Halloween: Unmasking Halloween

Faithfulness: God is faithful and will neither leave us nor forsake us. His unconditional love never fails. His mercies are still new every morning.

We can trust the Lord to provide us grandparents with wisdom, patience, and joy. What wondrous love is this!

45

Halloween—October 31

For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light. Ephesians 5:8

It is that day of the year when our children go through their annual metamorphosis from little cherubs to ghosts, goblins, witches, and vampires. They will excitedly attend school Halloween carnivals and prowl through a haunted house amidst shrieks and screams of fearful delight. Later, they will go trick-or-treating in their neighborhood, to be greeted by scowling jack-o’-lanterns, scary skeletons, and flying witches. Their wish is to be met by generous hosts who will fill their bags with candy, gum, and other goodies that will make their next visit to the dentist a real nightmare!

Due to the historical roots of Halloween, I cannot see it as innocent fun for children. I think it is a subtle step in anesthetizing them spiritually to the disguises and deceit of the devil. After all, “Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light” (2 Corinthians 11:14). That means that he makes evil look good, perversion look pure, and a lie look like the truth!

Halloween dates back to a practice of the ancient Celtic civilization. Their New Year began on November 1st, and the night before was to reverence Samhain, the Lord of the Dead. It was also when the souls of the dead returned to their former homes. If a proper “treat” were not awaiting to appease them, then they would respond with an appropriate “trick.” In order to fool and evade the spirits, some would dress up and masquerade as evil spirits, witches, ghosts, and ghouls. The perverted climax of this dark night was animal and human sacrifice to placate Samhain. The remains were then burned in “bone fires,” from which we get the popular “bonfire.”

Much of our modern Halloween paraphernalia comes from pagan

46