[This was a post by the Revd Canon J. Johns of Great=
Britain when asked to evaluate this “holiday” in the world tod=
ay]
Halloween has become one of the biggest events in the British calenda=
r. There have always been traditions associated with 31st October, but the =
present extravaganza, with its epidemic of ‘trick-or-treating’,=
is a recent phenomenon. A decade ago, spending on Halloween in the UK was =
only =A312m; now, boosted by Hollywood and marketing, it is =A3300m. Financ=
ially, Halloween is now, after Christmas and Easter, our third highest gros=
sing celebration.
Yet Halloween has seized this position without any seri=
ous consideration of what it stands for and whether or not we even want it.=
=A0 When people talk about what happens on 31st October a little phrase com=
monly heard is that Halloween is ‘harmless nonsense’. But is it=
indeed harmless? Is it merely nonsense? It’s time to do some hard th=
inking.
Let me give you six reasons why Halloween is not harmless:
1=
=2E HALLOWEEN CELEBRATES EVIL
Althou=
gh people celebrate Halloween in different ways it remains, at its core, an=
event that glorifies the dark, creepy and scary side of life. Children and=
adults dress up as figures that are ‘evil’: witches, vampires,=
ghosts and demons. If you want to be different you can hire costumes to ma=
ke you look like a chainsaw killer, a psychopathic butcher or even a shooti=
ng victim (‘with authentic-looking bullet holes’).This is hardl=
y harmless.
Whatever view we have about life, we all take it for granted =
that our society should spend time and energy encouraging children to care =
for others and to know the difference between right and wrong. Yet on this =
one day, we throw all those values away and glorify everything that is evil=
and unpleasant. Talk about sending out mixed messages!
2. HALLOWEEN I=
S UNHELPFUL
We live in a world where=
every parent and teacher takes care to warn children that strangers may po=
se a threat and that they need to take precautions. Yet at Halloween we dis=
card that rule and encourage children to go and knock on doors and accept s=
weets from strangers. Another mixed message!
3. HALLOWEEN TRIVIALISES =
BAD THINGS
No one is in doubt that e=
vil is serious and that muggings, stabbings, and serious accidents are horr=
endous. Yet, again, Halloween breaks the rules. On this day we pretend that=
death, deformity, and injury are no more than kids’ play!=
4. HA=
LLOWEEN IS OFFENSIVE
You could simpl=
y say that scaring kids is unhelpful, but there is a more subtle and troubl=
ing issue. Halloween costumes frequently centre on deformities, gory wounds=
and disfigurement. There are a number of websites that tell you how to cre=
ate an effective disfigurement; for example, how to create realistic-lookin=
g burns and how to make yourself hideously ugly. Now consider how you would=
feel about that if you yourself were a burns victim, were severely disable=
d or had suffered horrendous scarring. Do we really want to spread the mess=
age that ugliness equates to evil?
=
5. HALLOWEEN IS GETTING WORSE
Concerns about Halloween do not simply co=
me from those of us with a ‘religious agenda’. Increasingly, ot=
her people are expressing concern, particularly about the way that Hallowee=
n seems to be getting darker and nastier every year. Carved pumpkins were, =
I suppose, pretty harmless; the new blood-stained axe murderers are not. If=
we don’t like the direction that Halloween is going in, then maybe i=
t’s time to stop celebrating it.
6. HALLOWEEN ALLOWS EVIL A VICT=
ORY
In some older Halloween traditio=
ns people dressed up in clothes that made them look evil and then, at the e=
nd of the evening, the outfits were burnt. The message was clear if naive: =
in the end, good triumphs over evil. Yet there is no hint of that in the mo=
dern Halloween. Now, evil is unchallenged and just slips away into the dark=
ness, to return at some other time. That’s not the message our world =
needs today.
~~
Dr Bob Griffin
[email protected] www.grif.net
Continue steadf=
astly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving.