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HALLOWEEN
My followers are asking me to write on this topic again. I’ve put it off because I really don’t like to dwell on the subject of Halloween. It’s uncomfortable. I don’t know why Halloween vexes me so, but it does. Perhaps, I am vexed because I know too much. Truly, oblivion is bliss. When you don’t know, you are still accountable, because “ignorance of the law is no excuse.” But when you don’t know, you don’t have the guilt or the struggle to do what is right. Halloween is dark. It’s a holiday that celebrates death. I’ve come face to face with someone truly oppressed by darkness, and it is an overwhelming experience that I don’t want to repeat or relive or pass on to my children.
So This Very Educated Mother Knows about Halloween. I know the history of the holiday. I know the darkness that surrounds it. I know there are people who innocently play with things that seem innocent only to get sucked into an oppression they cannot climb out of alone. I know there are real witches and followers of Wicca who do abominable things on this unholy day. For them, it’s not a game. It’s not pretend. It’s a real life demented sort of fun.
So how did I solve the problem of Halloween?
I’ll tell you what I did. I made a scarecrow with the family at the floral shop, and put him on the front porch (which scared the begeebers outta me every time I walked past it). I planned an outing to the pumpkin farm – which got rained out. I put out my fall leafy placemats and my plain pumpkin “treat dish.” I updated my floral displays around the house and trimmed my mum. I didn’t buy candy, nor did I stock up on evangelistic pamphlets. I had my kids close their eyes when we drove by some horrific neighborhood displays. I taught my girls the truth about Halloween and answered their Why’s as best I could. The town had advertised that Halloween activities were to take place between 3-8pm. I packed a picnic, took my kids, put them in the car at about 2:45 and exited my “festive” neighborhood. In the weeks before, I had wrestled and prayed about what to do and I remembered that Chicago-land has a wonderful Christian attraction: The Billy Graham Museum. I headed south to this haven. I tried to linger there as long as physically possible for a four-year-old. It was a wonderful experience.
When we walked in, we were greeted with an array of Christian art depicting various scenes from the life of Jesus. Then we went into the rotunda of witnesses. I couldn’t remember the stories of all the martyrs and the girls weren’t tuned into a history lesson anyway. But everything slowed down when we entered the room of the cross. Reading every verse on salvation and walking through a cross-shaped portal into a dark Tomb-like passage makes the entrance into the Heaven room spectacular. The “hallelujah” chorus played and the girls still talk about the Heaven room.
The next day, the girls wanted to watch the Easter Video, which incidentally also plays the “hallelujah” chorus at the resurrection scene.
So I didn’t defeat Halloween. I re-invented it. Our trip to the Billy Graham Museum glorified God and brought some of His Light into our life on the darkest holiday of the year. We celebrated eternal life on the holiday that celebrates death. Any why not? After all, Jesus came into the world to turn it upside down.