What Has Halloween to do With the Church?

This question is a matter of some controversy. Some church groups are so convinced that Halloween is a pagan holiday that they offer alternatives to trick-or-treating that look nothing like the occasion. No dressing up. No going door-to-door. Don’t even get close by having a trunk-or-treat. Tomorrow, millions of children will go door-to-door for candy. Millions of people will leave their porch lights on, with candy baskets in hand. Pranksters will be out-and-about. Many children will go about startling one another while wearing their costumes–many of them resembling serial killers, monsters, and the demonic.

Every year, the controversy rages. What has this to do with the Church? What should the Church have to do with Halloween festivities?

Words have meaning. You’ve probably sung or heard hymns in church. You’ve probably also heard the King James version of the disciples’ prayer, “Our Father, who art in Heaven, hallowed be Your name…” “Hallow” is a word that literally means “holy” or “set apart.” For anything to be made holy, hallowed, is for it to be set apart. Halloween is a word that literally refers to something holy, and the last half of the word indicates the eve of, the night before, such a holy occasion. Just by the meaning of the word, we see that Halloween is the eve of the holy.

The holiday itself points our attention to November 1 each year. If October 31 is the eve, November 1 is the day. In the Eighth Century AD, Pope Gregory III established All Saints’ Day as a day to honor all saints. There is a Veterans’ Day to honor all Veterans. There is a Labor Day to honor all laborers. There is a Presidents’ Day to honor all presidents. There is also an All Saints’ Day to honor all the Saints. The day was established as a Roman Catholic holiday in honor of those special individuals venerated by the Vatican. In the protestant view, all believers have sainthood and priesthood–no one is above or closer to God than another. This is why protestants typically don’t celebrate All Saints’ Day. If we do, we honor all Christians everywhere on this day.

As the holiday developed, it likely incorporated some practices of the Celtic holiday, Samhain. On All Saints’ Eve, Christians began dressing up and trick-or-treating. Christianity has always incorporated elements of cultural practices into its own holidays. Samhain marked the end of summer, when everything started dying. There was a connection to the dead, hints the costumes. Halloween celebrated something different. Not death, but life. Christians began dressing up as a way of mocking death because they had victory over it in the Lord, Jesus Christ. Jesus said His kingdom would one day overshadow all the kingdoms of the world and permeate throughout the whole world (cf. Matthew 13:31-35). The pervasiveness of Halloween as a Christian holiday proves Jesus is truly taking over the kingdoms of the world for His own glory.

In response, we do not have to make little of the work of Christ. We can and should celebrate with a clear conscience, knowing that death is defeated and the demons are at bay because of Christ’s very real work at Calvary and in the world today. Hallelujah!

Happy Halloween! Happy Reformation Day! Happy All-Saints’ Day, in the truest sense!