All across the globe, children and adults alike have been preparing themselves for today’s celebration known as Halloween. Americans alone buy nearly 600 million pounds of candy each year in anticipation of this one night. Costumes have been bought, made or pieced together and houses are draped with spider webs and jack-o-lanterns while yards are littered with everything spooky from ghosts and witches to huge inflatable dragons with glowing eyes.

Is this holiday really just all about scary decorations and kids getting overdosed on sugar, or is there a deeper meaning behind all of these things? Is there truly innocence in dressing up and knocking on people’s doors in hopes that you receive something sweet? What if all of this actually started with something so far from innocence that our founding fathers actually forbade the celebration of Halloween?

Growing up, my family never celebrated Halloween. I didn’t have a problem with that and gladly skipped over it as I eagerly anticipated all the fun of Thanksgiving and Christmas that soon followed. As I got older and stopped just relying simply on what my parents told me, I began to do my own research on the origin of Halloween and how I would explain to my own children why we don’t celebrate on this day despite its popularity. What I found only served to deepen my resolve that we would have nothing to do with it.

The roots of Halloween go back beyond 2000 years, to a Celtic culture living throughout Ireland, France and the United Kingdom. It was a celebration called “Samhain” back then, and more or less it was a pagan festival honoring the dead and involved large sacrifices of animals and crops. People believed that during this festival, the world of the gods was able to be seen with the human eye. It was also believed that spirits from the “otherworld” and ghosts of the deceased returned to the earth at this time. The sacrifices were made to appease deities and were burned in bonfires to seek protection from evil beings, and offerings were left out for mischievous spirits that might be visiting.

Samhain is celebrated today by witches, Wiccans, druids and many other modern pagans around the world. It is a time filled with rituals, ceremonies, divination and seances all with the intent of reaching out to those who are dead, or to reach out to spirits on their behalf. Most of our traditional Halloween customs originate from Samhain and the beliefs surrounding it. Here are a few examples:

1. Carving a jack-o-lantern and putting it on your porch with a candle in it may seem innocent enough, but it actually comes from the tradition of carving scary faces into turnips or potatoes and leaving them on porches to scare away evil spirits.
2. It was believed that ghosts would be encountered if you left your home during Samhain. In order to keep from being recognized, people would wear masks and other costumes for protection.
3. The first trick-or-treaters were actually poor children going from door to door during the Samhain festival asking for food or money in exchange for praying for the souls of the neighbor’s deceased loved ones. It was a tradition called “souling” and the children were known as “soulers”. Candy wasn’t originally a part of this tradition, but in the 19th century, a round pastry began to be handed out to the little beggars and soon became known as “soul cakes”.

These are the origins of just a few of the many traditions that are a part of Halloween today. As you can see, the central theme of all of it is death. Death is not something to be celebrated or to be made light of. It is the punishment for sin. Romans 6:23 says, “the wages of sin is death…” Why would we turn such a horrible reality into some sort of fun holiday? As a Christian, I believe that the only death worth celebrating is the sacrifice made on our behalf – Jesus Christ, whose death and resurrection made it possible for us to have the gift of eternal life.

This is why we as a family have chosen to stand apart from most on this day. We celebrate a risen Savior, not some wandering dead spirit that we have to be afraid of. Instead, we choose to celebrate a different occurrence in history that just so happens to be on this same day.

On October 31st, 1517, Martin Luther nailed the 95 Theses to the door of the church in Wittenberg Germany. This act began what is known as the Protestant Reformation. Luther taught that salvation came through faith in the gift of God’s forgiveness and was not something to be earned by good works. He said, “I admit that I deserve death and hell. What of it? For I know One who suffered and made satisfaction on my behalf. His name is Jesus Christ, Son of God, and where He is there I shall be also!” Thank you, Jesus! We don’t have to earn our way to heaven, rather, we can have a personal relationship with the only One who can give us audience with the King of Kings. The One who died in our place is right now preparing a home for us in heaven where one day we will live forever with Him!

I admittedly have a hard time reconciling the involvement that many Christians choose to have with the celebration of Halloween. I realize that many of them just choose to take part so that their children can have fun dressing up and getting candy. The church has adopted the tradition of making their annual trunk-or-treat an outreach for the community where they can talk to people who may not otherwise have anything to do with the church. In searching for wisdom on this, I can only look to the Bible for answers.

Philippians 4:8 says, “Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.” What part of this holiday is praiseworthy? What part of these origins that I mentioned are pure or noble?

Ephesians 5:11 says, “And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them.”  It also states in Deuteronomy and Leviticus that we are to have nothing to do with witchcraft and sorcery. God calls these things an abomination. These are the very building blocks of Samhain and therefore of Halloween.

As I think about what dwells below the surface of today’s celebration, I again turn to Scripture to be my guide. 2 Corinthians 6:17 says, “Come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you.” Our family may be among the minority in choosing to not celebrate Halloween with the rest of the world, but I willingly choose to stand apart for what I believe, and to celebrate my salvation by grace through faith in the wonderful gift of God’s sacrifice.

• Sola Scriptura – Scripture Alone
• Sola Christus – Christ Alone
• Sola gratia – Grace Alone
• Sola fide – Faith Alone
• Sola Deo gloria – Glory to God Only