Like many other things, the history of Halloween involves many views and traditions in history, and attitudes have been created by cultures and individuals as a result. The most complete, I think, discussion can be found at https://www.worldhistory.org/article/1456/history-of-halloween/.
One of the places where we lived, our church roundly condemned the celebration of Halloween as witchcraft and allowed our children to dress only as Biblical characters or to not celebrate Halloween at all. Christian children were told it was an evil holiday.
Actually, in my studies, the church actually sanctioned the celebration of All Hallows’ Eve, the night before the movement of All Saints’ Day to November 1st by an ancient pope.
Children now, in our culture, celebrate by seeking candy from others, dressing up as career or animal or scary or ragamuffin or yes, ghoulish figures. Investopedia, yes there is such a site, says we spent “$3.6 billion for costumes · $3.1 billion for candy · $3.4 billion for decorations · $0.6 billion for greeting cards2. in spite of the worst financial constraints on us for a long time.
This year, we are being warned of those who would hurt our children, threatening with abduction, things hidden in candy, molestation, and attempts to frighten them so they won’t sleep. The biggest threat seems to be of the drug called fentanyl. If touched, a small amount kills. Those trading in this evil substance are disguising it as other opiates some seek for recreational drug use, or as substitute candies in recognized packaging. Parents: please take your children only to places you know. In this day and age, many of us don’t really “know” our neighbors. People have become very private.
While we can celebrate the creativity of our children, and parties to judge the most well-carved pumpkins or the best-decorated yard, let us be vigilant to protect the lives, sensitivities, and psyches of our greatest resource, our children.
I pray it will be so, and we will not hear horrow stories tomorrow. “Happy” Halloween.
1611 pound pumpkin, largest in the world in 2022 timesnownew.com
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