Halloween: Pagan-based evil or just plain fun?

Despite the pandemic, statistics show that Americans spent a record $10 billion during the 2021 Halloween season, an increase of more than $2 billion dollars over the previous year.

Also notably higher last year was the average Halloween spending per person when compared to previous years, according to Statista.com.

While Americans’ love of all things spooky — from creative kids’ costumes to neighborhood trick-or-treating, haunted house tours and adult dress-up parties — rings false in some conservative Christian circles, many others simply shrug at the holiday’s ancient pagan roots.

The Rev. Obed Brefo, lead pastor of San Diego-based King’s Cross Church, and his wife Elena are inclined to embrace Halloween’s more entertaining aspects for the sake of his three young children, ages 6, 8 and 10.

“In the community where we live, families will come together in the evening wearing fancy outfits,” Brefo says. “All the children’s friends will be there in our cul-de-sac, and after the party, they will go to all the neighbors collecting as much candy as they can.”

Pottery Barn Halloween Skeleton Barware (Photo: Williams Sonoma)

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Halloween’s origins

While Scottish poet Robert Burns helped to popularize the word “Halloween” with his 1785 poem of the same name, most historians agree that the holiday’s beginnings are murky at best.

The holiday’s beginnings are thought to originate with Samhain, the ancient Celtic festival. That’s the time, mythology says, when the veil between worlds becomes more transparent and paves the way for spirits and souls of the dead to return to Earth. Pagan believers in ancient times made offerings to appease their ancestors and the spirits.

The holiday became tied to Christianity when Pope Gregory IV changed it to the current date in 837. Today, the seasonal celebration of Allhallowtide includes All Saints’ Eve, All Saints’ Day and the subsequent All Souls’ Day.

Halloween and Christianity

Pastor Brefo’s approach is different than those of evangelical leaders, such as Jerry Falwell, who notably preached in the past against Halloween’s evils. Even today, some churches urge parents to celebrate the season with harvest celebrations, hayrides and other autumn festivals in lieu of Halloween’s scarier activities.

“Those who refuse to celebrate will have their lights off on Oct. 31st and not engage in any way in the festivities,” he says.

“It is different at our church,” Brefo adds. “Some famous Christians out there would call Halloween the festival of the devil and argue that Christians shouldn’t celebrate it in any way.

“I know Halloween has pagan roots,” he says. “But I think, particularly in America, that the holiday has shifted from a pagan ritual to a commercial one. It’s about fun here — most of the candy is sold at Halloween.”

Writer and musician Chris Witherall, based in Sussex, also thinks church teachings on Halloween can lack nuance.

“I have no doubt that Halloween can be harmful,” Witherall writes in Premier Christianity. “Pentagrams are sold alongside pumpkins, and for every spooky costume, there’s one that falls into distastefulness. As with many things, the sinful has a way of blending in with the innocuous and we should be discerning as we engage.”

However, he says, “the festival can be pretty fun when taken at face value.”

And, he concludes, “On a deeper level, it might give us a chance to talk about key elements of the human condition — from fear to grief, death and sin — on which Christianity has much to say.”

Opportunity for family discussions

That’s the approach taken by Pastor Brefo, who says he and his wife intend to use the holiday’s focus on things like ghosts, graveyards and ghouls to begin delicate discussions with their children about death, dying and grief.

“Halloween gives us a great opportunity as parents to bring up conversations about death,” he says. “As a pastor and reverend, while Halloween seems innocent and fun, it also reminds me of the death of loved ones.

“What I’m learning is that we can leverage the season of Halloween to encourage people who are grieving,” he adds. “We may encourage our kids to write letters to the people in our neighborhood and church who are bereaved.

“We want to help our kids understand that grieving is part of loving and losing someone.”

Brefo won’t focus on Halloween during his sermon on Oct. 30, but he will continue to focus on the book of Hebrews, which he and his congregation have been discussing recently.

“Depending on where we are, we probably will not take a break but will carry on with Hebrews,” he says. “But I may look for ways we can talk about Halloween in the sermon.”

Local events

Like the Brefo family, San Diego residents can choose to embrace the spooky and escape the scariest monsters at various local attractions — or patronize more wholesome, family-oriented activities available throughout the area.