Halloween: Something We Should Be Celebrating?

I am perhaps unusual in that I have never trick or treated. In my background, as children, Halloween was always a tricky time. The dressing up, pumpkin carving and the apple bobbing seemed like innocent fun, but coming from a community of evangelical Christians meant a moral conundrum for parents and church children's groups leaders.

Although my own faith is now very different, the reaction against a festival of evil spirits, as my church saw it, has informed my view of Halloween as an adult.

This year, I have revisited my opinions and literally gone to the other side to see if my views still seem balanced.

Firstly - to return to the Trick or Treating: is this really not a form of door to door blackmail? Some of us are annoyed by itinerant carol singers, collecting for charity: but they are only offering a song, which even to the non Christian is festive and traditional; and (in Britain) we have boy scouts offering us their services (e.g. boot shining, gardening) for a small fee. But trick or treaters (TOTs) are collecting for themselves, and they offer the home occupier nothing - only a threat. And although not all groups of children out on 31st October have a trick to inflict, there is the expectation that their neighbours won't turn these cute dressed up locals away empty handed.

Perhaps I am mean in resenting unsolicited callers generally, but these TOTs are potentially threatening as well as a nuisance. I am glad when I live somewhere where local kids are unlikely to call or be at large as I come home from work or plan to pop out for an evening. Some people feel very vulnerable on this night, when older kids or teenagers mete out punishments, and perhaps for these, the trick is more satisfying to give than to receive.

What values does TOT instil?

It is my view that TOT should cease, and that the trick should be a penalty for those indulging in it.

What of Halloween as a festival and its origins? I am not to undertake a Halloween history lesson here. But we know that Halloween is about spirits; and in some eyes, perhaps it is a superstitious way of placating the unpleasant forces that may call on us, and not all of the juvenile bodily kind at your front door hoping for sweets.

Perhaps some readers do not believe in spirits at all, and that for them there is nothing real to connote by dressing as witches or ghosts. Personally, I cannot see why anyone wants to don a blood soaked costume and be seen in public in it, and there does seem to be a little something perverse in it. Why is it cool or fun to dress in horrible costumes, and waste so much resources on making useless merchandise?

There are those who have had experience of spirits - whether malevolent or benevolent; and judging from books and general conversation, it seems that there is a wide hunger and interest for the spiritual. Therefore I suspect many people do not dismiss the idea of spirits, although there are widely different understandings of them.

Christians believe that there is an opposite to loving God and his angels, and that these forces are by their nature are sinister, just as God is essentially good. (I shall keep to Western understandings and my own reading and experience, but acknowledge the other religions here). The Christian's shunning of everything supposedly Black Magic comes from a supposedly Bible based belief that if it is not of our understanding of God, then it can only be from the devil. There are no neutral spiritual forces for the conventional Christian; everything must belong to one side or the Other; and the other is to be feared, shunned and overcome with Light.

The writers usually classed under Mind Body Spirit in bookshops (here I am thinking of people such as Neale Donald Walsch) see darker forces as of our own making. I am not sure if that is too cruder paraphrase, or if I rightly attribute that to the author I have named. It links into the prevalent book/film The Secret, which propounds that our own thoughts produce our realities, for good or ill, and that the phenomena themselves are neutral. I hope I am not inaccurate in stating that they would join the atheistic asserters that the devil is a social construct.

Another broad grouping is something I confess my lack of qualification to speak on. I am aware of how years of evangelical contact influence this, coupled with my own sensitive imagination. And that is those who are in the occult. I learnt as a bookseller how that many of the things lumped together in that category are ignorant and insulting. Pagans would complain that we had shelved their books inappropriately; and to them it was as bad to find their books next to a Satanist handbook as a Christian finding biblical books on Mary Magdalene amongst dragon legends (which I actually have). My comments on paganism are methodologically weaker than those on Christianity, which I have experienced first hand. But I have tried to find out from Pagans (as opposed to third party research) what they understand of Halloween and what they do at it. The consensus seems to be that Pagans have a festival around this time which seems separate to Halloween, although with some shared ideas of Halloween's original meaning. Some said that Halloween's commercial celebration was nothing to do with their Samhain festival; some embraced both. Pagans - a vastly varying group - said that this festival is part of their earth cycle, where they celebrate the safe gathering of harvest and prepare for the onset of winter. The spirit related part comes from a belief that the division between the spirit world and ours is thinner on this day. It seems that much of the idea is about honouring souls that have passed into the other world. It is not unlike the Festival of the Dead that Mexicans have, as do Romanians.

However, there is an element of placating or scaring evil spirits. I have always wondered how scared demons are of pumpkin lanterns! And why fear is used to stop the fearful - rather like the quote from Batman Begins: 'to turn fear on those who prey on the fearful'? It is fighting evil with evil, rather than good, light or love, which Christians believe they do when they have prayer and praise evenings to counteract all the sorcery they believe is happening on October 31st. It is a battle ingrained into even our silliest of fairytales: Stardust, the recent film, ended with the light of the star literally outshining the powers of the witches.

Reading some famous mediums' stories, I began to wonder if the idea of evil spirits was inaccurate, and that I had been afraid wrongly all those years. Mediums say that ghosts are of loved ones with helpful messages; or at worst - are they simply trapped spirits to be released - to be pitied rather than feared. Betty Shine tells of how spirits heal her clients, and the forces from the other side seem good. But then she explains how she looses her will to theirs, and how events have frightened her; and how some spirits, even when healing, were rude and forceful. She has also encountered presences which she felt the need to exorcise, using the words of the Lord's Prayer.

I will confess it took some courage for one brought up to believe this was the ultimate organisation of evil to look up Satanism on the internet. My main source on Satanism is from Wikipedia as I have usually found the site reasoned and reliable - except the opening assertion that Satanism is a Christian denomination! That's bound to offend both parties1! Despite their reams of words in Wikipedia, I cannot draw a conclusion as to what Satanism is and what its involvement is with Halloween. There are many forms of it, and it seems that perhaps the repugnant acts such as ritual sacrifice and evil spells are not accurately attributed. There seems to be the implication that those who worship Satan see him as the true source of light. This is not unlike the uncovering of Mary Magdalene, and the underground sects upholding her and John the Baptists as the real people to venerate, who have been suppressed and demonised.

I do not agree with Christian reactionism against so much in the world, deeming a whole manner of things unwholesome and ungodly without understanding the issues, and perhaps psychology more than theology is the real reason behind this. Reading a British diocese's guide to alternative children's activities on Halloween and how it is a chance for mission, I found myself feeling uncomfortable. After a reasoned beginning, this Anglican website began to sound twee and unbalanced. It speaks of the Bible's 'clear' teaching, but quotes nothing. It seems the fixation with Satan and evil they accuse Halloween and 'the world' of comes from the church.

Yet, after some research and thought over some months, I find that I cannot dispel their notions of Halloween being based on malignant spiritual forces. I am aware that the supposed evil may be deliberate slant or just ingrained ignorance of a myriad of groups that I do not understand either. What this article really starts to ask is about the nature of evil and if the devil exists; and for a reappraisal of my entire worldview of spirituality. Both the intellectual and personal aspects of these are too large to consider here and will be ongoing for longer than this year's run up to Halloween. I shall continue to eschew Halloween in its commercial and superstitious forms. Whereas the Pagan life cycle and remembrance of the dead are interesting and valid, it brings up many as yet unanswered question: what does this thinness between us and the world of the dead mean? And is that not a fearful day to seek protection against? Because that brings me - with all the huge changes of belief over my years - to a rather circular place in sympathy with the mainstream church, in that I would rather focus on angels and other forces of good, and celebrate that.