Halloween used to be a big event for our family.
As soon as the decorations and candies dropped at Target, I’d be buying the ghoulish knick-knacks and bags of fake spiderweb. The girls used to plan their costumes out months in advance, and come early October I’d be rounding up materials and all the things to make their imaginations come to life. For my Etsy business, the Halloween season saw 85% of my sales, since my quickest selling listings were kid-sized sci-fi Halloween costumes: Ewoks, Wookiees, baby Groot, Gizmo, that type of thing.
One year I sewed and shipped out over 80 ‘Star Wars’ Ewok costumes over a five-week span… while I was working full-time, and while Mika, Cami, and Lani were 5, 4, and 3 years old.
Yuuuhhh, so Halloween was a pretty big deal.
In 2021, when we first moved to Texas, my family was still fully into celebrating Halloween. So much so that I gleefully helped the girls dress up like the Sanderson sisters and Binx the cat from ‘Hocus Pocus.’ I had loved that movie since my childhood, and Bette Midler made it so easy to gloss over a plotline focused on a coven of witches seeking to eat children. #momoftheyearstrikesagain
Gradually over the last couple years, we’ve been pumping the brakes on Halloween. Last year the girls still participated in a citywide Halloween costume contest (and won prizes), and we attended a “Hallelujah Night” hosted by a local church.
But this is the first year that my conscience won’t allow for any involvement with Halloween celebration in my home.
Really, the change has been from taking more of an effort to be informed about the choices I’m making as a mother. And from asking myself if my choices are guiding my children in the ways I truly want them walking. I’m the gatekeeper of reason until they’re old enough to make their own decisions. Matthew 18:6, Proverbs 22:6, and Deuteronomy 6:7-9 have been on my heart lately.
Earlier this month, I spent time teaching the girls (now ages 4 through 12), about the historical roots and modern outcropping of Halloween. Btw, they were all fully onboard with Ray and my decision to skip Halloween festivities this year. But I knew it’d be beneficial to have them age-appropriately informed also.
Anyway, THEY. WERE. SHOCKED!! And honestly, I had only barely touched the surface of how deep this goes.
Mika suggested that I write a blog post about Halloween’s dark history and its connections with Satanism, so here we are. Forewarning: I’ve included links to some websites that you may not feel comfortable visiting. The quotes are sourced; this is real.
What is Halloween, really?
Halloween originated from an ancient Celtic festival called Samhain (pronounced “sow-win”). Those who celebrated Samhain believed that the barriers between the physical and spiritual world break down for the one night, “allowing more interaction between humans and denizens of the Otherworld” (The History Channel).
In the 8th century, Pope Gregory III designated November 1 as a holiday in the Catholic church to honor all saints. All Saints Day soon incorporated some of the druid traditions of Samhain, and the evening before, October 31, was known as All Hallows Eve – and later, Halloween.
American culture has largely sanitized the holiday to be more palatable to our convictions, but Halloween still holds an undeniable rooting in the spiritual realm. And it’s not on the side of all that’s good and holy.
Anton LaVey, the founder of the church of Satan, wrote in the Satanic Bible that “after one’s own birthday, the two major Satanic holidays are Walpurgisnacht and Halloween.”
Satanists see Halloween “as the night when the mundane folk try to reach down inside and touch the ‘darkness’ which for Satanists is a daily mode of existence. Particularly in the United States, Halloween is a time for celebrating monster films, wearing costumes of a macabre nature, and evoking the thrill of ‘fun fear.’ Children (of all ages) can indulge their fantasies by donning costumes that allow for intense role-playing and the release of their ‘demonic cores,’ the parts of their personalities often hidden from their friends, co-workers and families… This night, we smile at the amateur explorers of their own inner darkness, for we know that they enjoy their brief dip into the pool of the ‘shadow world.’ We encourage their tenebrous fantasies, the candied indulgence, and the wide-range evocation of our aesthetics (while tolerating some of the chintzy versions), even if it is but once a year.” (Church of Satan website, F.A.Q. Holidays).
It’s scary stuff. And to me, the scariest thing is that it’s all there right in front of our eyes. This is spiritual warfare, and the enemy is strategic, deceptive, and a very patient incrementalist. What seems innocuous will grow and fester, accelerating toward more and more evil. Should small children be exposed to any type of “fun fear” and intentional darkness?
I regret not knowing this sooner. I was actually in tears apologizing to my daughters for some of the things I had already exposed them to out of my ignorance and foolishness. I pray over them that their hearts and minds remain pure, and that they see God’s goodness in every circumstance (Matthew 5:8).
These are just my suggestions to anyone new to this information:
The best defense is a good offense. Be educated. Stay vigilant always (1 Peter 5:8). And make sure that your choices/actions always reflect your values and beliefs.
I don’t look down on anyone – Christian or otherwise – that chooses to celebrate Halloween. But for me and my family, we just can’t anymore. Not after knowing what I know now.
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