Today marks Halloween, the only holiday of the year that fundamentalists hold in even lower regard than MLK or National No Pants Day. For on this day when people dress up in cheesy costumes and consume candy there is sure to be evil afoot. Just look at all the witches, and goblins, and monsters, and whatnot! Surely that can’t be biblical! (Although the cheap candy the day after is definitely a blessing. The rain falls on the just and unjust after all)
Halloween serves to highlight the difficulty that many fundamentalists have with distinguishing between fantasy and reality. A man in a devil costume may as well be the actual devil. Never mind that dressing up in a ridiculous caricature of Old Nick really serves to mock the devil rather than show support for him, the very fact that people are willing to acknowledge that darkness exists even in jest is enough to send a lot of fundamentalists into a tizzy.
When your entire religion is built on blurring the lines between the real and the make believe then it’s not surprising that even a facade of evil is enough to scare you silly. Perception is truth. And even pretending something “evil” will infect the unwary. Don a witch costume and you’re only half a step away from…whatever it is that witches do. If you really want to mess with a fundamentalist’s head, go to a “Harvest Party” dressed up as the Witch of Endor as your Bible character. I guarantee they won’t know how to handle it.
Of course they could celebrate Jesusween instead but I think even most fundamentalists will agree that’s a bit of a stretch.
I grew up not celebrating Halloween for the most part. My husband wanted to celebrate it when our oldest was a baby, so I went along. Now that she is in elementary school, I explained that the holiday has both pagan and Catholic influences…and that we celebrate the good parts without the bad parts (i.e. devils, goblins, etc.). Our kids dress up and go to a Trunk or Treat or some other nearby church activity.
I also tell them that the “scary” stuff is nothing to fear, because God is bigger and stronger than all that. I don’t want my kids living in fear of a silly holiday!! (Darn Fundy superstitions!) Frankly, the death theme could make a good object lesson about how sin can destroy the life we are supposed to have in Jesus…hmmm, maybe when they are older. 😉
Saying celebrating Halloween makes one pagan is like saying celebrating Christmas makes one Christian.
Or changing your pants in a phonebooth makes you Superman.
Nice!
Well, if it’s National No Pants Day, you don’t need a phone booth. Which is a good thing, because when’s the last time anyone saw a phone booth?
Took my kids to the coffee shop after school today and the girl at the counter wast done up like a goul and she had fake blood coming out of her nostril and you should have seen the scared/disgusted looks on my kids faces. It did look yucky… 😯
A few years ago I took the kids to a Burger King play area. It had been decorated for Halloween, mostly pretty generic spider webs and black cats, but there was a bloody hand sticking out from under one of the play structures. My kids talked about it for weeks!
As a kid, this was the kind of thing that we considered AWESOME. I remember as a four year old my Dad told a story about a (pretty old and gothic looking, light pink colored) house down the street, supposedly haunted by an old lady named “Old Lady Ledbetter.” Somehow my older sister and I ran with that theme until the poor old dear was stashing cauldrons of severed limbs in her attic with which she quelled her ravenous midnight hungers. My mother found out about our hyper-active imaginations and nearly went apopleptic. Good times.
My friend’s dog got one and went around the neighborhood with it! LOL… caused quite a ruckus. The only thing that saved him was 1) he is an adorable puppy and 2) it was Halloween… otherwise, they might have called the cops!
Interestingly, the puppy is in training to find cadavers! He thought he was doing GOOD!
“was” 😳
It’s also a great way to teach about “All Saints Day”