Witches and Will o’ the Wisps
Hallowe’en and All That
![[A witches hat]](witches1.jpg)
Photo: pro.corbis.com
Now that the air, once thick with flying eggs, has cleared, the sugar addicts are sated, and Woollies has made its yearly killing selling broomsticks which you couldn’t pay a child to touch at any other time, perhaps a pause for thought is in order. Christian ethics, so often a clash between the believer’s freedom (nebulous term) and the call to be separate (not separated), pokes its nose in everywhere. And rightly so. We as Christians can afford to be thoughtless less than anyone; our choices are often powerful public things, and can amount to a mound of evidence or a pile of chaff. So it is here. We can choose whether or not we celebrate with the world, and our choice matters, not least to God. Halloween then; what do we make of it?
The Fact/Fiction Friction
Historian that I am, I cannot resist starting at the beginning. Where did we get all these, frankly odd, traditions from? There is a large amount of unsubstantiated rumour about the history of Halloween which would scare the pants off any self-respecting parent — jack o’ lantern candles made from human tallow and slave bonfires being two of the less foul examples. But we must resist the temptation to turn to sensationalism and scare-mongering when dealing with such things, for it will cut no ice whatsoever with anyone who has their head screwed on the right way, Christian or no. We will base our discussion on what is commonly agreed upon and reasonably well substantiated. The first known celebration on the 31st of October or the 1st of November which is accepted as the beginnings of Halloween was the Celtic sabbat of Samhain. For druidic and pagan tradition, this was the New Year, a time when the border between spiritual and physical realms blurred, and the dead stirred. There appear to have been traditions involving costume to frighten away demons or ghosts. That there was a pagan festival involving the spirit world at the end of October, at least, is undisputed. Beyond that, and we descend into speculation.
Even the sceptics agree that, somewhere around the fifth century, the church, despairing of yet another inextinguishable popular celebration, attempted to put the inevitable Christian gloss on Samhain and the honouring of Roman deities in the subsequent period. They must have been a bit low on the varnish around then, you might say. But by 834AD, the festivities around the 31st October had become recognisable as Hallowe’en. Or, to give it it’s proper name, All Hallows’ Eve, the night before All Saints’ and All Souls, the holy day to all of the saints and all of the dead. It is here that the origins of our modern trick or treating appear. On All Hallows’ Eve, children would knock on doors, asking for ‘soul cakes’, and in return would say prayers for the family’s dead relatives. Which is strange, because there is nothing relative about being dead. Witticism’s aside, if we are saved by faith in Jesus’ atoning sacrifice alone and not by our own works, then once we die, praying for us is either ineffective or irrelevant. Ineffective if we are in hell, irrelevant if we are in heaven. But on with our main theme. What can be concluded is that Halloween is based on a pagan festival, and the Christian festival that replaced it was neither successful in erasing pagan elements from it, nor, sad to say, very biblical itself.
A Very Postmodern Holiday
After all, Halloween is what you make of it, was the conclusion of one Christian article I read not too long ago1. Let’s spend a little time seeing what people do make of it.
Many just take it as a good excuse for a party, and why not? They are happy to let their children dress up to enjoy themselves, and go out into the neighbourhood they have elected to live in and engage in some friendly contact with the locals. Others supply their children with a van-load of ammunition should aforementioned locals fail to comply with Operation: Sweet Me. Some have taught their children to acquire their own ammunition. The Scrooge in me says that a man should have the right not to have his house egged if he decides not to spend the £10 protection money required to keep the local kiddies in tooth rot for the next month. Perhaps it would be insensitive of me to mention that that amount could keep children in other countries alive for a month. It is not just Christians or those of no particular religion who make something of Halloween, however. I do not stretch the boundaries of reality when I say that both Satanists and Neo-pagans, specifically Wiccans, attach special importance to Halloween, or Samhain. As to Satanists, all that can be established with any certainty is that they celebrate Halloween, and that they worship Satan. And that, you might say, is enough. But for modern witches, adherents of the naturalistic religion known as Wicca, more is known. Halloween is still the ‘most coveted sabbat’, a special point in the reincarnation cycle, a time when the ‘Old God’ of the year dies, and the ‘Crone Goddess’ mourns him. A time when they tap into the powers of nature (they don’t believe in the Devil), and those with necromantic powers commune with the dead2. Those of you who know me will know that I am not the type who goes around seeing Satan sitting on every sinner’s shoulder (I’d have a sore shoulder myself), but one wonders what forces are being drawn upon if these experiences are indeed real, and there is plenty of testimony around that they are. In the words of C.S. Lewis, they may find that they have called upon Tash without believing in him, and that Tash has come. Like it or not, if we choose to celebrate Halloween (and it is a choice), we celebrate it with Satanists and Wiccans, even if we don’t agree with them. To borrow a postmodernism; this is my Halloween, tell me yours.
![[A pumpkin lantern]](witches2.jpg)
Photo: pro.corbis.com
Christian Wranglings
All this of course, will not do. Man, rational and clear-thinking scientist that he is, has far too often fallen straight into one of the Devil’s greatest lies — that he doesn’t exist. He has become the Bogeyman, a childish fantasy with no real power, an attitude reflected precisely in our Halloween costumes. Interestingly, it is from the very images of Druidic hunters and Greco-Roman satyr gods that relate to Halloween that our horned, hoofed, goattailed Bogeyman was constructed. And Christians do not appear, as yet, to have agreed on Halloween either. One side damns the whole business as Satanic from apex to base, and throws in Charmed and Harry Potter for good measure, and another holds that ‘the opportunities for celebrating Halloween in God-pleasing ways are limitless’. What is the reasonable biblical man or woman to make of all this? Whether these traditions are pagan or Christian is in one sense irrelevant, for we are to put it all to the same test. Is it scriptural, and is it helpful?
The Bible condemns, in the strongest terms, any association with witchcraft and communicating with the dead (see Deut 18:9–12, 2Chron 33:5–7, Is 8v19, Gal 5:19–21). The root of it is that witchcraft is the worship of and the putting of trust in something other than God; in other words, idolatry. Do we want to participate in or be associated with a festival that no longer has any overt worship of God involved in it, yet is still utilised by some for the worship of powers that are certainly not God? What is the point? The Bible commands no celebration of this day. In fact, it commands no celebrations at all, except of the Lord’s Supper and the Lord’s Day. But for those of you who see the Christian’s freedom in Christ disappearing under a deluge of didactic statements and reactionism, fear not. Chappie at the back who keeps yelling ‘to the pure all things are pure’, keep your hair on. That the Bible does not command something does not mean we are not permitted to do it, of course. If this was the case, I’d be a pretty hungry boy by now, for the Bible doesn’t specifically command us to eat every day — it’s obvious that we should, it’s how we function. Speaking of eating, Paul speaks of eating meat sacrificed to idols in 1 Corinthians 10:23–33.
In this passage he looks at the believer’s freedom, with the specific example of partaking of something involved in pagan ritual, much as we are doing. And his concern is not to justify the eating of the meat sacrificed to idols (though he says that the meat in itself is not wrong), rather to point out the responsibility the believer has in exercising his freedom. And here is the crux of the matter. The believer’s freedom was given precisely so that we might learn to choose wisely.
We have perfect freedom to walk along the edge of a cliff. “Everything is permissible,” say the Corinthians. “But not everything is beneficial,” replies Paul. And not just to our own safety, for Paul’s concern is for the safety of others also. The exercising of our freedom is tempered by two things; the understanding of what we are partaking of, and the effect that partaking has on others. If we disobey our conscience in celebrating Halloween, that is not right. If we cause other Christians to stumble, that is not right. And if others see us knowingly involved in a festival (which is not wrong in itself) celebrated by paganism (which is wrong in itself), then that is not right (v28). 1 Corinthians 8 :12, 13 are unequivocal on this. And so we have come full circle, back to the conclusion that the Christian’s choice is a powerful thing.
Tricks, Treats and Tracts
Maybe, after all this discussion, we should flip the question over. Not, ‘why shouldn’t we participate in Halloween?’, but rather, ‘Why on earth should we?’. What do we have to celebrate on this day that we can’t celebrate on any other? And, given the connotations, past and present, of this day, perhaps we would be better off picking another. On the other hand, these questions will not stop trick or treaters pressing the bell, or stop your child asking why they can’t go to their friend’s party. And when else do you have a bunch of non-Christians knocking on your door? Or when else will they so willingly open the door to you and your children? To give out a tract with those sweets is the work of seconds. And yet, to say that we do not intend to glorify witchcraft or cause our brothers to stumble is just not a good enough answer in the final analysis, especially if those are indeed the results. We all know what they say about good intentions. Laying down our individual rights is not what today’s society teaches us to do. But doing so to seek the good of others is to follow the greatest example. If you ask me (and I know you didn’t), participation in Halloween is a choice within the believer’s freedom, but a choice with only one logical option. Fortunately, there’s someone wiser than me, who has wisdom for the asking (James 1:5), wisdom to make godly choices. Ask away.