Halloween

I grew up in a very strict Christian home. There were a lot of things we were not allowed to do as kids, no television, homework or sports on Sunday. We reserved Sunday for Church, family and friends. I saw my first every theater movie at the age of 18. My boyfriend (now my husband) took me - Raiders of the Lost Ark- wow what an amazing first movie! I didn't tell him til afterwards that it was the first time I had been to the "show". He was appalled - figured my parents wouldn't be impressed. I don't think they ever knew. Anyway, something we DID do was celebrate Halloween. My parents hosted Halloween parties in our home for their friends. My husband grew up in Africa on the mission field...and they celebrated Halloween. Somewhere along the way...Halloween for Christian's become a bad thing. Somehow we lost the "fun" part of just being able to let our kids use their "imagination" and have fun. Dressing up and visiting friends. It seems a shame that we as Christian's "give" our holidays away - allow satan or evil to take over something that could be innocent - and even an opportunity to share Christ - wow, your church has a Halloween Party?

I did a lot of sewing when my kids were young and made all of my kids Halloween costumes - the first ever was a bee costume - he was just a year old - so sweet. From there I continued until about 4 years ago. Every year - a new costume - it become quite a tradition - the kids and I would go and pour over the pattern books and decide "who" they wanted to be that year. We have had Zorro (my absolute favorite), a mermaid, Rapunzel, Robin Hood, a dinosaur, the kids loved those times.

Over the years I have had many conversations with many people about this subject. I lose the battle when I don't have information to back it up - my memory isn't great for dates, etc... But I still feel strongly that we have to look at this differently. This post was brought on by the fact that we did pumpkin carving last night. Another think I love is doing neat designs - yes I use patterns and special tools - i guess it is that jigsaw puzzle lover in me :)

We have a friend - she is the same age as my oldest - and we have "adopted" her as part of our family. She goes to church with us and is usually at the house several times a week - for a quiet (?) place to study, join us for a meal, hang out with my daughter, or just to chat with me. We love Erin...she has never carved a pumpkin before and was looking forward to it. So yesterday we went to the grocery store and picked out our pumpkins, came home and decided on a design and started cleaning out pumpkins.

This is Erin cleaning out her Pumpkin

My 16 year old daughter, Sadie - making faces while she cleans out her pumpkin.

Look at all those pumpkin guts. Almost done cleaning.

Erin working on her design - laughing at something Sadie said - these two laugh a lot.

Sadie "posing" for me - she is "poking" her way around her design.

There are restrictions to our Halloween - no witches, warlocks, skulls, etc... nothing that depicts evil - just good clean fun.

Here are the finished designs, all lit and ready to go :0) Mine is the first one, a cute little
Boo Ghost". The second is Erin's - a "Cross-Eyed Happy Face". Erin did an amazing job for her first ever pumpkin carving. The 3rd one is Sadie's - he was called "Bugaboo" .

This morning I was sitting here thinking of posting the pictures of us carving pumpkins and got thinking more about the concept of Halloween being a secular holiday. I did a quick search on google and what did I find - wow - some fascinating information.

Halloween DID begin as a Christian Holy Day! No matter what you have heard before the truth of history and the understanding of the word Halloween is quite Christian. Halloween broken down is the eve (evening) before the Holy (Hallow) day. It was first called All Saints Day or Hallows Day in 610AD and was celebrated on May 13. So the very first step is to understand the meaning of the word. Halloween means the Holy Eve. Happy Halloween means Happy Evening before Holy Day!

The church moved Hallows Day from May 13 to Nov 1 on 741AD to place it on the same day as the Pagan (unbelievers) Festival of Death. This was very common in the early church because they moved Christmas and Easter already to coincide with Pagan celebrations so that Christians had something Christian to celebrate when everyone else was celebrating.

Hallows Day was a day to honor all the martyrs that died from Christ's death and resurrection until 311 AD when Constantine made it against the law to persecute Christians. The church picked one date to celebrate all the people who willingly and often joyfully followed Jesus and refused to deny their faith.


Recognize that we have been ignorant of our Christian history and did not understand that the Pagans took their celebration known as Samhain (festival of death) to be one with Halloween. Instead of continuing to call their day Samhain over the years it got mixed into being called Halloween for both celebrations.

As a Christian we don't need to run from Halloween, but to redeem it and embrace it as a Holy Eve Celebration to remember all the martyrs that have died and that continue to die in our generation for their faith. We really have something to celebrate because our faith could not be destroyed or mowed down because Christians are not afraid of death but embrace it..."For to me to live is Christ and to die is gain." The sting of death was taken away after Jesus died on the cross and was resurrected.

Now the choice is yours. Be creative! Find a way to celebrate your Holy Day! And be set free by the truth and know your can really cheerfully say, "Happy Halloween!" guilt-free!

This article came from www.ehow.com when I searched "How to Celebrate Halloween as a Christian"

So...what is your take on this holiday that we celebrate? Would love your feedback.