Hello foreigners (and fellow 'Muricans)! My name is Allison; I'm originally from Texas and am attending Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry (BSSM) in Redding, California.
BSSM thrives within a multi-cultural atmosphere. People from all over the world (Sweden, Australia, Norway, Argentina, you name it!) come to Redding every year for BSSM.
So it has come to my attention that several of these lovely internationals are unaware of what Halloween is actually like in America, and most of all, why do Christians participate in it? Fear not, my precious heavily-accented unAmericans. I will reveal to you the secrets of our society.
First of all let's get straight to the facts! Did you know that Halloween was originally a Christian (possibly pagan) holiday? It's a yearly celebration on October 31st, the eve of the Western Christian feast of All Hallows' Day. It begins the three-day observance of Allhallowtide, a time in which to remember the dead including martyrs, saints (hallows) and all faithful departed Christians. According to many scholars, All Hallow's Eve is a Christianized feast influenced by Celtic harvest festivals, hence where you get the pumpkins and cinnamon spices and all the like! (Read the facts here!)
Crazy, right? So now that we know a little bit about where Halloween comes from, we can talk about the general disposition of Christian believers. How do they view Halloween, and is it okay to celebrate it? Before I give you my general answers, I'm going to let you know that the real answer lies within your own personal conviction and therefore I have no authority to change your heart on the matter (nor is that my intention)!
So, there are 3 types of views that Christians have here in America about Halloween. Generally speaking.
1. The Enthusiasts. The Christian who highly promotes Halloween. They normally celebrate it like any other American does, by dressing up as anything (even the scary things!) and going door to door for some tasty goodies. Often times (but this certainly doesn't mean every enthusiast) mischief goes down in the neighborhoods. For example, perhaps a fun game of throwing toilet paper on someone's house (also called TP'ing). The enthusiasts decorate their front yards with all sorts of jack-o-lanterns and black cats, and sometimes love Halloween more than Christmas or Thanksgiving! Woah!
2. The Opportunists. One of the most common views in America, the opportunists believe that Halloween is a great chance to dress up as your favorite anything (character from a show, a snack from your fridge, etc...) and not be made fun of! Halloween is also used, among these viewers, as a great opportunity to fellowship with events called Trunk-or-Treat, Harvest Parties or Hallelujah Night. These events are held at churches where pastors and leaders will coordinate fun games and hand out candy to anyone no matter the age! Again, this is the most common view of Halloween to the Christian American. Innocently fun!
3. The Shirkers. Those that shirk Halloween are probably those that view it as a holiday of evil. Given, it is easy to see this holiday as the "Day of Satan" while many people frolic around the streets as demons and witches and mindless zombies...The Shirkers avoid decorating their houses and leave the lights off to be sure no trick-or-treaters try to trick or treat them that night.
So these are the three main views of Halloween in the eyes of American Christians. Founded from the Christians that are Very Much Okay With It (Enthusiasts), Okay With It (Opportunists), and those that are Very Much Not Okay With It (The Shirkers). You may fit into one of these categories or you may not! But the point of all this is to let you know what it's like in America. Whether or not it should be okay is up to you and Jesus.
Either way, I will be dressing up as a ninja, frolicking around my friends trying to find KitKat bars and Reese's to last me an entire year. Because the point of life anyway is to have fun with Jesus no matter what day it is!
And that's a fine, fine life! (And a year's supply of goodies.)
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