Mothering

Today, I thought long and hard about what I wanted to say regarding this topic.  The more I thought, the more I wanted to say.  The more I wanted to say the more I thought of you, the reader.  I wondered if you would actually take the time to read this article and if you did, would you ask yourself…What about Halloween?  I wondered if you would question the things that you see and the things that are around you.  I wondered if you would see, the obvious.

Now when I say “the obvious,” I am not saying that this is something that we all see.  Instead I am saying that it is something that we should all see, but have been trained to ignore.  Thus the obvious becomes the irrelevant and the invisible.  To some degree, the obvious also becomes the ignored or the accepted.  I know, I’ve said a lot, but let me explain.

Today I took my daughter to ballet.  While there the ballet teacher told my daughter and the other children to wear their Halloween costumes to class next Thursday.  Immediately, I said, “We don’t celebrate Halloween,” and then smiled.  Another parent that was standing by me said, “We don’t really celebrate it either and someone asked me, why it’s ok for Mormons to celebrate it.” This mother is a Mormon and she knows that I’m a Christian, so she looked at me and asked why? She said, “The costumes are fun, just don’t get all Satanish about it.”  I looked at her, surprised that she actually wanted to know my thoughts and reasoning about Halloween and I began.

Every year, during the month of October, the stores are filled with images of things that are gross and frightening.  The costumes that go on sale are ones that would only frighten an adult, let alone a child.  Although many adults see these costumes as harmless, if it were not Halloween and a person was walking around dressed as a witch because she was one or an ax murder, people would run and find the nearest police officer and then go straight home.  The encounter would be considered the worst experience ever, until the next horrific occasion arose.

The Decor

During this time of year, decorations are put all over.  This is no different from any other celebratory occasion, but the type of decor is rather strange.  Skeletons, witches, grave yards, monsters, bats, spiders, blood, severed limbs…must I say more?  The images that begin to appear during the month of October are normally considered horrific or inappropriate, but this is the only time that it is acceptable.  I was told by someone recently that a man was driving around with a limb hanging out of the back of his trunk.  I’m sure that many people thought it was funny, but the truth is that he could have really had a dead person in his car and no one would have known, simply because its close to Halloween.

In my neighborhood, here in Utah, people have applied fake blood to their doors and hung skeletons from their trees.  There are multiple life-size replicas of Frankenstein, dead bodies, scary children with bleeding feet crouched on the ground, there are even chairs that rock all by them selves.  The children in the neighborhood are afraid to walk to school because of the severed limbs placed in the front yards of neighbors who have turned their homes into portraits of death.

The Representing Figures of Halloween

I have already discussed the decor that is seen during this particular time of year.  Let’s now look at the symbols and figures of Halloween.

The Witch

When you look up witch on the internet, here is one of the first things that comes up.

“Practitioners of the Wiccan religion, known as witches, exist around the world, though witches with supernatural powers are creatures of myth.” ~Ask.com

Images of witches have been portrayed all over television.  They have been in books and fairytale.  When you think of a witch, what do you think of?  I think of a woman dressed in dark-colored clothes, with a weird look about her.  I think of broomsticks, magic, and witch craft.  I think of a woman trying to conjure up a spell to control another human being.  I think of black magic.  No I am a Christian and I believe that magic is against God.  We will visit this in more detail in another article, but ask yourself what you believe for a moment about God and magic.Now that you have done that, you might be saying that I am going overboard because there is no such thing as a witch.  They are made up right?!  Think again.

Digispy.com has an article posted about a practicing wiccan that is renting her home out every night during the month of October.  Her intent is to teach people magic.  She has been practicing magic for 25 years and is a witch.

 “I’m really excited to show all my guests the true meaning of Halloween and how to get into the spirit of things – after all, who knows how to celebrate Halloween better than a witch?”
Starza will give guests a history of Wicca, in addition to personalised Tarot card readings. She is also offering spell lessons and potion-making for guests who choose to partake. ~digitalspy.com

Did you catch that? The true meaning of Halloween.

Other figures of Halloween are the vampire, the werwolf, the ghost, the skeleton, that grave yard, and zombies. Each of these figures are representations of death.  I will be writing another article on these figures.

The Ritual: the Candy

During the month of October candy is one of the items that quickly goes on the shelves at the grocery stores and it is sold out quick.  THose who participate in Halloween rack up on their stock of candy because they want to have a pleasing sweet treat for all of the children that will knock on their doors.

Children that will knock on their doors?

Yes…

Do you remember what you were taught about taking candy from strangers?

Do you realize what you teach your children about taking candy from strangers?

Yet every year on October 31st, parents allow their children to go door to door and take candy from strangers.  They even smile and tell the children that it’s fun…all for a celebration…what is being celebrated?

Are you getting it?

The Obvious Lesson…

For years, I didn’t know.  I walked around like everyone else, participating in Halloween.  Then I began to have a relationship with the Lord, and my eyes began to open to the obvious things that I could not see before.  Over time, I realized that Halloween was something that took all that I believed, stood for, and taught my kids, and turned it around.  On October 31, someone was making a mockery of me.  On October 31st, I stood for nothing.  All I wanted was to have fun because, well, it was fun, right?! Or was it?  If I had not been taught by the world around me that this and all of the activities that surrounded Halloween were ok, for this one day, I would have though that something was wrong.  I would have, like you, never participated in such a gory, frightening, celebration of…what is being celebrated?

I have only presented you with what you can see with your own eyes.  It is up to you to begin to look at things through a clear lens.  You have to ask questions.  If you do, you’ll get answers.

I pray that God will touch your heart and show you the truth about Halloween.

Join me tomorrow for day two of What about Halloween.