But, Halloween is not just a time for cornstalks, pumpkins, apples and cute and not-so-cute costumes. There is much, much more. Before deciding to celebrate or not celebrate any holiday, it is important to understand the history of that holiday.
Before we look at the history and what the Bible says about pagan holidays answer these questions:
How would you feel if your spouse kept photos of his or her former girlfriend of boyfriend?
How would you feel if he or she celebrated an anniversary of special times with another after marrying you?
Our God is a jealous God demanding exclusive devotion (Exodus 20:5). Do you think He cares if you encourage your children to partake in a holiday that honors Satan, the god of this world?
Halloween’s History
Halloween’s roots come from the ancient Celts, a tribe living about 2,000 years ago in the areas that are now Ireland, Great Britain and northern France.
The Celts were first described as a fierce, warlike, terrifying people, many of whom would have strings of human heads tied on their bridles. Halloween was their main holiday, called Samhain. It was a festival that honored the Samhain, the Celtic lord of death. The celebration marked the beginning of the season of cold, darkness, and decay. The Celts related this with human death; they believed the Samhain allowed souls of the dead to return to their earthly homes for that evening. On the evening of the festival, the Druids, the priest and teachers of the Celts, ordered the people to put out their hearth fires.
The Druids built a huge New Year’s bonfire of oak branches, which they considered sacrificed. They burned animals, crops, and even human beings as sacrifices. Then each family re-lit their hearth fire from the New Year’s fire. The lighted jack-o’-lanterns used today are symbols of fires and torches. During the celebration people wore costumes made of animal heads and skins. They told fortunes by examining the remains of the sacrifices.
These pagan Celts believed that evil spirits lurked about as the sun god grew pale and the Samhain grew stronger. The Celts believed the evil spirits would come to your house and you would have to treat them or they would trick you.
The Romans conquered the Celts in A.D. 43 and ruled what is now Great Britain for about 400 years. During this period, two Roman autumn festivals were combined with the Celtic festival of Samhain. Both pagan rituals, one of them, called Feraila, was held in late October to honor the dead. The other festival honored Pomona, the Roman Goddess of fruit and trees. Apples became associated with Halloween because of this festival.
Regional Halloween customs developed among various groups of Celts. In Ireland, for example, people begged for food in a parade that honored Muck Olla, their sun god. The leader of the parade wore a white robe and the head of an animal. In England, families sat by the fire and told stories while they ate treats such as apples and nuts.
Halloween in the United States
In the United States, many early American settlers brought with them various customs such as the above. However, because of Christianity among so many of the settlers, Halloween celebrations were not celebrated until the 1800’s when several immigrants from Ireland and Scotland introduced their Halloween customs. They brought various beliefs about ghosts and witches with them. Other groups added their own cultural influences to Halloween customs. German immigrants brought a vivid witchcraft lore, and Haitian and African peoples brought their native voodoo beliefs about black cats, fire, and witchcraft.
All Saints Day, a day the seventh century church set aside for remembering early Christians who died for their beliefs, was first celebrated in the month of May. By the year 900 the date was combined with the pagan rituals to be celebrated November 1. Another name for All Saints Day was All Hallows. October 31 was known as All Hallows Eve which was shortened to Halloween.
The church made a grave mistake trying to combine pagan worship with Christianity. This is not scriptural! Because of that unwise decision, Halloween remains a holiday in America today.
Scriptures warn us that the sins of the fathers are visited upon the third and fourth generations. You shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me. Exodus 20:5.
Those who disregard God’s warning and make contact with occult spirits risk terrible repercussions in the form of misery, sickness, insanity and even early death.
Why do people living in this age, especially Christians, desire to be a part of any pagan worship? This pagan belief, even celebrated by Christian churches, celebrates the union of gods and a goddess in the universe that supposedly control the seasons, bring fertility to crops and animals, and bestow magical powers on their followers.
What Does the Bible Say About Halloween?
Although the Bible doesn’t specifically mention Halloween by name, it makes it very clear that the origins and practices of Halloween (adapting pagan customs or borrowing the ways of those who worship a false god and using them to worship the true God) are detestable to God. Deuteronomy 12:29-32. The Bible clearly teaches us to say “no” to ungodliness and worldly passions and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age.
Now, therefore, fear the LORD and serve Him in sincerity and truth; and put away the gods which your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD. Joshua 24:14
When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you, do not learn to imitate the detestable ways of the nations there. Let no one be found among you who…practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or casts spells, or who is a medium, or spiritist or who consults the dead. Deuteronomy 18:9-11
Ephesians 5:1 tells us to be imitators of God. Our Lord Jesus would not go to a party to honor the feast of the Samhain. Moses did not come down from Mount Sinai and combine the Israelites Passover holiday with the idol worship that was going on. Allowing children to dress as witches and sorcerers or hanging evil decorations in our windows is imitating that which is evil.
Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: I will dwell in them and walk among them. I will be their God, And they shall be My people. Therefore Come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you.
The verse says, “come out from among them, says the Lord.” Does that mean come out from among them–but don’t deprive your children from all that fun and candy — celebrate the same pagan ritual in your church building? The Bible is very clear about Christians being involved in such celebrations. Ephesians 5:8-11 says,
For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth), finding out what is acceptable to the Lord. And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them.
Halloween is more than childish fun.Witches have eight special holidays during the year. Halloween is their day above all days. Witchcraft is not child’s play. It is an abomination to the Lord. Johanna Michaleson, former occultist and author of The Beautiful Side of Evil said, “For a true Christian to participate in the ancient trappings of Halloween is as incongruous as for a committed Satanist coming from blood sacrifices on Christmas Eve to set up a nativity scene in his living room singing Silent Night, Holy Night with sincere devotion to baby Jesus!”
One thing Halloween should not be for the Christian is a time of fear. It should be a time to rejoice in the fact that The Son of God appeared for this purpose, that He might destroy the works of the devil. (1 John 3:8). This is a time of spiritual warfare. October 31 should be spent in prayer for the community and children; a time of worship by singing praise to the Lord. This can be a good time to teach our children to sacrifice by not sharing in the rituals because you love the Lord. Whatever your family decides to do on this day, ask yourself, “Does it glorify the Lord?”
…they sacrifice to demons and not to God, and I do not want you to have fellowship with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; you cannot partake of the Lord’s table and of the table of demons. Leviticus 17:7.
Halloween and Purim?
Someone recently mentioned they thought Halloween came from the holiday Purim. It is true children dress up during Purim to reenact the story of Esther but it has nothing to do with Halloween. Halloween is centuries older and Purim costumes are Bible characters. Purim is observed on the fourteenth day of the Hebrew month of Adar (February-March). It is a celebration of the deliverance of the Persian Jews over one of the most dastardly plots in history to exterminate the Jewish people. The book of Esther tells the story.
More Halloween Articles
Halloween for Christians (video)
Read about the Holidays Ordained by God
Share your Halloween experience in the comments. Did your family put away Halloween? How did your children handle the decision? How does your church handle this holiday? Is there anything wrong with compromising and promoting a Christian Halloween?
Robin Sampson has been homeschooling for 20 years. She and her husband Ronnie are blessed with a “yours, mine, and ours” blended family of eleven children (ages 6 to 34) and thirteen grandchildren (ages 1 to 12). She is actively teaching the two youngest children still at home. Robin is also an author and business owner. Please visit her at Heart of Wisdom.
We don’t do Halloween. Instead we celebrate the Mexican Day of the Dead. My husband is born from Mexican heritage, so it’s a good way to bring that culture into our lives. Plus, it’s a much nicer holiday, the goal is to remember your deceased loved ones. Dia Del Muerte does have skulls and such, but they are all happy, not scary. I’ve got an article up on my personal blog where I did the research for this decision (http://www.yuriar.com/wp/?p=529). We get out all the stuff that reminds of my dad, Grampa. We talk about him alot, and remember the good times with him. We have a silly string battle, because that was something fun my dad loved to do. Then we have milkshakes and candy after dinner.
My mom and dad used to do a “Manna hunt” with us. They would read the story of the Israelites in the desert. Then send us to another room while they threw candy all over the room. We’d get to come back with our baskets and gather candy, but only xx amout of pieces that we were allowed to eat that night. After that, they’d remind us that on the day before Sabbath the Israelites gather twice as much, and we’d get to run out and pick up the rest, have a few more pieces, and put the rest away for the next day.
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We don’t do halloween with our children. Thanks for an interesting article to read! Loved it!
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This is ridiculous.
“Why do people living in this age, especially Christians, desire to be a part of any pagan worship? This pagan belief, even celebrated by Christian churches, celebrates the union of gods and a goddess in the universe that supposedly control the seasons, bring fertility to crops and animals, and bestow magical powers on their followers.”
As far as I know… Doesn’t God control the seasons? Doesn’t he bring fertility to crops and animals? And although he may not bestow “magical” powers on his followers… he does create magical changes in us and our world and has been known to perform miracles. Christian belief isn’t all that different. Let’s let God judge instead of us.
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We don’t celebrate Halloween. Our children are 7 and 5, and they clearly understand the reason. But it’s hard when we constantly have to reaffirm our decision, especially when our own church offers a Fall Festival with costumes, candy, and all. Of course they talk about it on Sunday morning and encourage the children to come. Our Christian friends don’t seem to have any problem with it either. Even our spiritual mentors.
I don’t want my children to feel like they are missing all the fun. But it’s more important to build Biblical character than to join in with what’s easy.
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We do not celebrate Halloween. My son, age 6, doesn’t feel like he’s missing anything. He’s careful to point out the Halloween decorations in the stores (out of concern). And no one had to teach my 2 year old that Halloween is bad. Of her own accord, she declares anything associated with Halloween to be “yucky.” It’s amazing how perceptive children are of good vs. evil!
Each year we are invited by friends to their church’s harvest party. So far we have not participated. My husband’s opinion on such matters is that we as Christians do not need to provide our children with a Halloween substitute. We do not have to acknowledge the “holiday” at all. It’s just another day for us. We don’t provide a substitute for other holidays for which we do not celebrate, so why Halloween?
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I forgot to mention… thank you for the excellent article!!!
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We are an artsy family living in a small town. It’s all about the dressing up for us. Last year my oldest son went as a robot (he made the costume from recycled boxes). We have a closet full of costumes that have been made (and some purchased). No “scary” ones in the lot.
This year I told the boys we may try to stop the Halloween thing – since they don’t even eat the candy that they get. Instead we should start hosting a costume ball – since it’s about dressing up anyway. I had suggested February and since you mentioned Purim that might work out just right.
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Thanks for this I have been reading up on Halloween. It is starting to become popular in Australia during the last few years, as it has not been really celebrated here I did not know alot about it.
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Thanks for sharing the history of Halloween. As a child from a non-Christian home, we went trick-or-treating each year as we grew up. After becoming a Christian and learning more about Halloween, we have never taken our kids trick-or-treating. The kids don’t even want to hand out candy to the neighbor kids, as they consider Halloween evil.
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I’m so glad you posted this! It always takes courage to stand up for what is right.
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I love family traditions.
One of our richest and favorite traditions at this time of year is celebrating the harvest. I think that is what this holiday is really supposed to be about. There is so much to learn (and teach) your children about the law of the harvest. I hope that those who have chosen not to celebrate Halloween will form their own traditions with their families centered around the harvest theme.
Our church has had carnivals that center around it (no ghost or goblins) and we have truly been blessed.
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We’ve been trying to figure out what to do about Halloween for years. At first I wanted to celebrate Halloween because I grew up enjoying it but my husband was against it. He allowed me to buy candy for the kids knocking on our door because I hated shooing them away. (They knocked even though our porch light was off.) Then when I was pregnant with my daughter I was walking to the store on Halloween to buy candy for the kids when I saw that someone had hung a preschool size doll by a noose. I was so disgusted by the thought of portraying the murder of a child, I turned around without the candy, called my husband, and told him no Halloween.
My oldest child has always been afraid of scary things and we spent every year trying to avoid Halloween with no luck. We tried going to dinner to await the end of trick or treating only to have a waiter dressed up as a scary old hag. Our daughter cried every time he came to the table. We tried wandering around large stores to keep away and found people in scary costumes there. We tried staying home with the porch light off, the majority of our house lights off, and putting up signs saying there was no candy at our house. They still knocked constantly and insistently until we opened the door and told them that like the signs said, “No candy here!”
The only way we have found to escape the scary costumes and constant knocking at our door is to go to our church’s Fall Harvest Festival. The kids enjoy dressing up, playing games, watching a child-friendly show, and getting candy. Best of all…no scary costumes allowed and the kids in the neighborhood are knocking on the door of an empty house. I don’t agree with the church, or us, celebrating Halloween by another name but it’s the only solution we’ve been able to find.
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Dear Readers,
From a Christian with a heart for the lost. The bottom line for me is the great commision, am I reaching the lost with my words, my lifestyle, my character. I have come to the conclusion that the more I seem odd by adding extra rules and regulations to my own life, the less attractive the gospel is. Halloween, despite it’s dark, dark history is for the most part a cultural holiday in the U.S. , like Valentine’s Day, or New Year’s Eve. I gladly participate knowing I will mingle with neighbors, and begin the process of being a light to them. My children know that we have to meet our culture where they are at. Being involved in community oriented holidays is a great way to do that, and I can think of no other holiday that brings people out of their homes and onto a common sidewalk where Christians and non-Christians can rub shoulders than Halloween. We cannot isolate ourselves from the world, nor should we, Jesus didn’t, he was a friend to drunkards and sinners. I staunchly believe that if we are to reach this lost world we have to engage it and not protect ourselves from it. It is more dangerous to meet sinners where they are at, but it is far more productive for the kingdom of God and it’s advancement and far more exciting for us.
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The kids have not gone trick or treating for 10 or so years, but we do attend our churches “Light Night”. As a young mom and a new christians I knew nothing about the holiday, but when it was brought to light I did not want to participate. I’m so thankful that our church and other churches provided something that was fun on Oct. 31st. It also happens to be my anniversary, this year will be 20 years!! :0)
The article was interesting, but I do think each and every christian has to pray and seek the Lord to decide what to with their family. This is always a “hot topic” issue, those that don’t do Halloween can be demeaning of those that do and those that do, feel the need to defend their stance. In all honesty I’d like for one year to not hear about the Halloween issue in the body of Christ. It is so divisive.
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Thank you, Robin for this informative article! We do not celebrate Halloween, but have chosen to spend the evening in prayer as a family . We pray against darkness, evil, and for the lost.
God Bless,
Stephanie
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It is always encouraging to know there are like minded believers out their. We do not, nor have we ever participated in Halloween. God has really encouraged us over the last two years to continue this, even through the sneers of family and sometimes out right opposition with family memebers. We have instead chosen to celebrate an event that was, in my opinion, the second most important event in history of Christianity and that is the hanging up of the 95 Theses penned by Martin Luther on October 31, 1517. Our focus this year is on why Martin Luther hung the 95 Theses up and how we can be sure that the Bible we read today is the Bible God himself ordained.
God desires for us to all walk the same narrow path, however the journey to get there varies for us all. BJ
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Thanks so much for the excellent article.
My parents chose for our family to stop participating in Halloween when I was about 10 years old and we’ve never looked back. My husband and I have continued that with our children. Even though our church has a “Hallelujah Night” festival, we do not fill Oct. 31st with any substitutes, as we would rather not acknowledge the day at all. I believe our call as Christians to be ‘in the world but not of the world’ applies to Halloween participation (or more accurately, a lack of it).
I like the idea some readers have mentioned of using that time to pray. We may try that as our children get older! Thanks again for the article and the boldness to stand up for what you believe is right!
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Not much to add after all that you said…other than AMEN and AMEN!
I would venture to say that if we looked into the HISTORY of most of the holidays we celebrate we might rethink our celebrations all together…
Thank you for posting…
Its funny the looks I get (along with comments) when I let others know we don’t participate in Halloween or other pagan holidays –Mardi Gras (where I’m from this is a BIG deal), traditional Easter rituals, etc…
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I agree with what Amy Nelson said. I grew up not being allowed to trick or treat without much explanation. It was an alienating feeling some times. I do not celebrate the holiday, but we do participate by dressing up and going around our own neighborhood trying to recognize the kids. I allow my children to dress up, but nothing of death or spirits, such as gouls, ghosts, witches, etc., is allowed. We have fun because of the dressing up (we don’t spend much money on a custome so you have to be clever) and being with friends and seeing our neighbors. Where I live, everyone works, works, works, and it is hard to see eachother, so this is a time to fellowship with neighbors.
All the rules and regulations are to make people feel good and develop a sense of pride (you know, the kind that the Bible warns about from cover to cover). I am no better than anyone else. What is important, is when the time comes when a neighbor asks you about your faith, will you admit/share or deny Christ?
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HI,
Thanks for an informative article. being an Australian this is not a holiday that has been traditionally celebrated here – but we ahve this fasination with following the US (no offence intended at all) that this holiday is creeping into our own culture.
My children have learnt about it form Amreican tv shows and the like. LAst year we had children trick or treating in our neighbourhood. it is quite easy to not give candy here, becasue people don’t really expect it as it isn’t that common, However, I decided last year that i purchase some little gifts from our Christian bookshop- like ‘jesus loves you’ erasers and pencils and give these to the children that came knocking instead. hopefully they will take some notice.
Thanks again
Smiles
Mishell
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GREAT writing! My church always has a halloween service so when I was single, I would fast all day and then go to the service. As a family with three smalls boys, we haven’t done that but have found other ways to hang out as a family. This halloween we are thinking about handing out candy and tracts. We have some great tracts so putting the Gospel into the hands of my neighbors is really enticing.
Ephesians 5:11 says, “Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them” so I think that that is a clear message not to partake of the fruitlessness of the day/night. We just can’t decide whether to watch the church service on the computer/tv at a friend’s house or hand out tracts. I want to do the tracts but I don’t want to be a false witness to my neighborhood. We are nothing like the “world” and we don’t pretend to be. But I do have an urgent desire to spread the Gospel. We are praying for wisdom.
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When I was first saved I did learn the history of Halloween and I would not let my child celebrate it. I would pull him out of school etc., for the Halloween parades. As time went on I had two more children and ended up having to raise all three on my own. Gone were the days when I could take them out of school. I did let them dress up so that they would not feel like the odd man out during the Halloween parade. Most of the people celebrating this holiday are not doing so because of its evil roots, they really just like dressing up and going from door to door to get candy. I hand out candy to the neighborhood children. I guess when it comes to Halloween and other things in general it is up to each individual Christian family whether or not they will celebrate it, it is a matter of personal conviction. I guess if when you come right down to it the roots of Christmas were not godly at all it too was a very pagan holiday until someone in the Catholic church decided that it would not be celebrating Christ’s birthday.
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I agree with you–we need to be honest about the origins and current-day practice of this celebration!
Here is why this Christian doesn’t celebrate Halloween
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I feel that i could not take halloween away from my children, as i feel that it is a fun day for them to dress up as fun loving characters, not gools and gobblins. I think kids really enjoy this. I can say that i do not like the way some parents dress their kids, as horor themes. I am just wondering, if i celebrate halloween just as a fun filled event for my kids. will god punnish me and my children? I think death is definitly what halloween used to be about, but is it really that now. I mean every year u see less and less kids dressing up as a scary theme. My children have remained as clean as possible with their costumes. But how will this effect gods decision about me
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HA! My family is extremely religious, and loves Halloween. I love Christmas for the obvious reason(birth of Jesus) but shoot, Halloween is FUN! Who the hell cares what idiots did years ago. They weren’t intelligent human beings. Burning people for sacrifices……didn’t Christians stone and burn people cause they thought they were”witches”? People weren’t smart back then, but we are smarter now. I love dressing up, whether it is something cute….or something bloody. I love horror movies and I love decorating for Halloween. Bullshit.
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