Comment by Rong

October 31, 2007 @ 1:36 pm

My church does the whole Harvest Festival. I think it’s totally unnecessary, at least from the perspective that we’re saving our children’s souls from the corruption of this pagan holiday.

If anything the church up the street is doing something truly creative that will actually attract a lot of neighborhood kids. They are calling it Trunk or Treat. People from their church are decorating the trunks of their cars and handing out candy from them. Can’t wait to see what some of these folks have come up with.

Comment by Milly

October 31, 2007 @ 3:51 pm

My church did the fall fest and they are doing a teen party. Miss Littles, my sis and I are chilling at home after we hit about six houses in our neighborhood. I see no reason not to do all of those things in a nice neighborly way. It’s a fun way to put the kids you see walking home from school with the parents.

Comment by Rusty Lopez

October 31, 2007 @ 6:31 pm

It’s that time of year again.

“God would rather…”? Well, God would probably rather we not do many things we don’t think twice about (e.g., dropping $ on the movies, parking our rear-ends in front of the tube, over-eating at just about every meal). But if we drop the Halloween trick or treating, how about completely dropping the money-pit practice of over-indulging in gift-giving for the winter solstice?

To each (Christian) his own, I think. As long as the costumes are modest and not freakishly ghoulish, I see no problem with grabbing some free candy around the neighborhood ().

Our church also does a “Harvest Festival” (which everyone, and their uncle, knows is simply a toned-down Halloween party). I mean, people show up in costume and, being in the burbs, there’s not much in the way of actual harvest produce to show.

Comment by jlove

October 31, 2007 @ 8:47 pm

Our first Halloween (can I say that word?) in our new neighborhood was fun. Some of the families organize a pizza dinner before the kids go t-or-t, and they invite all the other neighbors out, too. So, we had an outside dinner with most of our neighbors, saw all the cute kids in their outfits, and then walked around in a couple of groups door-to-door.

It was fun and creative! I’m already looking forward to next year.

Since we are on the Oct 31st note, I’ll mention that I just finished the 2nd book in the Harry Potter series. LOVED IT! They are fun reads, and for me - that is rare. Anyone else read them? Just curious…

Comment by Brian

November 1, 2007 @ 11:15 am

Rong - I can sort of understand Harvest Festivals if there is a real safety issue involved. But I don’t get the whole protecting our kids from undue influence thing. I think some people really see demonic danger in the air but others just have the mindset that we need a sanctified version of whatever the world has to offer. And if it can be done in a church building then so much the better.

Several churches in the area do a “trunk or treat”. I like it as a way to open yourself up to the community but not so much if it’s just to provide the kids at your church a substitute for neighborhood trick-or-treating. The co-workers church did a trunk-or-treat on Tuesday so the families would be able to come to church on Wednesday.

Milly - I agree. We got to meet several neighbors that we probably wouldn’t have met otherwise.

Rusty - I agree with the ghoulish/gross costume thing. Although the kids did have a question about dressing up as witches which I may post about later. I think the “God would rather…” comment really puts a false dilemma on what God would be involved in. I think there’s plenty of room for “to each his own” without making pronouncements on what God’s preferences are.

Jlove - Sounds like you guys have a cool neighborhood. Ours if good too, it’s just that the average age is a slight bit higher. I can hardly believe that your reading HP. Not because it’s HP but because it’s actual, well, reading. Plus, it’s fiction AND fantasy. I’ve avoided the HP books just because it was too much of a time investment but you might just push me over the edge.

Comment by Lynn

November 1, 2007 @ 6:48 pm

From my earliest recollections and pictures we carved pumpkins, put on costumes and went up and down our block trick-or-treating. I always knew it was a game; I never believed in witches, ghosts, or goblins, and it was fun seeing the smiles on the grown-up faces as they gave us candy.

I think in recent years community safety has made people much more aware of things like — adult supervision, only going to places where you know the general neighborhood, etc..

Today my daughter was at a once a month science class for homeschoolers grades 2-8 (divided into older and younger groups). My daughter said one of the children told her she was participating in a holiday for Satan. Obviously, we let her go trick or treating. I got her a blond wig, a masquerade eye mask, and a black cape, and told her to tell everybody she was Hannah Montana in drag. She looked so silly and cute, came back with lots of candy, sorted some out for a friend of hers that wasn’t allowed to go, told me to put her stash up high so she could only have one or two pieces a day, and that was that.

Our beggars’ night was Tuesday, I think because the community realized that a lot of people would be at church parties Wed. Oct. 31, so there would be a lot of vacant houses and they didn’t want that. I think that is wise.

So Wed., our church had a costume party (no witches, etc..) and showed the newest Veggie Tales “The Wizard of Has.”

By the way - I told my daughter, after she reported what that child told her, that October 31 means “All Hallow’s Eve,” because November 1 is All Saints Day, and Hallow refers to the same thing as saint.

I told her I don’t know where people added in skeletons and witches, etc., but we don’t believe in those things, or dress up in costumes like that, and it’s just fun to go out and get candy and have some neighborhood fun.

I passed out candy, and it was fun to see, especially the parents with their little toddlers all dressed up. I always want to be there to smile at them and praise (or joke, depending on the propriety) their costumes, and let them know friendly people live in our house.

I think that does a lot for neighborhood solidarity and children’s feelings of security.

But getting back to the history of all this — I really would like to know what the truth is. I know All Hallow’s Eve and All Saints Day are very old celebrations . . . and I’m not totally convinced that this is a holiday which has pagan roots. I’m curious now. I’ve never looked into it.

Comment by Messy Christian

November 2, 2007 @ 12:38 am

I think it’s okay to go for Holloween as long as they are aware it’s just a game. I’m not the kind of Christian to bar anyone from celebrating a fun holiday just because it’s considered ‘pagan’. I mean, think about the fun they’re missing out … though I have to say, saving them from the sweets is good …

Comment by Brian

November 2, 2007 @ 11:51 am

Lynn - Sounds like you guys had a fun, safe time. It’s good to be able to do stuff with your church family and the neighborhood as well. I’ve read some on the history of Halloween and it just gets hard to figure out who’s right and who’s wrong. At some point, I think we just have to deal with what it means in the present day. I haven’t followed them all but Travis Prinzi has what looks like some good links(starting on 10/24) on the subject.

MC - Exactly. As long as it’s just a fun time where the kids can enjoy dressing up and getting candy then no problem. The candy is actually more of a temptation for me since I’m trying to avoid sweets. The kids seem to do ok and I think we actually still have candy from last Halloween.

Comment by ilona

November 3, 2007 @ 8:12 pm

Personally, I don’t like Halloween- but I don’t crusade against it in RL. Still, I don’t believe there is any way to redeem this particular holiday.

Then again, I have enjoyed watching Buffy shows, and that is probably worse than Halloween trick or treat night, theologically. I rationalize that by the fact that I can discuss Buffy with my kids, but it is harder to disengage someone from identifying with something that involves dressing up and so many of the the senses. Something with costumes, and candy, and Jacko’Lantern lights, telling scarey stories, and walking around at night… just all seems a little too engaging.

My view comes from a background of ever so slowly entering many occult activities, and I see Halloween, Harry Potter, et al as little steps of cozying up to the occult, and by association with that, the devil.

I know that sounds harsh, but everything in that topic sounds harsh in today’s tolerant climate. A number of years ago I was stricter in what we watched, etc.(no TV, only a few videos) and the thing is I don’t regret that. What I do regret now is opening the doors to spending ungodly amounts of time with TV. period.

Comment by Brian

November 8, 2007 @ 2:28 pm

Ilona - Thanks for your comments - especially given that they are at odds with what most others have said. Unity in Christ is not dependent on total agreement.

I do understand that most things we as parents want to guard against tend to “creep in” and rarely show up full-blown at the doorstep. Whether that be occult related, materialism, immodesty, etc. We have to make judgments for what seems best at the time. For us, we just don’t see participating in Halloween as having the real potential to lead to anything dangerous. But that’s a decision that each family has to make for themselves. I just hope we can do it as a matter of conscience and not pass judgment on others.