We are a Christian household and have chosen not to celebrate Halloween. We don't judge anyone else who does, but I am having trouble with explaining to people why we don't. I don't want to offend other Christians who choose to celebrate it. How can I explain to people when they ask why without seeming judgmental or offensive. I certainly don't mean to and I know that everyone has their own beliefs and I respect that. If you have any experience with this, it would be great to hear your advice. My daughter is still young and doesn't understand it yet, but also how do I explain it to her and her other siblings when the time comes.
Thank you all in advance.
While I appreciate your responses, I did not say anything about handing out candy or scripture. Actually I didn't even mention anything about people coming to my home because as an adult I do understand how to turn off my light. I was simply meaning the people who I converse with on a weekly basis who have asked why I will not participate in pumpkin carving or other such activities. Anyhow, no matter what you believe, to our family be it Pagan or Samhain, it is not a holiday my family wishes to celebrate. No matter how much Christian you try to put in it, it is not Christian or biblical. My family doesn't follow Paganism, but scripture. Sorry for being so blunt but I feel as if some of you moms have attacked my belief maybe not intending to, but did by telling me that it is not Satanic. Maybe not, but definitely not Christian either per the Bible.
Halloween is not the devil's holiday. Geez. Did you know that it started out as a catholic holiday to scare off the demons who they believed were keeping loved one's souls from going to heaven. It was called O Hallows Eve. I would do some research and if you still chose not to celebrate, then you can use what you learn to explain why you chose not to.
OK--without getting into a discussion about Halloween being or NOT being a demonic holiday...why do you need to explain your beliefs to anyone? I think people would have had to be living under a rock for a hundred years to not understand why some people don't celebrate Halloween.
Doesn't your church have activities on Halloween? Most do.
Scriptures with candy? No. You don't want to appear hypocritical, right?
Turn your lights out and don't hand out candy? Yes.
Sorry--I can't look at a little girl dressed up like a ladybug and see "Satan"!
I would say that you don't owe anyone outside of your family an explanation, just state, "We do not celebrate Halloween". In response to the other posts about handing out scriptures, I would like to give a different perspective. Doing so might make other people uncomfortable, especially those who may not share your beliefs. Since you said that you do not want to judge others or be offensive, I would just avoid answering your door, rather than seeming like you want to push your beliefs onto other people... just my opinion. Maybe your family can go out and do something different that day that is more in line with what you're comfortable with, like a trip to an apple orchard or a children's farm, museum, etc.
oh, please don't hand out scripture. just keep your door closed and the light off.
it's anyone's right not to participate (although correct information would be good, halloween is not the 'devil's day', it has a long and interesting history for those who enjoy actual facts) but folks who want scripture know where to find it.
http://www.theholidayspot.com/halloween/history.htm
http://www.neopagan.net/Halloween-Origins.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halloween
http://www.religioustolerance.org/hallowee.htm
faking kids out by handing out tracts when they're on a candy hunt is just mean, and frankly generally counter-productive. if you want to impress young 'uns with how wonderful christianity is, do it through acts, not surreptitious slips of paper.
khairete
S.
edit addition- my response was primarily to folks who answered the OP, not the OP herself. sorry if it came across as an attack on the OP.
We are also a Christian household who has made the same decision. What we say to our children and to other people is a simple, "We don't believe Halloween glorifies God and we only want to celebrate things that will Glorify Him. We choose to celebrate Harvest so we praise God for bringing the abundant harvest and always supplying us with plenty of good, delicious food."
We don't want our children to feel like they are "missing out" on Halloween, so we do lots of Harvest activities (going to a pumpkin patch, apple orchard, baking apple and pumpkin pies, we even allow them to decorate the house with pumpkins and pass out candy and scripture to our local trick-or-treaters). We make it a time filled with praise to God for supplying all our needs.
I really like JoAnn's answer.
We are also a Christian family who does not celebrate Halloween. We have never given out candy either. But I do like the idea of giving out scriptures with candy and just may do that this year. We have recently moved to a neighborhood with plenty of kids. So that would be awesome.
I do allow my kids to get a costume... as long as it is a character that they like and it is not something like a devil or something that goes around killing people. Maybe a ninja... or like this year my youngest wanted a Luigi costume. It is a great way to add dress up clothes to their dress up boxes.
I am not approached every year with why our kids don't go trick or treating. I have this year though by some kids who live next door. They are not Christians and think church is just a boring 2 hours sit. I have told them we don't believe it is in our faith to go trick or treating. That Halloween is the devil's day. They do not understand and I honestly don't think I could make a child understand anyway.
However, my children understand because it is what they were taught.
We do carve pumpkins with non-scary faces. It is a tradition in my little family to do so.
But I don't believe in participating in dress up at church and go trick or treating throughout church. I think that totally defeats the purpose.
You can just tell anyone that asks why that you choose not to celebrate it. We have many people on my block that post signs on their door just saying something like " Sorry, no candy. We do not celebrate Halloween". Then of course there is my husband's cousin who decided to post a big sign on our door saying that the devil is at work and something along the lines of those celebrating will be condemned or something like that. The trick or treating is for kids--and I do take my kids out so I did not appreciate that. I respect other points of view but do not want to be preached to. When my kids ask about this, I do tell them the origin of the "holiday". Don't be preachy about it and it should not come off as judgemental.
I wouldn't explain anything to the trick or treaters. Just turn your lights off, or post a small simple sign that says "Sorry no Candy." Other then that when other people ask, just simply say "We don't choose to celebrate."
I love love love love love halloween. It's my favorite holiday. I have come across a few people through my life that did not celebrate. When I asked why, and they told be it's not their belief I left it at that. Honestly, while I know its mostly a religous/cultural decision, it's none of my business. If they don't celebrate it, they don't celebrate it.
As long as they don't preach to me, I wont nag them. So in short, give a simple answer, if they start pushing for more, maybe tell them it's too long to get into right now, smile, and redirect the conversation.
I deal with this on a regular basis, as I celebrate none of the traditional holidays. My sil asked me once about Christmas. I tried to explain to her that I was raised with different religious beliefs and do not view Christmas as she does. Her response was something flippant like, "Well, maybe when you have children...". How rude and invalidating for her to just wave off my belief like it was nothing. That kind of attitude makes me want to be anti- whatever it is instead of just indifferent.
I, too, respect the rights of others to celebrate as they wish; and I wish that more people could be understanding or at least tolerant.
I don't feel bad about how I act on my beliefs. I respect and love all people and have never tried to force my way of living onto them. That said, I keep my responses to a minimum, unless they probe further. People tend to assume that if you don't do something that they do, then you are judging them. That's silly to me; one has nothing to do with the other.
In the case of Halloween, my disinterest is not driven by religion at all. I just don't care to participate. That holiday means nothing to me, and I don't find it necessary to participate in any acknowledgment of it. Should I choose to explain myself, that is all the explanation that I need. People who really care to know more and understand can get it. Anybody who is offended by that is way too caught up in his own stuff to be interested in hearing from me. I can't do anything about that.
Good luck to you, and I'm glad that you don't feel pressured to go along with something that you do not agree with.
my friends are very religous also but dont want their kids feeling slighterd so they dress as someone from the bible.. like a saint or Noah and make an ark out of a wagon with stuffed animals... it really works.. the kids are happy and so if the mamma. Kids love to dress up.. and halloween is just nieghbors being nice to the kids.. this is the way i see it. also if you give out candy.. each piece can say God is good.. or say your prayers.. or may God bless you.. it's a good way of getting your thoughts across.
