The debate rages on: how are Christians supposed to react to pagan holidays or holidays with pagan backgrounds? We did some research into the background of two major holidays in the US: Halloween and Christmas. Some of the similarities may surprise you.
The term “Halloween” refers to All Saints Day (a Christian holiday celebrating saints) or All Hallows Day. The night before All Hallows Day was called All Hallows Eve, which later got shortened to Halloween. However, the actual celebrations of modern Halloween (the costumes, the emphasis on evil spirits, treats, etc) were there long before All Saints Day. All Saints Day was moved in order to give Christians a more godly thing to do at the end of October so they did not face the temptation of participating in the pagan celebrations. Today, while most people do not celebrate All Saints Day, many churches in the US do hold Harvest Festivals to thank God for the harvest of that year. Some people are opposed to that because it draws attention to the pagan beginnings of the holiday.
At the same time, many of those people don’t realize that Christmas, like Harvest Festivals, is an alternative holiday. It is an alternative to a myriad of pagan holidays, some of which are discussed in the podcast. The important note is this: can we hate Harvest Festivals and still like Christmas?
This episode of the Glowing Nose podcast struggles with these facts and more. We take a look at what one church is doing as a safe alternative to Halloween when we visit The Tunnel of Doom at Brunswick Reformed Church in Brunswick, Ohio.
Some helpful resources for further research can be found at:
Equip.org: Reference 1, Reference 2
Wikipedia: Reference 1
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