Halloween (or Hallowe’en) is a contraction of “All Hallows’ Evening,” also known as All Hallows’ Eve. The word “eve” or “even” in Scottish is contracted to “e’en” or “een.” Over time, (All) Hallow(s) E(v)en evolved into Halloween. So, Halloween was in antiquity a ritualistic event the evening before the day the Christian churches honored all deceased saints in heaven, All Hallows’ Eve.
The word hallow means to make holy; sanctify; consecrate; to honor as holy; consider sacred; or venerate.[1] It may also be used to refer to a holy person or saint.[2] The Scottish word even means “end of the day” or “evening,” especially the time between sunset and darkness.[3] All Saints Day, also called All Hallows’ Day, Hallowmas, or Feast of All Saints, in the Christian church, is a day commemorating all the saints of the church, both known and unknown, who have attained heaven. This day is celebrated by the Roman Catholic church as well as certain Protestant denominations on November 1st.[4] The Eastern Orthodox church celebrates it on the first Sunday after Pentecost. All Hallows Eve then is the evening before All Hallows Day or All Saints Day.
A vigil is a devotional watching, service, or exercise, typically during the customary hours of sleep on the eve before a church festival.[5] It is not uncommon for religious people to participate in vigils immediately before the celebration of their religious holidays. We do this even today on Christmas Eve before Christmas Day, and on Maundy Thursday, the day before Good Friday which begins the three-day celebration of Christ’s passion, crucifixion, death, burial, and resurrection, and on All Hallows Eve before All Saints Day. These vigils often and inevitably grow into feasts which grow in revelry eventually becoming events as robustly celebrated as the religious holidays themselves.
Over the centuries the day before All Saints Day has morphed into a secular holiday that in no way celebrates All Saints Day. The theme of Halloween celebrates death and evil spirits but All Saints Day celebrates the lives of the Christian dead. So, the question has been asked, “Should Christians celebrate Halloween in its modern form of ghouls and goblins and witches and trick-or-treating?”
Trick-or-treating is a traditional Halloween custom for children and adults in some countries. In the evening before All Saints’ Day, children in costumes travel from house to house, asking for treats with the phrase “Trick or treat”. The “treat” is usually some form of candy, although in some cultures money is given instead. The “trick” refers to a threat, usually idle, to perform mischief on the homeowners or their property if no treat is given.[6] This sort of threat of a “trick,” idle or not, is certainly not consistent with Christian dogma or tradition.
The question for Christians is whether dressing in costumes that depict death, satanic beings, evil spirits, etc. and threatening bad acts if no treat is offered, in an event that celebrates death rather than life, is appropriate for Christians to participate in the evening before All Saints Day or at any time for that matter. Most Christians would agree that kids dressing in costumes in general and knocking on doors for candy is not in itself objectionable. But dressing as the dead and demons and threatening bad acts would not be appropriate.
The secular Halloween has no relation to the Christian celebration of All Saints Day even though it may have grown out of the All-Hallows’ Evening vigils of the past. So, Christians might choose to participate in secular Halloween minus the dark costuming and threats without compromising their Christian beliefs. Christians who choose to celebrate the lives of the believing dead could still do so on Halloween or on All Saints Day separate from the modern secular Halloween holiday. But at any rate, Christians might dress in costume masquerading as someone else but not dressing in a manner that aggrandizes death or the evil spiritual world.
Christians live in a secular world and are under the authority of secular governments which believers are taught to submit to (Rom. 13:1). Christians live in communities where they live, work, and play among Christians as well as non-Christians. Modern society celebrates certain secular festivals and holidays which Christians celebrate with their friends, both secular and Christian. Therefore, Christians understandably celebrate the secular aspects of these holidays but they also should celebrate Christian holidays in accordance with Scripture. And this is where some Christians err regarding holidays like Christmas and Easter and All Saints Day. They emphasize the secular aspects and virtually ignore the biblical features of the holiday.
Christians may enjoy thinking about fictional characters called Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny but these have nothing to do with the biblical celebration of Christ’s birth or His resurrection. All Hallows’ Evening is a time of looking forward to celebrating the lives of those saints who are in heaven and thanking God for their service to the church during their lives on earth. It is not a time of honoring or aggrandizing evil spirits and death. Pumpkins and witches and ghouls and goblins and graves and death do nothing to celebrate the lives of the saints in heaven. Regarding Halloween, we must avoid all the features of that holiday that celebrate the powers of darkness. Remember that life triumphs over death (1 Cor. 15:55-57).
Those Christians who choose to celebrate secular Halloween should consider eliminating the dark elements of Halloween which are contrary to Christian values and seem to worship death instead of life. For example, eliminate skeletons, evil faces on jack-o-lanterns, ghosts, etc. At the end of the day, as citizens of a secular world, Christians do celebrate those secular holidays but they should ensure that they don’t allow the secular aspects of the holiday, and in the case of Halloween, the powers of darkness, to dominate their attention at the expense of the true biblical aspect of the holiday which they celebrate as citizens of the Kingdom of God.
On a final note, I must state that nothing could be more antithetical to Christianity than demanding a treat upon threat of harm, which is exactly what Halloween is about. Such a thought, even if the threat is usually an idle one, is evil at best. A proper response by Christians is to stop celebrating Halloween. While the non-Christian world celebrates Halloween, Christians could celebrate Christian evangelism and the harvest of souls for Christ. For Protestant Christians this celebration is also on the anniversary of the Protestant Reformation. (NOTE: this last paragraph was inadvertently left off and was added on November 8, 2022).
[1] Webster’s Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language (Deluxe Edition 2001), 863.
[2] Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com/word/Halloween, accessed September 20, 2022.
[3] Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com/word/eve?ref=etymonline_crossreference#etymonline_v_11703, accessed September 20, 2022.
[4] Britannica, https://www.britannica.com/topic/All-Saints-Day, accessed September 20, 2022.
[5] Webster’s, 2121.
[6] Trick-or-Treating, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trick-or-treating, accessed September 21, 2022.
