloween. Why celebrate a day that human sacrifices were made to evil spirits?
Yes we are supposed to be a light for the world to see, that does not mean compromising our beliefs to do so.
I don’t think that whether your costume is of a princess or pirate that it makes any difference. Celebrating a day of evil spirits and Satan is not a good idea!
Worship our father in heaven!
Marlene and Amber, have you read the article (Should Catholics Celebrate Halloween?) I linked to? In it, I explain the history of Halloween, its origins as the vigil of All Saints Day, and the attacks on it that were made, not by the Church, but by those who attacked the Church.
Halloween is not Satan’s day, nor was it a day on which human sacrifices were made. It was the day on which Christians prepared for one of the greatest feasts of the liturgical year. The peasant customs that became trick or treating, etc., were attached to it centuries after Halloween was first celebrated as a Christian holiday.
Halloween is pagan ritual celebration to occult forces which existed in the pre-christian times. It has nothing to do with Christianity. If people know that’s its just for fun then its fine.
But, schucks, how we blindly follow whatever culture has handed down to us.
We are to only honor one day and that is the holy day of the week. No other day is to be held in attendance or reverence unless it is to gather to worship His name. That is the truth.
If you do your research you will see that All Saints Day was established as a way to separate Christians from pagan rituals that we know now as Halloween long before All saints Day was established.
Micki, I’ve done my research, and if you read the article “Should Catholics Celebrate Halloween?” (linked in the text of the post), you’ll see that your claim is wrong. As I note in that article:
Indeed, by the time that All Saints Day was established, the Celts had been Christian for well over three centuries. The idea that Gregory III was trying to separate Christians from pagan rituals that they had abandoned 300 years earlier is not supported by history.
I do not know where you get your research , but from ancient times Druid rites honored the spirits of their ancestors and dead loved ones. The Church was unable to stop converts from continuing the celebration of Samhain. That IS why All Saints Day came into being.
Unfortuneatly, Christmas (Yule), Easter,(Eostra) and even Valentine’s Day (Lupercales) have pagan elements attached.
We do not know the date of Christ’s birth, but there was a pagan holiday around the 25th of December that the Church replaced by celebrating the birth of Christ instead. Unfortunately, some of the holiday symbols of Christmas have their roots in paganism.
The word “Easter” is a pagan name although we know that this is the time of the year when Christ was crucified and rose from the dead. However, Easter eggs, bunnies, etc., have thier roots in paganism.
No, I am not a Jehovah’s Witness. I am a Christian who takes serioiusly God’s warnings in the Bible that he is a jealous God and that we should have no other gods but Him.
Some Christians have pointed out that there is no mention of any festivals in the Bible concerning the birth of Christ or his death and Resurection.
I think Halloween is not a time for Christians to celebrate. There are many churches that have alternative celebrations for children on Halloween.
I have read a number of articles from people who have reverted to the religion of the Druids and they say it is a pagan holiday. Goggle Halloween and read what comes up.
In Christ, Micki
+Oh For Pete’s Sake!!GET A FREAKIN’GRIP ALREADY!!!
I’m of Scots-Irish descent and everytime someone compares Samhain and Haloween to Satanism I want to knock their blocks off!!!
Halloween is a fun time for kids!!
Let your kids dress up as Power Rangers/Barbie/Snooki
etal and quit worrying about what some fundamentalist
in a crackpot church says!!!
Whatever.
We’re going to Sleepy Hollow, New York for Halloween. We used to go to Salem, Massachusetts.
Free candy anyone?
Say, is Easter on a SUNday next year?
Or MOONday or SATURNday?
We are surrounded by “pagan” stuff.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1224079/Halloween-dangerous-says-Pope-slams-anti-Christian-festival.html
I think our Holy Father says it all!!!
Well I don’t really care about whether or not it’s pagan, or catholic or christian or what have you. My family will continue to celebrate it forever, and tie no ridiculous nonsense to it other than fun – the last thing I want is some of the usual organized religion buffoonery telling me I should or shouldn’t believe in this or that based on how much I contribute to their coffers each week.
Bravo Cliff!!!
There are 2 basic aspects to our conduct as Catholics:
a) Our faith and how we expand it.
b) Our social responsibility
On a) is self-evident,
on b) our relation with other people and other groups and faiths.
For instance how dress for mass – i live in a tropical climate and recently there has been some controversy over the way some people come very “lightly dressed” for the morning Sunday mass; to the extent in some ot the parishes they priest has enforced a ruliing on this to be more formally dressed. Arguments being put forward it is un-catholic etc.
To me dress is important as a Social Responsibility not of faith (Jesus made it very clear our spirit is more important than our dress) For instance if mass is to be held on a Florida beach I am sure most of the congregation would be dressed only in there bathing suits. The priest surely would welcome them.
And so it is with other celebrations whether they be Christian, Judism, Islam, buddhist or secular. We should adopt social responsibility.
the error in this message is, holloween is not the same as all saint’s day, do you celebrate the death of your relative? holloween is not the same as celebrating the spirit of your relative in heaven but you are celebrating the spirit of evil. Is God happy if you wear a devil or evil costume? even you wear an angel and not a devil, you are celebrating the fear. Fear is devil and devil is evil,
Oh, who with any sense cares. So what if it may have had it’s origin near a Pagan holiday. It IS NOT the Pagan holiday. Same as Easter and Christmas, they were placed near Pagan holidays, but they do not honor the Pagan gods. Use some common sense people who complain about Halloween, Christmas and Easter. There is NOTHING wrong with those holidays. Get a life for cryin’ out loud.