Halloween: Is it time for a change?

Halloween: Is it time for a change?
Copyright Elizabeth R. Mitchell, MSW, LCSW

Death and Satan?

Halloween, when I was a child, was a time of excitement with home-made costumes, goodies handed out by smiling neighbors and a chance to stay up just a little bit later than usual. I didn't equate my innocent fun with death, evil or satanic rituals. Those were the "Leave it to Beaver" days. Today, however, Halloween seems to have taken a turn for the worse. Perhaps the holiday is more deeply rooted in death, dark spirituality and evil intent that we believed. Or perhaps the ghosts and goblins are playing games with my middle-aged mind.

According to About.com's Guide to Paganism, "Pagans celebrate a slightly different holiday, known as Samhain, but we like to dress up as much as the next guy." After reading this article, the harvest celebration, stressing that death is a natural process and is necessary for beginnings, does not seem to be a time of evil, but a celebration of the fruits of a year's work.

But, there is more to learn. A recent article on About.com sheds a little lantern-glow on the fearful side of Samhain. "Modern Halloween traditions involving the dark, the macabre and the occult may be directly related to many early beliefs and traditions surrounding the Samhain festival. It was widely believed that the door between the mundane world and the spiritual world opened that night, so that faeries, ghosts and other spiritual entities walked the earth freely. Masks may have been worn, turnip-lanterns carried, and huge fires lit by villagers in attempt to scare away these spiritual entities. It was also a time when, because of the thinning of the veil between the two worlds, the accuracy of various divinatory practices was believed to be heightened, and prophecy and fortune telling were very popular pastimes."

Could it be that evil became associated with these pagan rituals in order to snuff out the pagan practices and replace them with Christian rituals? Or, was there some truth to people's fears? About.com's Christianity Guide points out the darker side of Halloween's Celtic roots. "But as to the deeper meaning? Originally a Celtic festival marking the end of fall and the beginning of winter, the Celts called it the Death of the Year, it was originally a time when the ghosts of the dead came back to haunt the living. Specially targeted for terror were the living who had not given proper remembrance to their dead. Halloween was the night when the spirits of the neglected dead took vengeance on their ungrateful and unworthy descendants. These departed spirits returned with a vengeance; they rampaged through the land in the form of bats and owls, ghosts and goblins, not always too careful where their destruction fell."

According to a great summary article by Jerry Wilson, "Although some cults and devil worshippers have adopted Halloween as their favorite 'holiday,' the day itself did not grow out of evil practices. It grew out of the rituals of Celts celebrating a new year, and out of Medieval prayer rituals of Europeans. And today, even many churches have Halloween parties or pumpkin carving events for the kids. After all, the day itself is only as evil as one cares to make it."

But why, then is there so much fear and negativity associated with Halloween? Is this a sign of the times, a symptom of a society gone wrong or just a signal that we need to take a hard look at this once fun-filled holiday?

Fun or Fear?

The media portrays both the wholesome fun-filled side of Halloween and the fearful scary side. Families wish only the best for their children with creative pumpkin-carving evenings and a safe venture outside to gather treats on Halloween night.

So why are there so many tales of razor blades in apples, poison in candy and little children screaming in horror as almost grown trick or treaters turn up at the door in violent macabre costumes demanding candy. How is it that our neighbor's doors are "egged" and tires slashed? Why now must we add reflective tape to our children's costumes to keep them from being run over by a car? Why do we caution them, "don't go to anyone's house that you don't know." Why does a mother drive her children clear across town to trick-or-treat knowing that children in her own neighborhood may find illicit drugs in their Halloween treats?

To keep the fun in Halloween many communities have sponsored safe celebrations. The Los Angeles, California Fire Department in their article about Halloween safety, has the following ideas:

Ask around your community and check your local newspaper for information on special events.
Community Centers, Shopping Malls and Houses of Worship often have organized festivities.
Share the fun by arranging a visit to a Retirement Home or Senior Center.
Create an alliance with College Fraternities, Sororities or Service Clubs for children's face painting or a carnival.

It appears that our communities have developed the perspective that, "safety lies with numbers." I remember that the San Francisco Fire Department (conveniently located up the street from me) was one place that I stopped on my trick-or-treating rounds after I got the popcorn balls from my neighbor across the street and the cookies from Mrs. Smith down the street. The Firemen often had cookies too, but not lectures on safety. I also remembered that parents lined the streets talking easily with each other and keeping an eye on us, reminding us to be home by bed-time. "The Dark Side of the Net" has the most extensive list of safety links imaginable. After reading these, parents may never want their children or pets to leave the house!

And so the family decides to stay home. Should they decide to watch a movie or a television show, there are cautions there as well. Apparently "Charlie Brown" is not the typical fare for Halloween movies. More typical is ... "little Michael Meyers brutally slaughtered his sister in cold blood," an exerpt from a movie website.

A CBN.com article on the Christian perspective of Halloween lists alternatives for Christians. They suggest "All Saints Days parties," or "Harvest Parties," and go on to explain, "Have children (and maybe adults too) dress up as biblical characters and/or figures from Christian history. Or find some other positive theme. Some Christians plan a "Fools for Christ" party (see I Corinthians 4:10). This involves costumes and craziness, but none of the traditional symbols of death and witchcraft. Whatever you choose, avoid the usual Halloween symbols in decorations and activities. The way to "celebrate the dead" is by honoring God's saints, already in heaven, part of the body of Christ of which the living saints are a part."

Yes, there are ways to spend Halloween and avoid the fear, but should we have to? Is there not a problem with a society that drives families into their homes and churches on an evening meant for wholesome fun and a celebration of a fruitful harvest? Certainly a short-sighted view is that we can take precautions for our safety, but what shall we do in the long run to improve our society and take a hard look at our culture of violence.

Safety

Halloween safety lists began to emerge in the 1960s after rumors of candy laced with drugs gained national attention. By the 70s, the press was reporting more and more Halloween incidents, such as older children attacking younger children to steal their candy, or children finding razor blades or broken pieces of glass in their treats. The Internet abounds with lists of safety tips. There is even a website "The Dark Side of the Net" with the most extensive list of safety links ever seen!

Most of the safety tips include wearing reflective tape so that cars do not hit the little ones, checking children's treats before allowing them to eat any and keeping your pets inside.

But what about the psychological effects of Halloween? Since we do not have a celebration deemed safe for children and costumes are now running the gamut from axe murderers to realistic skeletons, how do we help children through this time?

Consider the child's developmental age. Very young children cannot tell that the ugly masked face is really their older brother, even when big brother takes the mask off in front of them. Children under 5 cannot tell fantasy from reality.
Consider if your child can easily separate fantasy from reality. If the child has nightmares this might not be the time to expose them to a hearty dose of Halloween chills.
Desensitize children. Allow them to see masks and costumes during the weeks before Halloween, let them try them on, put a little face paint on children as young as 2 so they can see how different they look.
Don't force your child into situations where they are uncomfortable and scared. If need be, take them home.
Talk to children of all ages. Discussions of death do not come easily in our culture. Let children know that Halloween is a fantasy and not a realistic portrayal of death. Now is also a good time to let them express their fears, to talk them through.
By pre-teen years, peer support and pressure kick in. Your healthy child will probably tackle his/her fears by planning to go to the Haunted House together with friends, screaming wildly and talking about it for days to come.
Be sensitive to a child's psychological state. Children that have just gone through a traumatic event such as the divorce of their parents, may be shaken emotionally, and need the stability of a warm supportive environment. This may be the year to take them to your Church Harvest Festival and leave the more frightening experiences for another time.

These hints will help you keep a child safe from being hit by a car, and get them through the night without unnecessary trauma. These are all short-term fixes to what might be a larger societal problem. What will our future look like? Is there something we should do to change Halloween?

The Future of Halloween

Given that Halloween has a history of being a Harvest Festival, that Halloween is now an event requiring considerable preventive preparation and that Halloween has the potential for traumatizing young children, why do we persist in making each celebration more horrifying than the next? What is it in our makeup that leads us to want to be frightened?

Why also do we allow our neighborhoods and streets to be dangerous? Why do we need to check our children's candy for drugs, needles and razor blades?

Isn't it time to say STOP? Isn't it time to take a few steps back and look at how we can restore the fun to Halloween?

Ideas that have been tried and can thrive with our support are:

Turning Halloween into a time to solicit for charity. The neighbor's doors are answered on Halloween night. What a marvelous time for a fund-raiser. What a good way to teach children the benefits of philanthropy.
Focus on the harvest festival aspect of the holiday and downplay the terror. It can begin with just one or two families and spread throughout a neighborhood. Be creative, carve the pumpkins and make costumes at home to fit the theme.
Gather where you feel good. Whether that be a neighbor's home sipping spiced cider or a church celebration, go there and join in.
Take a moment to consider what our violent society is doing to children from an early age on...and take a stand to prohibit violent movies in your home. Don't desensitize your children to violence. It IS something to be prevented.
Teach your family that there is fun in nonviolent celebrations.
Teach your family to live for PEACE.

Perhaps the ghosts and goblins are playing tricks on my middle-aged mind. Perhaps I yearn too strongly for the days of yesteryear when I won a neighborhood Halloween costume contest dressed in an "Indian Ghost" costume that my mother fashioned from an old sheet and a big white feather. I didn't scare anyone, but I had the time of my life! Is it too much to ask that my grandchildren have the same opportunity?

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