Is Halloween truly harmless?

[rocklobster]

Well, the season of the witch is upon us, so I feel this is the perfect time to ask this question.
Do you believe Halloween is an evil holiday? Why or why not

[Peanut]

Yes, it's harmless. Unless you consider eating too much candy and throwing up to be the type of harm your talking about. People seem to forget that for some people, this is an actual holiday that is celebrated before All Saints day. Yes, it's been placed on a pagan holiday and has been influenced by pagan religion. The same can be said about Christmas and Easter (or Resurrection Sunday if you so desire to call it that) and I have yet to be in a church which tells us to not place gifts under Christmas trees or prevent our kids from participating in Easter egg hunts.

[Atria35]

I consider it harmless. It may have roots in Pagan (not "Wicca", because that didn't come around until the 1920's!) religion, but as Peanut pointed out, so do Christmas and Easter.

Besides, I take a page from C. S. Lewis- The Devil hates mockery and scorn! So in a way, Halloween is the best way to "get back".

[Ante Bellum]

Well, Peanut pretty much said a lot of things that I was going to say.
And I also want to throw in that Wicca/Pagan isn't evil. A lot of it is nature based and, like all other religions, it depends on the intent of the follower, whether it be used for good or evil.

[armeck]

i think it is normally harmless, it all depends on how you see it

[Hiryu]

It may have "questionable" roots, but nowadays, there's no harm to it. My church uses this opportunity to offer fun for the kids in a more safe enviroment.

[Cognitive Gear]

Halloween is harmless, and reports of violence on the night have been exaggerated. These days, Halloween is about goofing off with friends and eating too much candy.

I suppose that we could raise concerns about what kind of dietary lessons we are learning from it, but that only results in a danger that anyone living in the US faces these days:

[ShiroiHikari]

You probably have a greater chance of getting in a car wreck than getting attacked on Halloween. Also, as has been said before, if you're going to vilify Halloween, better toss in Christmas and Easter too.

[Nate]

This is like making a thread asking "Is the sky blue?"

Of course the answer is yes. Yeah, you'll get the people in other time zones where the sun is rising or setting saying "No, you idiot, the sky is red and orange! And it will always be red and orange for all time, it can't possibly ever be blue!" But it's best to ignore those people.

So again, the answer is and will always be yes.

[Tsukuyomi]

Can't I just have my candy in peace (lol) =[

I say Halloween is harmless ^__^ I'm sure there are those who may take it more then that, but for me it's a day of candy and costumes <3

[Furen]

It may have started out with roots that were questionable, but really as long as you just take the trick or treating (or now, treating really) it's harmless, it's just an excuse for children to have some fun. Being out late and getting candy one day of the year. if by harmless you mean drains people's money as they give out candy then sure it's harmless to your wallet, but kids the day after are overjoyed with the treats they get. I think it's name should be changed to "Make kids feel like the most important think in the universe day" (too long?)

XD that's my two cents

[Radical Dreamer]

Throwing in my two cents to agree that yes, it's harmless. XD

[Htom Sirveaux]

Regardless of its roots, it is now little more than an excuse for children to feel perfectly safe while playing dress-up and taking candy from strangers (at night, I might add), and adults to wilfully get the mess scared out of them in the spirit of good fun.
It's a God I can get behind who would redeem a holiday of such questionable origins and turn it into an excuse for His people to have a good time.

[steenajack]

Yes, it is harmless. I mean, I guess it depends on what you celebrate it for. I believe any holiday/celebration can be celebrated for and with your family. That's just about what every holiday is about to me: Being with the ones you love. I mean, some people who are of the occult may celebrate...for other "interesting" reasons. I'm just saying that, we don't have to celebrate it like that if we don't wish to. I strongly believe that God made everyday, and each day can be a time to celebrate something special. :3! Sorry if I don't make much sense....kinda sleepy. XD!

[mysngoeshere56]

I don't have a problem with Halloween. Personally, I rather like the holiday, because it's the perfect way to spread the Gospel. This is one of, if not the, only time of year when kids will come knocking on my door to ask me for a small treat. I say it's a great time to give them candy as well as a tract or piece of Scripture attached, to give them something to satisfy both physical and spiritual hunger.

And like others have said, Christmas and Easter have their roots in Paganism, so it's all how you look at it.

[Htom Sirveaux]

I say it's a great time to give them candy as well as a tract or piece of Scripture attached, to give them something to satisfy both physical and spiritual hunger.

I dunno how well that'll work, but more power to ya, brother.

[Lynna]

I agree with everyone else that halloween, despite it's origins, is harmless, but sometimes I don't like how it encourages people to be afraid.

[Htom Sirveaux]

I agree with everyone else that halloween, despite it's origins, is harmless, but sometimes I don't like how it encourages people to be afraid.

I look at it as, it encourages people to face fear and conquer it, even laugh at how silly it seems once they've gotten through.

Though as you say, it can also be an excuse to indulge in a hidden, deep-rooted desire to experience fear for the thrill of it. But if you're not into deliberately scaring yourself, that's fine too.

[Arya Raiin]

I don't have a problem with Halloween. Personally, I rather like the holiday, because it's the perfect way to spread the Gospel. This is one of, if not the, only time of year when kids will come knocking on my door to ask me for a small treat. I say it's a great time to give them candy as well as a tract or piece of Scripture attached, to give them something to satisfy both physical and spiritual hunger.

I agree with you. Halloween is a great way to spread the gospel. My church has a large out-reach every Halloween and we attract a couple hundred people yearly (at least). However some people make it a time to go get drunk, but then people do that on most holidays. That's not cool in my opinion... :| But yes, I say Halloween is fine if you consider eating candy until you're sick and goofing off is okay. XD

[ABlipinTime]

Yes, it is harmless. I mean, I guess it depends on what you celebrate it for. I believe any holiday/celebration can be celebrated for and with your family. That's just about what every holiday is about to me: Being with the ones you love. I mean, some people who are of the occult may celebrate...for other "interesting" reasons. I'm just saying that, we don't have to celebrate it like that if we don't wish to. I strongly believe that God made everyday, and each day can be a time to celebrate something special. :3! Sorry if I don't make much sense....kinda sleepy. XD!

Agreed. It's a matter of view point. The day itself doesn't mean anything; it's just another day of the year that God made. If you're asking about the celebration, though, that's a different question, and one that is dependent on WHO's celebration is in question.

[Shao Feng-Li]

While I like candy and costumes, I don't much like rehashed pagan practices. [Same for Christmas and Easter. That's not to say I don't celebrate Christ's birth and resurrection.] I have some mixed feelings on it.

[Mr. SmartyPants]

I agree with you. Halloween is a great way to spread the gospel. My church has a large out-reach every Halloween and we attract a couple hundred people yearly (at least). However some people make it a time to go get drunk, but then people do that on most holidays. That's not cool in my opinion... :| But yes, I say Halloween is fine if you consider eating candy until you're sick and goofing off is okay. XD

I dunno. I don't see how using Halloween to minister (I'm assuming you mean like Hell Houses where they also minister to you and stuff) is all great. I think using scare tactics to tell people why Hell sucks is a poor and anti-Christ way to preach the gospel. It's focused on the fear of Hell and eternal suffering instead of the love of Christ. It's trying to portray one opposite by exposing another. Instead, why not just focus solely on love? I used to partake in them, hoping for the salvation of people and stuff. Can't say I share that same sentiment now.

[ShiroiHikari]

I dunno. I don't see how using Halloween to minister (I'm assuming you mean like Hell Houses where they also minister to you and stuff) is all great. I think using scare tactics to tell people why Hell sucks is a poor and anti-Christ way to preach the gospel. It's focused on the fear of Hell and eternal suffering instead of the love of Christ. It's trying to portray one opposite by exposing another. Instead, why not just focus solely on love? I used to partake in them, hoping for the salvation of people and stuff. Can't say I share that same sentiment now.

I'm with you on this one. Besides, why wait until a holiday to show the love of Christ?

[Tamachan319]

I'd say it's harmless, but like Lynna, I'm not much for the making people afraid thing.
I can understand those who are against it, though. When my friends and I were planning our Halloween party, a friend asked if we could call it a fall party. I'm guessing she was thinking of it with all its negative connotations instead of what most of us were thinking of it as:an excuse to dress up and eat candy.

[Kunoichi]

I personally believe its harmless. That being said I have had friends who were pagan and followed the week of Halloween as a solstice. I do believe that had some spiritual harm to them in regards to their relationship with God etc. Although they worshiped their gods on every day of the week, not just Halloween. So not sure the holiday has much to do with anything. (Sorry for the rambling, I'm in a wierd mood today)

[That Dude]

I personally think that it's harmless, but as far as for the whole christian aspect of it, well I'd say that it's a Romans 14 question.

I dunno. I don't see how using Halloween to minister (I'm assuming you mean like Hell Houses where they also minister to you and stuff) is all great. I think using scare tactics to tell people why Hell sucks is a poor and anti-Christ way to preach the gospel. It's focused on the fear of Hell and eternal suffering instead of the love of Christ. It's trying to portray one opposite by exposing another. Instead, why not just focus solely on love? I used to partake in them, hoping for the salvation of people and stuff. Can't say I share that same sentiment now.

So are you saying that we shouldn't talk about hell when we share the gospel? If so, than I couldn't agree less. It's an integral part of the gospel, and while I agree that it shouldn't just be used as a scare tactic, it's necessary to teach about hell as well, because it shows God's love so much more when you realize that we all deserve hell but he died for us and saves us even though we've committed treason against him.

[Nate]

While I like candy and costumes, I don't much like rehashed pagan practices. [Same for Christmas and Easter. That's not to say I don't celebrate Christ's birth and resurrection.] I have some mixed feelings on it.

That's perfectly understandable. To ease some of your feelings, though, quite a few practices of Halloween have nothing to do with pagan practices. For example, carving pumpkins isn't really based on any pagan practice. There is a bit of Irish folklore about Jack O'Lantern, who outsmarted Satan but was not allowed into Heaven or Hell for his deeds, and Satan threw a coal from Hell at him, which Jack put into a turnip he was eating to make a lamp to light the way for his soul.

Which is really just a cool story from Irish mythology, and not pagan at all...plus, it was a turnip in the story, not a pumpkin. I'm not sure how pumpkins became the plant of choice. I guess they're bigger and easier to carve than turnips, at least. And tastier too.

Trick or treating, also, has no real pagan origins. The actual historic practice seems to have been masked guisers going from house to house and putting on a simple play or musical performance in return for food and drink...at New Year's. There was, however, a custom in rural Scotland on and before the turn of the century in 1900, but this was at Hogmany (January 1, New Year's Day) at not on Halloween. The "Carmina Gaedelica" shows that curses were invoked on homes that didn't treat their Hogmany holiday visitors. But again, not a lot to do with pagan Halloween practices.

The words "trick or treat" apparently were not in use until 1941, when they first appear in files of Merriam-Webster, Inc., after being used as the title of a poem in The Saturday Evening Post. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the phrase "trick-or-treating" first appeared in The Sun in Baltimore in 1950.

So actually, yeah, Christmas and Easter have more pagan practices than Halloween does. XP

[Lynna]

@Nate Pumpkins were used instead of turnips when many Irish immegrated to North America. Turnips weren't as plentiful there at that time, so they used pumpkins instead

Are you sure about the trick or treating? I heard it was because the people believed that before All Saints Day ghosts and other evil creatures would come up out of the earth to haunt the living, and People protected themselves by dressing up as ghosts so the evil spirits wouldn't recognise them.

[FllMtl Novelist]

That's perfectly understandable. To ease some of your feelings, though, quite a few practices of Halloween have nothing to do with pagan practices. For example, carving pumpkins isn't really based on any pagan practice. There is a bit of Irish folklore about Jack O'Lantern, who outsmarted Satan but was not allowed into Heaven or Hell for his deeds, and Satan threw a coal from Hell at him, which Jack put into a turnip he was eating to make a lamp to light the way for his soul.

That's pretty cool, I didn't know that.

[Nate]

Are you sure about the trick or treating? I heard it was because the people believed that before All Saints Day ghosts and other evil creatures would come up out of the earth to haunt the living, and People protected themselves by dressing up as ghosts so the evil spirits wouldn't recognise them.

There is absolutely no evidence of the wearing of costumes of any sort on Halloween in the Middle Ages in Ireland, Scotland, England or Wales....and IF costumes were worn in the pagan era in the British Isles, the tradition was obviously broken for a good long time...long enough for any paleo-pagan traditions surrounding it to totally die out.

As for the Irish Druids practicing 'trick-or-treat,' once again, we have no hard evidence. The only real evidence of solicitation for gifts and treats on Halloween seems to be found only in Christian times and, as pointed out, the phrase "trick or treat" is not Druidic, but something else entirely.

EDIT:

That's pretty cool, I didn't know that.

Well, here's the folktale in its entirety, then.

There was a stingy drunkard of an Irishman named Jack; who tricked the Devil into climbing an apple tree. Then Jack quickly cut the sign of a cross into the trunk of the tree; thereby preventing the Devil from climbing down. Jack made the Devil swear that he wouldn't ever come after Jack's soul again or claim it in any way. However, this did not stop Jack from dying and when he did he was not allowed into Heaven, because of his life of drinking, being tightfisted and being deceitful. And because of the oath the Devil had taken Jack was not allowed into Hell either. "But where can I go?" asked Jack. "Back where you came from!" replied the Devil. The way back was windy and dark. The Devil, as a final gesture, threw a live coal at Jack straight from the fire of Hell. To light his way and to keep it from blowing out in the wind Jack put it in a turnip he was eating. Ever since Jack and his "lantern" has been traveling over the face of the earth looking for a place to rest.