Tuesday, November 3, 2009

To Treat or Not To Treat; That is the Question...

I have a hunch that you just haven't seen enough '7 of 8 as Snow White' yet...
I'm very thoughtful...

So here you go...

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We've had an ambivalent relationship with Halloween through the years. For quite a while, 1 of 8 had a strong conviction as a child that she shouldn't participate. We honored that conviction on her part, but didn't put it on the other kids. A great compromise was going to our church's Harvest Party, that allowed 2 and 3 of 8 to dress up and allowed 1 of 8 to gather candy without doing the Halloween 'thing'.

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We moved to a different neighborhood when 4 of 8 was an infant and discovered our first Halloween in that house was a full-out neighbor experience. All the neighbors were out, visiting, laughing, enjoying the evening. So, through the years, we came to see the annual trick-or-treating as a way to connect with those living around us, a springboard to further contact and conversations. We always made our Halloween fun and light, carving our pumpkins with Christian symbols, telling each trick-or-treater 'God bless you'...and very much meaning it.

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I do understand why families choose to not celebrate Halloween. Our culture has turned it into such a scary and demonic event, taking it far from its original Christian roots of honoring the memory of the dead. And we have had our seasons of turning our back on the event, choosing to keep the porch lights off.

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And we've let the kids vote their conscience as well, sometimes choosing to trick-or-treat, sometimes not.

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But ultimately, for us, all through the years, depending on where we have lived, what the tenor of the neighborhood has been, we have found it to be a night to reclaim goodness and being neighborly. Doors are opened, children are greeted and treated, hands are shaken and friendships are made.

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And however the world has chosen to twist the night for evil, good wins. Good wins.


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14 comments:

  1. Awwhhh how fun!! Our old neighborhood was like that too. One neighbor even had a mic and he would be like a reporter asking the kids what they were, etc. It was fun.
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  2. Really interesting dilemma, this one!

    Almost all of our Christian festivals have been scheduled at the same time as major pagan festivals. Either to sneak them in, or to convert the old-timers to new ways, or simply because of practicality. Whichever way you look at it, it's very hard to celebrate a Christian festival without acknowledging that there are some pagan roots in there somewhere!

    I think your approach is a really healthy one.
    I hope you had a very blessed All Hallows!
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  3. What a good post! I often ponder the "Halloween question". We do trick-or-treat and attend the parties, with limitations. The kids aren't allowed to dress up as anything too scary or gory. We try to keep everything as light-hearted as possible.
    This year Niyah wanted to dress up as a witch. I thought that was pushing the line a little too far, but relented. She had on a cute costume, but I wish we hadn't done the green face paint. (live and learn).
    I love your kids costumes, by the way!
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  4. What a wonderful take on the holiday. I was excited for my boys to go trick or treating this year since we recently moved here and luckily we did meet some more neighbors and had a GOOD time. It was lovely.
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  6. Bravo. I absolutely loved that post. I agree 100%. I love the cute and fun costumes.....can't stand the inclusion of gore and evil that seems to have surrounded Halloween now.
    Just curious....at what age do you think the line should be drawn for trick-or-treating? I was having this discussion with me 15 and 13 year old this year. I let them make their own decision, but was just wondering if there was an unwritten rule to that sybject.
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  7. What an awesome way to celebrate Halloween! And the kiddo's are adorible in their costumes. The one of the girls in the sunglasses is precious!
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  9. Exactly. Halloween is what you choose to make it. We choose to make it fun.

    But "original Christian roots"? The Christians coopted a pagan holiday and gave it a new (and better) meaning. So this holiday definitely has pagan roots, not Christian ones. Since Christianity took it over (as it did with pagan Yuletide customs also), it has been emblematic of the struggle between good and evil.

    I find a certain poetry in how Christ's message can take a secular/pagan holiday and its traditions and imbue them with light. It speaks to His power.
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  10. She is a beautiful adorable snow white.

    Yes, the holiday can be made very dark. We've always just enjoyed the festive costumes and the opportunity to see our neighbors. For a lot of neighbors the only time we see them is tick-or-treating (I know that's a lot pathetic but at least trick-or-treat provides an open door)!


    I don't let my kids do anything gross, disgusting, or dark.
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  11. Great photos!
    We did both this year...harvest fest and trick-or-treating. We haven't done TnT for the past few years, but with visiting friends, i felt bad to not go.
    All the kids did have a good time though :)
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  12. what fun costumes. I actually started choking when I saw all those lollies and chocolates all over the floor. Is that a standard haul for one trick or treater? That is AMAZING! No wonder every blog I read is complaining about not being able to resist the call of the sugar... you can't let the kids eat ALL that... unless you are lucky enough to have a dentist in the family ;)

    I am kind of glad we don't have to deal with the Halloween thing over here.
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  13. We're having an inner-family struggle with Halloween too. Thankfully we have 11 months now to continue discussing it. I love the family-friendly, neighborly aspects of Halloween, but definitely feel that as Christians we should do our best to avoid the evil, scary stuff of it. I'm hoping we can find a solution that allows for our DD to have fun, for us to be neighborly, not overdose on sugar, while leaving the scary stuff out.
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  14. I love your family's take on the holiday! My parents chose not to do TOT some years but now they are back to it with the younger kids. Looks like everyone has fun your way!! :)
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