Halloween Social Imaginery
Image: Diet of the jelly worm bobbing.
No matter which way you cut it, Christians have liberty to use biblically-informed wisdom in making decisions about Halloween based on their convictions.
I have found, as a parent, that year after year, my thoughts on this permeate, grow, and get challenged this time every year. Ideas from Jonathan Pageau, W. David O. Taylor, Paul Anleitner have helped in recent years to grasp Halloween’s imagery from a more philosophical and symbolic perspective. And affectionate uncle Screwtape’s letters reveal themselves to be far closer to non-fiction than fiction.
I want to consider a specific angle in this dialogue about Halloween celebrations. That being, the imagination. Consider this an annual, ongoing, work-in-progress on the topic.
An Ever-Changing Social Imaginery
Charles Taylor defines social imaginary as “the way ordinary people ‘imagine’ their social surroundings.” He goes on, “this is often not expressed in theoretical terms, it is carried in images, stories, legends, etc” (A Secular Age, 171-172). Our imaginations are different from our intellect. C.S. Lewis calls the imagination the “organ of meaning.”
The implications are important: our imaginations and therefore our lives become shaped by the context we find ourselves in. While direct words preach at us, context preaches are our imaginations. For children (and even adults), the symbolism of Halloween becomes attached to certain realities. And those realities were formed via the symbolism and meanings assigned to the symbols throughout life.
Let me illustrate the implications of this. My wife and I know someone who grew up in a Satanic cult. As an adult convert to Christianity, it took this person many years to realize that what other Christians were doing by trick-or-treating did not equate to her childhood experience. She literally could not separate cultural Halloween practices with the grotesque things she she and experienced growing up. But if you were to ask 7-year-old Matt about Halloween’s symbolism, I would have merely said, “I get candy, and I like candy and friends and playing on Halloween.”
By celebrating the Reformation, Halloween imagery symbolizes liberation.
By celebrating Dia de Los Muertes, Halloween imagery might symbolize one’s beloved, deceased and yet living, abuella.
By celebrating trick or treating, Halloween imagery might symbolize nothing more than consumerism.
By celebrating Halloween, some might regard is as idolatry and participation in witchcraft.
What our social surroundings do with it’s Halloween imagery tends to dictate what realities get “painted” in that community’s imaginations.
Scripture & The Spiritual
“Our senses are not infallible…What we learn from experience depends on the kind of philosophy we bring to experience. It is therefore useless to appeal to experience…"
C.S. Lewis, Miracles
Pin pointing where in Scripture to talk about Halloween is a tricky one. It depends on what issues with Halloween one might have. In this post, I’ll address the spiritual realm and spiritual warfare. Are we worshipping demons on Halloween by dressing up? Are we celebrating idols?
It is important to realize a few objective realities at play.
First, Christians have mission and purpose in their lives. We ought not be ignorant of that. Our mission in life is to make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:16-20). We are to walk in the good works God has allotted for us since before he created the world (Ephesians 2:10). Showcasing ourselves as light and salt of the world (Matthew 5:13-16; Philippians 2:15). And parents are to train their children (Deuteronomy 6; Psalm 127:3-5). Dad’s especially are supposed to nourish their kids towards maturity (Ephesians 6:4). Just read through Proverbs to see an example of dad-to-child the interactions!
Second, demons, spirits, and a wicked unseen council absolutely exist (Psalm 82; Luke 11:24-26; Ephesians 6:12). But we ought to take comfort because they are all subject to King Jesus (Matthew 28:16-20; Colossians 1:15). Even if they seem to be succeeding, God will ultimately judge them and they’ll die like men (Psalm 82). Still, this unseen realm has authority to operate in the world. While God expects them to govern justly, sin’s reach has impacted their ruling. God originally assigned them to oversee different nations (Deuteronomy 4:19-20; 32:8-9). In 1 Kings 22:19-23, we even see this unseen council discussing and making decisions about who will entice King Ahab. They are shown as an army (Psalm 108:12; Deuteronomy 33:1-5), seen at times subject to God’s commands (Isaiah 40:1-3; Amos 3:10, 13). If you ever read C.S. Lewis’ The Screwtape Letters, you get a further idea (though fictional) of their tactics.
Third, it is true that the Old Testament is filled with worshipping false gods and animism. Rather than serve and offer their lives to the one true God, his people are often found in service to false gods. Child sacrifice, divination, fortune telling, interpreting omens, casting spells, consulting mediums, and necromancy (consulting the dead), were all practices God’s people would have been tempted by and God condemned against such practices (Leviticus 19:31; Deuteronomy 18:10-12; 1 Samuel 28:9). Such activities were considered abominations by God, punishable by removal from the community.
Does dressing up, receiving candy from strangers, and painting our social imaginery with everything from Elsa to Michael Myers equate these kinds of Old Testament practices? Are our kids participating in Satanic rituals when doing such things? I understand completely the hesitancy we might have and why the topic is so spicy.
Scripture Principles
What then does God expect believers to understand about spiritual warfare and Halloween? Paul, of course, stated that we are not ignorant of Satan’s schemes (2 Corinthians 2:11). What kinds of schemes ought we be on the lookout for then? A few principles to consider:
Understand the nature of our war: We are absolutely in a spiritual war against rulers, authorities, world powers of this darkness, and the spiritual forces of evil in the heavens (Ephesians 6:10-18). We are not expected to be at war with each other (Ephesians 6:12). When we fight and do not seek reconciliation, we are at risk of dividing what Christ brought together. We ought to be careful. For the sake of our Halloween convictions and not wanting to be “demonic,” we actually end up letter our emotions entice us to fight with others about those convictions. Thereby, acting demonically inso doing!
Satan’s end goal would be for the world (Christian and non-Christian) to believe lies, suppressing truth (Romans 1:18). This battlefield is experienced cognitively against the knowledge of God (2 Corinthians 10:1-6), with temptations to believe lies (James 4:7). When we allow our feelings to govern truth, Satan is whispering in the background.
Our fleshly desires for sin ought to be crucified (Galatians 5:16-24). When we don’t fight our flesh, we remove Jesus from his throne.
We face attacks in such a way: truth, righteousness, gospel of peace, faith, salvation, the Spirit, God’s word (Ephesians 6:14-17). These are everyday, never-ending-in-this-life occurrences, not just one hour a year trick or treating. Not arming yourself with this outfit of protection makes Satan’s attacks easier. Don’t fight so heavily for the sake of one hour a year and bypass the other 8759 hours a year.
Do not let the imagery fool you. I can imagine Satan saying something like, “Let them decorate with these images representing us. It’ll cause all kinds of confusion about our existence. They will get to the point where they’ll entertain the decorations and believe we are just pretend. We’ll mask our true existence behind such a lie!”
So, I guess my question remains for myself, whatever I decide to do on Halloween, what does shaping my kid’s imaginations look like given these verses? I think my greatest “daddy fear” would be that Satan would deceive my kids (2 Corinthians 11:1-6).
Crafting a Halloween Social Imaginery
Halloween is a Mutt Holiday: Whose traditions do we react to? In my ever sharpening thoughts, I feel like I get to assign the imagery to whatever symbol I want to as a dad for my kids. I get to prepare them for the onslaught of other people’s influences they will encounter. I recognize the power of the larger culture that will work for or against their imagination battle-ground. Given this, here’s my best efforts to “connect the dots” of the symbolism my kids see (rather than a checklist of “do this” and “don’t do this”):
God gave us imaginations to steward and nurture.
We love life, not death.
We create over consume.
We believe truth, not lies.
Skull & death imagery can help us remember that it is wise to think about our last days (Psalm 39:4-6, 90:12; Ecclesiastes 7:4).
Culturally, Halloween means different things to different people. And we want to respect the various reasonings and convictions others have. Love helps us do this.
Demons are real. This is not a game.
Those Halloween decorations might not literally be real (beyond the batteries, paint, and fabric), but they symbolize real things.
Takeaway questions
This was written largely for myself. Rather than concluding with a here’s-what-you-should-now-do thought for myself, a few questions would serve me more (regardless of what you choose to do this halloween):
What truths can I focus on and highlight from [this practice] for myself and our family?
How can we display love for our neighbors today?
