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Last year I wrote a controversial piece about Halloween titled "Orthodoxy and Halloween: Separating Fact From Fiction". I want to make it clear that I am not out to defend Halloween or promote its celebration by Christians, though I do find it important to separate fact from fiction regarding this holiday, and leave each individual to observe the day as their conscience determines. Personally I prefer to keep Halloween and Christianity separate outwardly and coherent in my heart. The fictional fundamentalist folklore and mythology surrounding Halloween is in my opinion the darkest aspect of the holiday, and it is the truth that I seek to bring to light lest Christianity be undermined, as it so often irresponsibly is in society. However, I also understand it is not within everyone's taste to celebrate Halloween, so mutual respect plays a large role in how I present the topic to Christians.
Though I am a proud celebrant of Halloween and very much enjoy many aspects of it as a cultural and seasonal celebration separate from the Church, it has become unfortunate that some things associated with the holiday must be avoided if we wish to celebrate with a clean conscience.
How did Halloween come to be as dark and sinister as it appears in our days? It's all quite simple really if one looks at the history honestly and carefully. Halloween has its origins in the Christian Church. The mythology that Halloween has its origins in pagan times prior to Christianity arose in the 19th century among Celtic scholars who had their own personal agendas in falsifying history. The demonization of the holiday began among Christians, especially in the 1960's as part of the counter-cultural movement in the United States. This demonization was based on the falsified history advocated by 19th century Celtic historians. However, since Neo-Paganism was on the rise in the 1960's, Pagans and New Agers took advantage of this falsified history by claiming Christians took the notion of All Hallow's Eve from the ancient Celts, whom they falsely claim an association with. This started an ideological war between the two factions ever since, and both were based on false ideas and information. The absurdity of the Christian arguments soon gave way to the secular overtaking of the holiday. And since Christians wanted nothing to do with Halloween, the Neo-Pagans were more than happy to come in and reap all the benefits.
Where does this leave us as Christians? Well, thankfully there are still many aspects to Halloween that leave us room to have enough fun and enjoyment without being a burden to our Christian conscience. Yet, there are still things we must avoid. And this should not alarm us nor should it cause extreme reactions, since Christians are called to weed things out in their daily lives in a secular environment. This is no different other than it is in a different context.
I cannot speak for every individuals conscience in presenting my own personal list of ten things I do not do on Halloween. But I offer this as a guide for those who are caught up in the confusion of the season.
This is my personal list of "Ten Things I Won't Do On Halloween", in no particular order:
1. I will not wear an unseemly costume.
I am not against Christians wearing costumes, but sometimes things can go overboard and we need to keep this in mind when choosing our costumes. For example, the Orthodox Church has specific canons that will not allow a man to wear women's clothing nor a woman men's clothing. This is rooted in Scripture. So no "sweet transvestites from Transylvania", for those who can catch the cultural reference. I would also avoid evil personifications of real figures, such as demons or serial killers, though I personally have no problem with fictional characters or even monsters. Deities or religious figures is something I would avoid too, as well as overly sexual provocative outfits.
2. I will not participate in Occult activity.
This includes such things as going to a psychic, a seance, or anything rooted in the New Age Movement or Neo-Paganism. It also includes paranormal games, such as playing with a Ouija board, which can cause much spiritual harm. I personally enjoy haunted houses and ghost tours, but sometimes occultic activity is implemented playfully; I will not participate in this either and will keep silent or stand back. If I find it overly offensive against my personal beliefs, I will mention it to the operators, though this all is very rare. I also am interested in visiting and investigating real haunted locations, but we should not invite communication with spirits of any kind as one often sees among paranormal investigators.
3. I will not attend a party that invites temptations.
Though I don't consider myself much of a party person, over the years I have been invited to a few parties on Halloween. And like many parties, temptations could be involved either with drugs, alcohol, sex, paranormal games, etc. I personally don't like those types of atmospheres, so I avoid them.
4. I will not subscribe to common Secular or Neo-Pagan beliefs promoted on Halloween.
The beliefs I have most in mind here concern spiritual matters regarding ghosts and energies and death. The occult deals with the manipulation of energy in the universe to bring about positivity in one's life, though it can also be used for evil. The New Age mentality also, for the most part, considers ghosts to be the souls of dead people who have not been able to pass on to the next realm of existence and practices are used to communicate with them or help them get to "the other side". These are beliefs that run in contradiction to Christian beliefs and should not be subscribed to. The manipulation of energies is in fact demonic activity, while ghosts are often demons who may be masquerading as innocent victims to establish their presence in our lives. This is often encountered today on paranormal TV shows, movies and ghost tours. Though I enjoy all three for different reasons, I will not subscribe to their beliefs.
5. I will not participate in pranks, vandalism or wild behavior.
Being in my 30's, I am way past this type of behavior, but when I was younger I participated in some minor mischievous behavior. However, it was all in fun and between my friends and I. Some however go a bit too far and start throwing eggs at moving cars and house windows, toilet papering the houses of enemies (also called TP'ing), spraying whip cream and foam string on cars which leave permanent damage, vandalizing graveyards, etc. This and similar such things I would not participate in and I plead others do the same as well. (If you happen to be a victim, here are a few tips to get you through on November 1st.)
6. I will not become fascinated with the dark side.
Interest in the macabre and the grotesque is a part of some people's nature. I would include myself in that category, so I understand where such people come from. However, people could bring it to a whole other level when they enter into total fascination with such things. I admit that I appreciate the beauty, art and history of such things, but it does not form who I am or fog my opinion or thinking so as to call good evil or evil good. Everything must be approached with moderation, and we must also realize that such allurements have their temptations as well.
7. I will not paganize Halloween.
Halloween is not a pagan holiday. Such notions are only born out of ignorance. It is a cultural and seasonal holiday that can be celebrated either for good or for evil, whatever one chooses. We are not bound by any ritual of the day that inevitably forces us to paganize it, nor does everything about it have to contradict our moral and spiritual principles. I would even consider it less confusing than Thanksgiving, which basically encourages us to break our Nativity Fast with a lot of non-fasting foods. There are some Christians who give up amidst the confusion and just hand the day over to the Devil. I am not that type of person if I don't have to be. With knowledge comes much freedom, and research into the deeper meaning of the holiday and all its aspects is a very liberating task.
8. I will not Christianize the holiday.
Halloween was originally a Christian holiday dating before the Great Schism, but for Orthodox Christians it is no longer the case. Our days dedicated to the dead come weekly, when every Saturday is dedicated to our loved ones who have passed on and we pray for them, as well certain special Saturdays throughout the Christian year. Also, our All Saints Day is celebrated the Sunday after Pentecost, which usually is celebrated in the Spring. Therefore, as I said above, we ought to keep Halloween, if we choose to keep it, as a cultural and seasonal holiday that has spiritual aspects in so much as they are natural and inspired of God, since in the autumn death permeates the atmosphere giving us much to contemplate about. For a Christian, such an atmosphere can aid in one's contemplation of death, for example, which is encouraged by the Church Fathers as an aid in one's spiritual life, as well help one to contemplate fallen creation and human nature which awaits future glory. My pet peeve however is when I hear Orthodox people bringing in a Christianized version of the holiday to replace the seasonal and cultural, thinking instead they are replacing it with the occultic aspects of the holiday. This to me shows a level of fear and vulnerability brought about by ignorance and possibly even lack of faith. I also don't like ideas using Halloween as an Orthodox enculturation tool to have children light candles before icons prior to being awarded with a piece of candy or any other such innovation. To me, it is not the proper response to the festivities.
9. I will not participate in any blasphemy on Halloween.
Blasphemy against God, the Church and the sacred is among the worst of sins and I will not take part in anything that encourages such things. Because of certain aspects of Halloween being paganized and secularized, and thanks to the ignorance of Christians who come out fully swinging against the holiday, it should not surprise us that the holy will be blasphemed. Last year on Halloween I saw a street preacher in Salem being harassed for preaching against the "evil's" of Halloween, but this invited only blasphemy from certain jokesters in the crowd who were willing at least to listen. It basically was not the proper atmosphere nor the right approach. There are many ways this can take form on Halloween, just like it can on Christmas or Easter, so great care should be taken to not be a part of it.
10. I will not judge those who participate in Halloween to either a greater or lesser extent than I do.
Though I do have a gripe with extremists who I believe undermine Christianity, I do not have any problem with those who choose to either abstain from the celebrations or take it in head deep. Though Orthodox Christians should watch out to a certain extent for their brethren, for we are each other's keepers, we should be much more lenient towards non-Orthodox who are not bound by the same responsibilities we have as being guardians of the truth of the gospel of Christ. Our kindness and Christian representation should always show forth in a secular environment so that we do not undermine the hope that lies within us.
A pleasant Halloween to all!
Hello,
ReplyDeleteI appreciate your comments and point of view, but it seems to me from all of your exceptions, it is reasonably clear that Halloween is not something Orthodox Christians should participate in. If you step back and consider all of your exceptions, it is obvious that you are celebrating Halloween differently than 99.9% of the rest of society, the members of which DO dress in questionable costumes, become obsessed with the macabre through scary movies, etc., attend wild parties, and participate in behavior that is generally inconsistent with our calling as human beings made in the Image and according to the Likeness of God.
You've spent much time defending Halloween for undoubtedly personal reasons on this blog, but this post tells me that you are bending over backwards many times over to make Halloween something that it simply is not.
May God help us all and grant us wisdom to do what is right.
It takes no effort at all actually, because most people do not participate in Halloween in extreme levels. It is actually very easy to avoid the things I listed. I enjoy my Halloweens very much, and will tonight as well as tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteThanks for providing some pretty general and basic guidelines on how to approach Halloween. Although I am still confused as to what your motives are (as the first commentator similarly expressed), for you have spent so much time on a topic of very low genuine Orthodox spiritual signifigance. The topic of Halloween is purely secular, and I'm not sure if focusing on it so much is healthy or not. I can understand a post or two, but from following your blog I have encountered many, several articles that either in-directly or directly touch upon Halloween. Satanic panics, Vampirism, Pagan Origins, Are You Afraid...and so forth. I mean how many times does this topic need to be revized again on a blog? Are we maybe getting a little sidetracked here from more important things that we could be focusing on insteed? What's the purpose of over emphasizing again and again on something which is so foreign to Orthodoxy, especially since you're not trying to defend anything? You have expressed a massive amount of zeal on this topic that it almost seems illogical and paradoxical to say that your articles are not a defence or an emancipation of some sort towards this wordly holiday. Perhaps even an unintentional defence, without you even realizing it, I don't know. I'm still pretty confused as to why you devote so much time on all this. Thank you, God Bless!
ReplyDeleteJohn, This and your former post are the best Orthodox pieces on Halloween I've ever read. You've articulated what I've suspected. Thanks!
ReplyDelete(BTW, I just found out you were classmates with my best friend, Allan Gabriel Boyd at HC.)
Mark, have you read what other Orthodox sites write about Halloween? Most people I know are interested in these subjects. Ive received dozens upon dozens of emails from Orthodox thanking me for writing the truth about these subjects and liberating them from them from their forced ignorance on the subject by those propagating falsehood. Some people live in their own world and arent interested, which is fine with me. Im not trying to bring anyone into my world, nor do I expect people to bring me into theirs unless I find it compelling enough. This is not purely an Orthodox blog that addresses spiritual matters. It addresses politics, apologetics, science, history, philosophy, cults, the occult, pop culture, etc etc. I hope you dont have me confused for a priest or a hesychast - I am far from being either. Im just a typical dude on the street working an every day mundane job. If what you are interested in is someone who addresses things only that are conformable to your taste, then there are a few other good blogs out there where you can get that information. I only post whatever interests me, whether people like it or not. Enough said.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Mark and pkpavlos.
ReplyDeleteHowever, you provide so much OTHER good stuff, it makes it easy to overlook this. :)
God bless and thanks for your blog!
Thanks fro the great article and the previous ones on the subject. I posted it on my facebook page and it generated some good conversation.
ReplyDeleteHere is a link from a blogger writing about a similar topic.
http://www.internetmonk.com/archive/13136
Good article. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteIf I were to have qualms about it, it would be on the basis of 1 Cor 8:9 and following verses: "Beware lest somehow this liberty of yours become a stumbling block to those who are weak." But I honestly don't see that as a big problem in this topic area or among your readership.
Though there are aspects of 1 Cor. 8 that can apply to all this in a minor way, the consequences spoken of in 1 Cor. 8:9 deal with mistakenly encouraging others towards the acceptance of eating food sacrificed to idols. But Halloween is not based in paganism, nor idol worship, nor the demonic, nor are its most elementary traditions.
ReplyDeleteI have never taken that passage to be primarily about the particular case of food sacrificed to pagan idols two millenia ago, but to be primarily about our freedom in Christ and how we may hamper others spiritually by visibly dispensing with outward forms that in themselves are indifferent but which weaker brethren rely upon for navigation and strength.
ReplyDeleteI don't think it is about our freedom in Christ necessarily, but the freedom of knowledge and how it is implemented. The primary moral is about people who use knowledge arrogantly and without love. It is also an admonition of not being the cause of another's fall by tempting them with that which they have abandoned for the sake of the Gospel. So in this case, people who left idolatry for the Gospel may confuse people who eat sacrificed meats to think that idolatry is ok and conformable with the Gospel. Thus it is important that our knowledge be governed by love instead of arrogance lest we tempt our brethren to compromise the Gospel by worshipping their former gods.
ReplyDeleteAnd this is precisely why I advocate people following their own Christian conscience without judging the behavior of one another.
Can one celebrate John Sanidopolous version of Halloween and pray? As for as I know anything that pulls us away from prayer is a sin. We are called to pray unceasingly. Can Orthodoxy be reconciled with a holiday that requires costumes, imagination and fantasies? No because the fathers of the church have strictly warned against the use of imaginations. Also, we have so many religious holidays throughout the year no orthodox christian in thier right mind should add an atheistic/humanistic one and think its compatible with being a true Orthodox Christian.
ReplyDeleteJohn S. ten points on how to celebrate halloween is pointless. Even though he makes good points and seems to take out the overt demonic/religious element out of the holiday, it still does nothing but give a lax minded christian to justify their sin.
He starts every one of his ten point creed with “I”. AHHH the demonic “I” that deludes us into thinking that we are better than everyone else, and that we will not succumb to the demons. – Peter answered and said to him, “Though all men shall be offended because of you, yet will I never be offended.” (Matt. xxvi.) If the glorious rock the Apostle Peter was able to deny and curse our Lord 3 times, how much more are we? Especially when every single person who celebrates halloween is doing so in a demonic form or another? Where the candy we buy has demonic pictures, and the peoples doors we knock on are covered with demonic paraphernalia and those answering the doors are wearing demonic clothing. And people use demonic terms as greetings to one another such as Trick or Treat.
I’m not a good person and i am struggling to be even called a christian. But i know fact from fiction on this topic, thanks to the fathers and to many holy spiritual fathers of our days. This essay is a pathetic (i believe demonic) attempt by John S. to defend his ego and sin. He was harshly criticized last year for his posting, and instead of humbly admitting his error he continues. “They neither, know the truth, nor endure to learn it, striving against those who tell them the truth, and strengthening themselves in their heresy.” – St Basil
Talk about an irrational fear of the demonic.
ReplyDeleteCan one post comments on internet blogs and pray? I am absolutely certain that more prayer time is lost to the internet than to Halloween.
ReplyDeleteHow can an Orthodox Christian claim humility in one sentence--'I'm not a good person and i am struggling to be even called a christian'--and accuse another Orthodox Christian of being engaged in a 'demonic attempt...to defend his ego and sin' two sentences later?
Bravo, John, for posting all of this stuff and enduring the attacks of the ignorant and hypocritical amongst us.
To Roomini: There are no brownie points in heaven for pointing out other people's faults nor is one's candle brightened by pushing down another's. On the contrary, to put away another's sin is said to be a greater thing than raising someone from the dead. There is a tendency among some of us to wish to withdraw from the fray into pietistic ghettos as a judgment against the world. Our jobs are not to judge the world but to bear witness to it as a city set on a hill. Compassion is the greater power than fear. Does the angel of the Annunciation rebuke Mary when saying, "Fear not"? I do not think so. Fear is not to be rebuked but we offer strengthening and solace to those who fear, including ourselves. Yet, if fear of speaking ill was the sole motivator, should we not say nothing rather than rebuking others? Are you the confessor to know these are lax? Is the joy and prosperity we wish upon a marrying couple an invitation to sloth and an abandonment of all that is good, namely ascetic mourning for even the Gifts of God? I think not. I think gratitude is essential to the Christian response. You are all over the place. The possibility for sin is hardly in question yet you tie the Confession of Peter by the power of the Holy Spirit and Peter's denial to Halloween? One might suspect you are just throwing up passages of Scripture as a kind of dust in the faces of your enemies. In another context, that could be seen as a kind of prooftexting that is a method of some Protestant churches to avoid spiritual adulthood by collecting a recipe of rebukes for every occasion. To so use Holy Scripture as a cookbook for magic spells to defend oneself is unOrthodox. Presumption is inevitable when one says Sanidopoulos was rebuked before and yet was apparently too thick to realize how entirely rhetorically devastated he was. It is not our job to devastate others, in seeming or in truth.
ReplyDelete