Why I Never Went Trick-or-Treating as a Child

Last updated on: October 29, 2014 at 8:32 am by Libby Anne

Why I Never Went Trick-or-Treating as a Child 2014-10-29T08:32:11-04:00 Libby Anne

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Paul S. Taylor of Answers in Genesis is worried.

While I would argue that Halloween has always been a dubious and anti-Christian festival, carefully observant parents have noticed that in recent years the godless nature of the event has increased and realize that even more caution is warranted. This problem has occurred hand-in-hand with the slide into godlessness generally associated with an evolutionary worldview, in which God is not central to our lives, and death and the occult are glorified, rather than abhorred.

Halloween is not a religious holiday. Oh sure, it originally had religious implications, and it still does to some, but for the vast vast majority of American children, I suppose the holiday is indeed “godless”—in that it has nothing to do with God and everything to do with costumes and candy. But you know what? I’m thinking this is not a “recent” thing.

This leads us to the important issue of how Christians should respond to the festival. I would suggest the following:

Yes, this perennial issue again. How is a Christian to approach Halloween? It’s a pressing question!

I, personally, urge Christians not to take part in the festival. The world of evil is very real, and we should not carelessly expose our children to it.

And this, readers, is why I never went trick-or-treating as a child. The first time I ever went trick-or-treating was when Sally was a baby. A friend and I dressed up and dressed her up and we went door to door, enjoying the Halloween decorations more than anything else. As a child, I always felt like I was missing out on something—but I was never quite sure what.

If your children are being encouraged to take part in Halloween-related activities at their schools against your wishes, then contact the schools and voice your concerns.

Aww, poor kids. It can’t be fun to have your parents raise a stink about a teacher encouraging her class of second-graders to bring their costumes to school on Halloween. :/

Consider giving tracts (U.S. | UK/Europe) instead of (or in addition to) giving them sweets or money. The ReachOut Trust (www.reachouttrust.org) also has many good tracts written for even very young children and include a gospel presentation for their parents.

Just out of curiosity, are these tracts being handed out to children against their parents’ wishes? Or are the parents being consulted before the tracts are handed over? It’s just that #2 above makes parental wishes sound very important but #3 here seems to forget about them entirely. It’s a sort of keep-your-hands-off-MY-kids-but-I’ve-got-my-hands-on-YOUR-kids mentality.

Consider an alternative. Many churches today are organizing “Light” parties or “Hallelujah” parties or other similar events that focus the children’s attention on the Bible and on Jesus. Another positive alternative would be to have a “Reformation Party” to mark the fact that October 31 is the anniversary of the day when Martin Luther nailed his theses to the door of the church in Wittenburg.

I’m seriously surprised that this item does not mention church harvest festivals or “Christian Alternative to Celebrating Halloween” (CATCH). Taylor acts as though he’s come up with a new idea, but in fact this idea has been around for ages. While I did feel like I was missing out not being allowed to trick-or-treat as a child, it was our church’s harvest festival/CATCH event that kept me on the whole fairly content.

Each October 31st, our church’s gymnasium and nursery areas were transformed. There were simple games to play, set up in stations all around, with candy (of course!) as prizes for completion. There were cardboard box mazes and hot dogs being sold out of the church kitchen. And of course, there were costumes, costumes, costumes, though no witches or ghosts or ghoulish ones—those were barred at the door. The adults all got into the spirit of things, and every year it was an event I looked forward to all fall. And so I suppose it was a success—it gave us something to look forward to and kept as many kids as would fill the gym from traveling their neighborhoods trick-or-treating.

Of course, my experience trick-or-treating with my children—now five and two—has left me confused as to what all the fuss was about. The kids dress up, and we go door to door and get candy. The people handing out the candy compliment the children’s costumes, and sometimes set up their own displays or traps—a man in a bear costume jumps out from behind the bushes, bowl of candy in hand, or spooky light and fake mist greets us to create a deliciously frightening atmosphere. It’s not about anything evil or Satanic, it’s about having fun handing out candy and trying to kids jump—or simply welcoming them onto the porch for a moment. It’s friendly, it’s community, it’s neighborhood in an old fashioned way.

I mean, it’s not that I don’t know what the issue was. Growing up in an evangelical home, Satan and his demons were very real. We believed that they were at their height on Halloween, in a way, prowling around and wreaking devastation—spiritual warfare at its worst. In other words, the forces that led my parents to hold us back from trick-or-treating year after year were not tangible but rather invisible. I no longer believe in those invisible forces, and having seen the holiday for myself, it seems incredibly harmless.

It’s sad, in a way, how easy it is to create boogeymen out of nothing.

Evangelicalism/Fundamentalism

Halloween

Previous Post

October 28, 2014

"If we had known you were going to be a writer . . . "

Next Post

October 29, 2014 But What If Your Husband Tells You Not to Submit?

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Atheism Evangelicalism/Fundamentalism Family Feminism Homeschool Meta Parenting Patriarchy Politics Purity Quiverfull Social Justice Uncategorized Worthwhile reads

Select a Month February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What is the first book of the New Testament?

Select your answer to see how you score.

John Matthew Luke Mark