Ace: Do you know what we read in school today?
Me: No, what?
Ace: A HALLOWEEEEEN book.
Me (realizing I never told his teacher how we feel about Halloween): You did?
Ace: Yup. But I told her that we don't celebrate Halloween.
Me: (thinking YES!) You did? What did she say?
Ace: She said that's fine.
So the other day I received a note asking for volunteers to help carve pumpkins next week. I realized I needed to have this conversation with his teacher a.s.a.p. That afternoon when I went to the school I pulled her to the side and explained to her that he could not participate in the pumpkin carving because as Orthodox Christians we don't celebrate Halloween.
She said Ace had already told her and that it wasn't a problem at all. The pumpkins were actually going to be used first as a math project. They were going to clean them out and count the seeds, measure the pulp, etc. Then they were going to carve them after but weren't going to actually light them up or anything.
I thanked her for her understanding and told her it was perfectly fine for him to do the math portion of the project but would really appreciate it if she could find something else for him to do while the other kids carved them. Thank God, she was very understanding and said that wouldn't be a problem. I am so fortunate to have him at a school with such accommodating faculty.
I hate knowing that Ace might feel "left out" while the other kids are carving but am thankful that he understands why he can't participate. I also know that if he is going to live his life as a true Orthodox Christian, there will be many of these moments and I'm comforted knowing that he is learning this early.
What do you guys do in situations like this?
Normally, we just go about our business on that day like any other day although we complete our day with a special service either to Sts. Cosmas & Damian who are commemorated Nov.1 or to Sts. Justina & Kypriannos who are patron saints against magic, etc. I think it's important to try to fight all the evil that goes on that night with prayer. I like to believe that the more people who pray that night, the less evil will happen to others.
Orthodox Christian Children also have a great number of resources that explain why Halloween and Orthodoxy have no place together. Be sure to check them out here...
Also, I posted several different articles, etc on the topic here.
*EDITOR'S NOTE: I have removed the link to Bishop Kyrill's article on Halloween because there were several mistranslations therefore making the article not entirely factual.
14 comments:
I guess I have to admit that I don't get too worked up about Halloween. I grew up in an evangelical family and Halloween was considered so awful. We didn't dress up or go trick-or-treating. Which is fine.
But now that I'm Orthodox, I actually have a different perspective. I see no reason to fear death. I think Halloween has developed the way it has because people are so afraid to die - they don't know what's out there and what's waiting for them. Yes, there is evil out in the world, but there's always evil out in the world, not just on Halloween.
Here in the West (which is where we live, after all), November 1st is All Saints Day and October 31st is All Hallow's Eve. It's a holy day. And it has been for 1400 years. So now I host an All Saints Party on October 31st. I send out lists of saints (few of my friends are Orthodox) - mostly Orthodox or early church, but also some Catholic and a few Protestants who probably would be considered saints if they were in traditions that venerated saints. The kids dress up to represent their saint and they each give a presentation to the group. We have copies of icons or pictures around the room to represent the "cloud of witnesses." After their presentations, we have "spiritually themed" games (pin the sword on the angel, etc.). Everyone has a blast, they learn some church history and most importantly, they come into contact with holy saints whom they might never have heard about or interacted with otherwise.
And I do have my priest's encouragement to do this - his family is always invited, although they can't come this year.
So that's what I do. (As far as the school situation goes, I use these things as opportunities to talk to my kids about how Christ has conquered sin and death and we have hope for eternal life because of His love. I'm pretty straight-forward with my kids.)I hope this helps. :)
Interesting post! Personally, I'm quite fond of marking the different Autumn holidays, as over here the Christmas goods start appearing in the shops around about the start of October and because we're on the old Orthodox calendar, we don't celebrate Christmas until the 7th January!
Halloween isn't nearly as big a deal here as it is in the US. We tend to dress up a bit. But not elaborate costumes (not least because it's usually wet and cold!). We go to a local garden centre where most of the activities are about the change of seasons and the end of summer. They have apple bobbing and apple ducking, face painting, a bouncy castle, etc.
And we try to remind the children of the Christian aspects of the day by praying for all those we know who have died both in the morning and at evening prayers.
We had a few trick or treaters come round a few years back, but it's not very common here. Probably the bad weather discourages people!
About Jack-o-lanterns. I'd never heard your version of the origins before. However, I had heard that the name jack-o'-lantern can be traced back to the Irish legend of Stingy Jack, a greedy, gambling, hard-drinking old farmer. He tricked the devil into climbing a tree and trapped him by carving a cross into the tree trunk. In revenge, the devil placed a curse on Jack, condemning him to forever wander the earth at night with the only light he had: a candle inside of a hollowed turnip.
I hope you have a blessed All Hallows, whatever you decide to do!
Everyday you are teaching me what it truly means to be Christian. I have to think about this one, and read that article by the Bishop. I was raised with the common Halloween traditions, ghouls and all. Though it was fun, I am diapproving of all that as an adult. But, I have said many a time in the three short years of being a parent. I am not opposed to dresssing up on Halloween as long as it's not ghoulish,etc. Because when else in your life do you get to have fun dressing up. You make a good point that it's just an excuse to make celebrating evil okay...So now I have to think about it...Our church has a saints party and you have to come dressed as a saint. It's harder to come up with those costumes than just dressing as a turtle or princess.
Our school does quite a bit for Halloween. The whole month of October is filled with references to the day, and on the day itself, children bring costumes to school for a costume parade and party. In the past, I would pull the kids out of school that day, but they would miss thier lessons from the morning sessions. Now, I have the Halloween discussion with my kids teachers in late September and they are very nice about it. The day of the "festivities" the kids go to school in the morning and I take them out of school for the afternoon session.
Believe it or not, the school is very accomodating. First, they know my husband is an Orthodox priest, and secondly, most of the Muslim families take their kids out of school that day because they don't believe in the holiday either.
This year we will be attending a program at our monastery on Halloween night. The nuns do such a fantasic job of putting together a nice evening for the children. They give them "treat" bags with icons, cross necklaces and icon buttons.
In general, Halloween is a glorification of death and evil spirits. Christ, through His crucifixion, burial and resurrection has trampled down all of these things. Therefore, to revel in these things must be a betrayal of the victory of Christ.
The culture of the world will always want to conform us; but, through the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ, if we stand firm, the culture will be transormed to the image of Christ.
But I would encourage all of us to take this principle and examine every area of our life. I think entertainment is a big area to review. As Christians, we know that foul language grieves the Holy Spirt.....but do we watch movies filled with cursing? As Christians, we know that fornication and promiscuity is sinful and against the pure will of God...but do we watch TV shows (like Friends) that glorify 'free sex for all'? We are learning from Christ what true love is...but do we watch supposed 'love stories' (like Titanic for instance) where a couple meets on a ship, is promiscous, has premarital sex, and is somehow considered to be a love story?
Christians will always be a called out nation, a holy priesthood.....but I fear we have been blinded by the god of this age and his wordly culture, and instead of rejecting the culture, have bought into it....that which we condemn 'on Sunday' has become our entertainment Monday - Saturday.
I appreciate that letter by the Bishop and totally agree. But, I'm not sure about the 'Lord of Death' Samhain that he mentions. From what I have read, that was actually the name of the month or season of the year, and not a god of death. Can anyone verify that?
Greetings to all, also this all means all throughout the entire world. No matter where you’re, now presently located no matter how you may be presently positioned, financially or otherwise, if you don't really know Jesus personally...there's a void within your life.
You can be rich as Rockefeller or poor as Job's turkey, none of this is helpfully in replacing having the love of God within your life.
Yes! We were created and made in his image.
Without him there is no way that great love, that our God has intended for his creation to have, can be attainable.
That great love and compassion that has been made available to all men is now waiting for you...who ever you may be or where ever you may be located.
The Bible Says: that whosoever that shall call upon the name of the Lord, Jesus, shall be saved.
That is a complete positive promise my friend. One without any obligations, other than accepting his leadership, you can also be sure that his way is not grievous. He also will lead you all the way...all you have to do is follow.
Much love, your brother in Christ Jesus.
William Dunigan
www.eloquentbooks.com/BeyondTheGoldenSunsetAndByTheCrystalSea.html
We never celebrated Halloween as a family. We homeschooled for the first 9 grade levels, so it wasn't a problem for us. We could pretty much ignore it.
We have changed our stand on trick or treat night, however. We used to turn the porch light off and out to dinner or to the library.
We made a change about three years ago. We still don't 'celebrate' or decorate but we do now give out candy to the neighborhood kids. Everyone sits on their front porch and the parents mingle while the kids trick or treat. Our children, now 18 and 19 give out the candy and talk to the younger neighborhood kids. I won't say that it is a 'missionary' effort, but it is a way to keep in touch with the neighborhood.
Okay. I read the article from Bishop Kyrill. I am pretty sure there are a lot of things (even outside of Halloween) I will never be able to look at the same again. I knew about this all being founded with the Druids, but did not learn anything deeper, because I did not want to pay head to evil. I definitely won't be participating in Halloween in anyway. There are pictures of jack-o-laterns all over my son's pre-school and they totally creeped me out this morning.
Do you think it's okay to hold costume parties as long as they are in no way associated with the Halloween?--as in not anywhere near that date with no other associations. I would still like my kids to have fun with costumes. Both my kids birthdays are in November, so I thought it would be fun to have a costume birthday party (stipulating no Halloween costumes).
So anyway, keep teaching these lessons about how to live a holy life. It's hard know everything and still keep up with the rest of life, but your blog keeps me in touch with Orthodox reality.
Eva's class is decorating pumpkins this year, i.e. painting on them with faces or whatever they'd like at her fall party. I'll remind Eva again that we don't put faces on them (she knows why) and that she can use jewels or paint to make them pretty. I also signed up to bring in goody-bags for the class so I can be in control of the content.
Her school is also having a fall festival on the 30th, and we're so blessed that the coordinator of the festival and her family do not celebrate Halloween, so the party is strictly FALL; costumes are not allowed either.
Thanks for posting about this. It's always nice to know that there are other families choosing to not participate in these "holidays".
Every year, at the start of the school year, I send out a letter to all my parents. In it, I state that as a way to understand the different peoples we share this planet with we will be talking about different celebrations that occur throughout the year. These celebrations include Halloween, Ramadan, St. Patrick's, Kwanzaa, Chanukka, Christmas, (both Old and New Calendar), Passover, Easter, Pascha, etc.
I ask the parents to check off the holidays / events they do not wish their child to be a part of in my class. Then I give them the option of having their child leave the room OR stay in the class and be given alternative work.
This year I have quite a number of students who will not be participating in several events. Some alternative activities provided are: computer learning games, books on cd, being buddied-up with an older student who does not celebrate that particular event with an art project to work on...
We do not celebrate Halloween at our house, but both my husband and I did as children. Times were different then and as a way to "fit into" our neighborhood, we did some of what the other kids did.
I do have to draw a fine line though between what I believe and what my students do. And for those who celebrate Halloween I have books, art projects, and Charlie Brown movies for them (my classroom does not have Halloween decorations up.
I guess what I am trying to say is that you may be surprised at the number of other students in your child's class who do not celebrate Halloween. Maybe you could offer some suggestions for alternative activities / work for that day for Ace...or (as some parents have done for me in the past) you could take under your wing those who do not celebrate this event and do a "Fall project" with them....just a thought....
Every year, at the start of the school year, I send out a letter to all my parents. In it, I state that as a way to understand the different peoples we share this planet with we will be talking about different celebrations that occur throughout the year. These celebrations include Halloween, Ramadan, St. Patrick's, Kwanzaa, Chanukka, Christmas, (both Old and New Calendar), Passover, Easter, Pascha, etc.
I ask the parents to check off the holidays / events they do not wish their child to be a part of in my class. Then I give them the option of having their child leave the room OR stay in the class and be given alternative work.
This year I have quite a number of students who will not be participating in several events. Some alternative activities provided are: computer learning games, books on cd, being buddied-up with an older student who does not celebrate that particular event with an art project to work on...
We do not celebrate Halloween at our house, but both my husband and I did as children. Times were different then and as a way to "fit into" our neighborhood, we did some of what the other kids did.
I do have to draw a fine line though between what I believe and what my students do. And for those who celebrate Halloween I have books, art projects, and Charlie Brown movies for them (my classroom does not have Halloween decorations up.
I guess what I am trying to say is that you may be surprised at the number of other students in your child's class who do not celebrate Halloween. Maybe you could offer some suggestions for alternative activities / work for that day for Ace...or (as some parents have done for me in the past) you could take under your wing those who do not celebrate this event and do a "Fall project" with them....just a thought....
Thanks for posting regarding Halloween. I appreciate your website! :)
I appreciate your post abotu Holloween, my husband and I have always been against holloween however we haven't had children until now (due Oct 30) and wondered how we were going to handle the holloween issue when our child sees other children participating, I like your idea of commemorating the saints against magic we will have to try that this year.
Hi I'm new to this blog. It's interesting timing that I read this post today. My husband and I have been against Halloween as well, but this year decided to throw a Fall birthday party for our youngest turning one. We did include costumes as long as they were fun and related to nothing "Scary." A family came as farmers and fruit for instance. We played turkey in the straw and some other games and played around in our mini pumpkin patch. Something we will have to rethink, though is decorating the pumpkin. The kids picked out funny eyes and noses to decorate their pumpkins and took them home as favors. It is good to get a reminder for my husband and I that even when we try to do something like this we really need to think about every aspect- is that what Christ would approve? I like the idea of decorating pumpkins without faces being involved. I think there are ways to celebrate fall and the glorious time it is without the need to associate anything with Halloween traditions. We will definitely revise next year.
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