An empty store has been converted to a temporary Halloween one-stop-shopping bonanza lasting only until a week or so after October 31st. These temporary holiday shops have become standard fare, capitalizing on the every-increasing appetite for holiday décor and accessories. The huge sign out front says, “Spirit of Halloween,” a franchise of dozens across the state, and a play on dark spirits that roam the earth. I pass the store often, and every time I see that sign, I think about the truth of that sign.
Once upon a time in a far off universe when I was a kid, Halloween was about costumed urchins, generally under age 12, scouring their neighborhoods to collect goodies. Older kids trying to horn in on their turf were generally scorned and adults would never even imagine joining in the frivolities. It was purely a little kid thing. Home decorations were never more than a pumpkin or two. A kid draped with a sheet and eye holes pretending to be a ghost, or wrapped in toilet paper as the mummy was about as dark as it got. Celebrations were no more than a costume parade contest at school, if that.
So, what is the “spirit of Halloween” now? Over the past fifty years, I have watched it gradually degenerate into an adult holiday featuring self-indulgence and licentiousness of all kinds. Celebrating darkness, evil, and hedonism has become the focus. Now we see bank tellers and supermarket checkout clerks appearing as Wonder Woman, Sponge Bob, a French maid, or a gruesome version of the Walking Dead. Homes are elaborately decorated with inflatable ghosts, witches, and pumpkins. Lawns are converted into graveyards with ghoulish body parts. Events are designed to scare the beejeezus out of the most stalwart individual. New York’s Halloween parade is more than a mile long string of revelers where anything goes, and I do mean anything. The celebration of ghouls, witchcraft, demons, and wickedness of all kinds is most assuredly spirit inspired, and that spirit is definitely not holy.
I like holidays–days to celebrate something out of the ordinary, gatherings of friends and family, special foods and treats–but it seems that each one has turned into a buying frenzy. Holidays are pretty much money driven. The economics of Halloween is staggering, bringing in about ten billion dollars into the economy (yes, I said billion) every year. Movies about Halloween alone rake in an average of $36,000,000 every year. I don’t think it is going away any time soon, and in fact, I think it is escalating exponentially. Halloween has undoubtedly become an outlet for a spirit of mammon—money over ethics or morality.
I could just hear some say, “Oh, you miss the point. It’s about fun and letting loose.” Well, yes, when I was ten and brought home my loot of candy, I admit it was fun. Now I see the revolting degradation of adults and it just violates my inner child. I don’t celebrate Halloween because I no longer find anything redeemable about it. Children have to be accompanied by adults and are very restricted to known neighbors because they became the target of evil deeds by sickies. Public parades feature unspeakable decadence, and the whole point has become a sinister carnival of darkness. As the Polish saying goes, “Not my circus, not my monkeys.”
Well, now how do Christian parents deal with the pull of popular culture up agains the nature of the tradition being in such contrast with their beliefs, not to mention sugar overloads? Furthermore, how do we deal with it in church? Let’s be real honest. It’s not easy! Parents have difficulty with keeping their kids out of the mainstream popular culture when it does not line up with their chosen lifestyle.
Some parents have resolved it by limiting their children’s costumes to either positive or biblical characters and only visiting family and friends. Others have kids parties with given restrictions. I know one mother who buys the candy back from her kids so that they don’t eat all that junk and then she takes them to a toy store where they buy a toy they like with the money. I thought that was pretty clever. One year I had colorful pencils imprinted with “Jesus Loves You” and handed them out to the kids who came to my door. I was leary about whether or not I would get rolled eyes, but the kids loved them. Who knew! Some churches have harvest parties as an alternative.
It’s a daunting job explaining to kids why the latest evolution of Halloween is less than desirable for Bible believing Christians. It’s even more daunting to explain it to adults. The spiritual atmosphere that focuses on witchcraft, ghouls, death, and evil doesn’t add anything to my life, and I also believe it’s more than “make believe.” In a not so subtle way, it introduces the acceptance of powers of darkness as normative and even something to be embraced. The only spirit I embrace is the Holy Spirit. Selah.
Copyright 2015 by Eva Benevento. All rights reserved.