Why Halloween?

A long opinion piece … Why I should care about the annual call to obliviate Halloween is definitely tied to my own involvement with the celebration. Even though my enthusiasm for various aspects of the season has waned over the years (and there is much to turn the stomach), I’m a little passionate about it because I host an annual Halloween party for my family’s families each year as my contribution to bringing us all together, as a great big family. We play games, we share fun food, we chat, the kids play, and some of us wear costumes. It’s all innocent, good fun when it works out … and family drama when we have a bad year (but that’s just part of being a family). So, why do I like Halloween?

One of the greatest Christian philosophers of our age (a search of C.S. Lewis on the church website returns dozens of articles where he’s quoted) became famous by writing fantasy books for children that include witches, the demon Tash, dwarves, werewolves, apes, and hags fighting on the side of evil … and Aslan, other lions, beavers, river gods, nymphs, fauns, Father Christmas, and even Bacchus fighting on the side of good. Lewis understood that these mythical creatures and talking animals were nothing but fantasy and used them to tell stories of good and evil that have inspired a multitude of children (and adults) to ponder the ideals of Christianity. Brandon Mull’s Fablehaven and Dragonwatch series are a recent example of the power of this kind of storytelling and are valuable in giving examples to kids of how to act when faced with evils that seem to monumental to deal with.

The move to do away with Halloween, stems from the same urge to do away with fantasy altogether. However, when Jesus told stories that likened people to seeds and weeds, lamps and towns on hills, vineyard workmen, leaven, wedding guests, fish, and sheep … he recognized that our minds were capable of imagining ourselves to be something that we’re not. His main form of teaching the masses were parables (fictional stories) – he only explained the parables to his devoted disciples.

When a child dresses up as a witch or a vampire on Halloween, are they really saying, “I want to grow up to be servant of evil when I grow up”? No, they are acting a roll. They recognize that they are playing the part of something scary, and by doing so, it makes that thing less scary because ultimately they know it isn’t real. Of course, kids dress up as all kinds of ‘good guys’ at Halloween as well. There is very little difference between this and going to or participating in theater (or watching movies). I’ve ‘played’ a number of theatrical roles over the years. I even wrote an opera on the story of Abinadi. When I sang the part of King Noah (a wine-drinking, womanizing, dictator) … was I celebrating his excesses, hoping to become like him, or playing a role?

A number of children’s Halloween films actually teach some great principles. As one example, “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown” offers an observation on this very subject, recognizing fact from fantasy, when Sally stays by Linus all night waiting for an imaginary Great Pumpkin that never shows. Many people have their Great Pumpkins …

If we’re committed to the idea that our children don’t recognize fantasy from reality, then we need to ban The Chronicles of Narnia, The Wizard of OZ, The Last Unicorn, The Lord of the Rings, and all fairy tales. Yet many of these teach beautiful lessons about life and what it means to be a child of God.

When I was young, yes the candy was great, but the thrill of Halloween was pretending to be something I was not. That included being superman, C3PO, a vampire, a cat, Robin Hood, etc.. I still can’t fly, translate millions of languages, turn into a bat, always land on my feet, and I don’t aspire to rob the rich the give to the poor … but, I believe fantasy and imagination are vital to child’s life and Halloween is just one small way to let kids experience that.

That said, I don’t like horror or gore … kids need to be protected from that … it is harmful in many ways. So, we avoid the Spirit Halloween Store, and any entertainment that crosses that line. However, I don’t believe in ‘protecting’ children from the innocent fantasy side of Halloween.