Halloween - Trick or Treat?

Halloween is only two weeks away. Did you buy your candy yet? I haven't, and I probably won't. Where we live now, we don’t really get any trick-or-treaters. That wasn’t the case a few years back. We used to live in a neighborhood that got all sorts of traffic on Halloween night. In those days, I put a lot of thought into figuring out what treats to pass out. I even wrote an article on the subject, which appeared in the October 2003 edition of Forward in Christ magazine. In case you missed it, I’ve reprinted it here:

Halloween – Trick or Treat for the Christian Parent

I used to love Halloween when I was a kid.

I grew up on a farm in rural Minnesota with my six older brothers and sisters. Halloween was a big event back then. It began early in October when we brought down the costume boxes from the storeroom. The seven of us would try the costumes on and decide who would go as what. I’ll never forget the year I went as a butterfly. You can just imagine the trouble I had getting in and out of the car with my huge cardboard wings strapped to my back and the wire antennae tied to my head.

But my fondest memory of Halloween is the candy. Even though we only went to a handful of houses back then, I can remember the excitement of coming home and emptying my bag onto the floor. What a thrill! Halloween was the best.

Now that I’m a mom, my view of Halloween is quite different.

Like most moms, I tend to worry. I worry about the kids going out after dark. I worry about pins in candy bars and pranks done by teens out for a good time.

Most of all, as a Christian mom, I wonder if it’s even right for our family to celebrate this “holiday.” When you think about it, Halloween is probably the most non-Christian day of the year. From what historians tell us, the celebration of Halloween began with the ancient Druids, who lit fires on the eve of All Saints’ Day to ward off the evil spirits called forth by Saman, the lord of the dead. This fear of returning spirits continued through the ages, and so it is that dressing up as ghosts and witches is a common Halloween custom today.

It may be common, but does that make it right? I say no. My kids don’t agree. “Nobody gets any of that stuff, Mom,” they tell me. “It’s just fun.”

I know they’re right, because I was just like them once. I loved Halloween just as much as they do.

For years I wondered how I could make our family’s observance of Oct. 31 into something that didn’t plague my conscience with guilt. My first idea was to omit the door-to-door begging for treats with some sort of party at our church – a Reformation Party or a Harvest Party perhaps. I ran this idea by several people, and at first they seemed to like the idea. But when they realized I wanted to hold this party on Halloween night, the response was mixed. “Do you think anyone will come if we do it on Halloween? They’ll all be out trick-or-treating.”

I tried to tell them that that was the whole idea – to replace our traditional customs with newer, more God-pleasing customs. I soon realized these nay-sayers were probably right. In the words of the old proverb, “You can’t fight tradition.”

But another proverb says, “If you can’t beat them, join them.” After giving the whole issue more thought, I finally came up with a way that I could celebrate Halloween without sacrificing my beliefs. I knew Halloween night would bring scores of little ones in search of treats. What better treat to give them than the gospel message!

The first year I made a little seek-and-find on the computer, with a short Bible passage on the side. I rolled up the puzzles and wrapped them around crayons, playfully tying each one with a colorful piece of yarn. Suddenly, Halloween was fun again.

Now I get excited each year coming up with new ideas for my treat bags. In doing so I’ve discovered lots of ways to take the traditions of Halloween and use them to spread the good news. The pumpkin picked from the field, cleaned, and carved with a smile, can represent the Christian’s life of being chosen by our Lord, cleaned from sin, and left with a smile of peace and forgiveness. The practice of going door to door in search of free treats can be used to symbolize the door to heaven, always open, always free, and always good. I’ve finally learned how to celebrate Halloween with joy and thanksgiving.

So many times in life we see how God can take something negative and turn it into a positive. For me Halloween is an example of this too. I used to think of Halloween as an unavoidable evil. I now see it as an opportunity to spread the good news. Any opportunity to do that is worth celebrating.