What do you ladies think about Halloween? I know that it has Christian origins, but has definitely become something else in the US. I think that in the last few years, it has gotten noticeably darker and less cute, if it ever was. The Home Depot and Lowes displays/decorations for sale this year were downright horrifying in my opinion. It just wasn't stuff I want to randomly see in public when I'm shopping for paint colors or whatever. I used to be so into Halloween and I'd plan for it for weeks and usually do some fancy, scary makeup that would scare my now-8 year old back when he was 3 or 4, and I thought it was funny. Cringe. But, the last couple of years, I just don't want to do any of it anymore. I'm not into it, but my son still is, so I'm not sure how to cut him off from it, and I really don't want my toddler daughter getting used to it either. I was ready to put the hammer on it this year, but my son's scout troop was having a bunch of Halloween activities, so his dad bought both of my kids some costumes from amazon behind my back. I found it weird that he didn't ask me and just did it. That's kind of unlike him. I just let it go this year, but I'm tired of it. I'm sick of how it's shoved down everyone's throat, so commercialized, and is more and more a vulgar celebration of the obscene. A poster on the men's forum had a thought provoking comment about how there should be a place for respectful, Christ-centered celebration of macabre and no one gets that better than I do. I'm quite comfortable with that, maybe too much so, but it's just gone too far.
Halloween
- Thread starter follower_of_christ
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The only thing I like about Halloween is candy and chocolate everywhere. I will scope out for my mounds, almond joy and anything dark chocolate. Other than that it’s demonic. It is hard getting your children to avoid it because it’s everywhere. I wouldn’t find anything wrong with dressing up like biblical figures like Moses or the fish who swallowed Jonah, etc. or something wholesome but obviously costumes these days are all scary and/or bad. If you always wanted to be an astronaut or a dinosaur it’s the only day of the year people won’t look twice.
Having grown up without Halloween, I never understood this obsession with death and horrifying things. Some decorations are truly disturbing. We have to change our route to school now to avoid looking at this house that has dozens of heads hanging from the porch, along with a guillotine and other torture elements in the front yard. I would be scared to live next to these people.
Having said that, we do take our kids trick or treating dressed in non-demonic costumes. This is the only time a year they're allowed to eat candy, so it's quite a treat. Thankfully, Halloween (and anything related to it) is banned at their school and they only celebrate All Saints Day.
Having said that, we do take our kids trick or treating dressed in non-demonic costumes. This is the only time a year they're allowed to eat candy, so it's quite a treat. Thankfully, Halloween (and anything related to it) is banned at their school and they only celebrate All Saints Day.
Celebrating and glorifying torture is insane. I don't know how we've gotten to this point, honestly. I am lucky that I don't have to look at any houses like that. Certain "decorations" should be illegal. I think obscenity laws should apply to some of the stuff that's out there and I don't know why they don't.
Absolutely! That's exactly what I told my husband.
Our "scary" thing is we decorated the porch and the yard for Christmas, for Halloween. It's pretty decked out. We're telling people our house is haunted by the Holy Ghost/Ghost of Christmas. 
From a class by Met. Jonah: "Should the Orthodox celebrate Halloween?" If I may share the youtube link below. It's from 2 years ago. He makes many good points. "“What Halloween does spiritually, is it creates a pre-disposition in children to believe that the spiritual is make-believe.”. "Demons are real."
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Yes, but I must also have a bag of the controversial candy corn.
I'm trying to purge the last dregs of this "holiday" from my system. I enjoyed it as a girl, but nowadays it's impossible not to notice the demonic saturation so many have pointed out and which, I'm certain, was present even when I was young and foolish. I don't like horror films, I don't like seeing fake dismembered corpses on the Jones's lawn, and I don't like young children going around dressed in devil horns. Like other people have said more eloquently, it's just a gateway drug to thinking the evil one is harmless. He wants us to think that.
My husband and I became Orthodox last spring and I've pretty much lost any interest in Halloween. We just moved across the country and aren't fully settled in yet, so the timing wasn't good for much of any fall decorations. We sat outside and handed out candy.
It was all fine except for this one weird teenager or young adult in a creepy costume (Michael Myers from Halloween, including a big knife that was probably fake but you had to wonder, given his creepy vibe). He was walking alone and said not a word, gave off a somewhat menacing vibe. I found myself bracing for weirdness, should it transpire. My husband had his gun handy as always just in case, but thank God, the guy took his candy and walked away. My read is he's an awkward teenager with no friends and we should be nice to him, as we were. My husband found him more sinister and said he was on alert - and I must admit he was strange.
It was all fine except for this one weird teenager or young adult in a creepy costume (Michael Myers from Halloween, including a big knife that was probably fake but you had to wonder, given his creepy vibe). He was walking alone and said not a word, gave off a somewhat menacing vibe. I found myself bracing for weirdness, should it transpire. My husband had his gun handy as always just in case, but thank God, the guy took his candy and walked away. My read is he's an awkward teenager with no friends and we should be nice to him, as we were. My husband found him more sinister and said he was on alert - and I must admit he was strange.
We had *one* family of “trick or treaters” this year (our neighbors). “Pre-covid” it would be at least twenty or more. Two large bags of candy worth, easily. Another addition to the atomization of our society (whether one agrees with trick or treating or not…). We’ve also been dealing with the fentanyl crisis in our community which has certainly kept people sticking with who they know and staying home. I also have noticed that the amount of Halloween decorations/homes participating has gone down dramatically over the years.
On another note, All Saints Day is the day we remember all the Christians who have passed before us. In my church, we read the name of each person that died in the Faith since last All Saints Day. The tower bell is rung with each name. It is somber and a bit morbid but that is the point. All Saints Day is the juxtaposition of Easter. Easter is the Resurrection, Spring, New Life, Reborn in Christ. All Saints Day is Fall/Autumn and the dying of living things. It’s the day to reflect on our own mortality but also that, for us Christians, even though we may die, we live in Christ. We remember to never fear death because we are promised eternal paradise with God.
As to “Halloween,” I think it’s what you make of it, like anything. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with Autumn/Harvest Festival kinds of things like pumpkin patches, tractor rides, corns mazes, apple cider, hay bales, and scare crows, etc. Thats just enjoying the change in seasons. As for trick or treating, I always took that to mean to be generous to strangers at your door…
There were some mentions in this thread and the Men’s “Halloween” thread about “the macabre” and I would challenge them to visit the Capuchin Crypt. Skeletons, both human and man made, adorn Christian cathedrals all over the world. I poignantly remember a gilded skeleton holding an hour glass… Tick tock.
On another note, All Saints Day is the day we remember all the Christians who have passed before us. In my church, we read the name of each person that died in the Faith since last All Saints Day. The tower bell is rung with each name. It is somber and a bit morbid but that is the point. All Saints Day is the juxtaposition of Easter. Easter is the Resurrection, Spring, New Life, Reborn in Christ. All Saints Day is Fall/Autumn and the dying of living things. It’s the day to reflect on our own mortality but also that, for us Christians, even though we may die, we live in Christ. We remember to never fear death because we are promised eternal paradise with God.
As to “Halloween,” I think it’s what you make of it, like anything. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with Autumn/Harvest Festival kinds of things like pumpkin patches, tractor rides, corns mazes, apple cider, hay bales, and scare crows, etc. Thats just enjoying the change in seasons. As for trick or treating, I always took that to mean to be generous to strangers at your door…
There were some mentions in this thread and the Men’s “Halloween” thread about “the macabre” and I would challenge them to visit the Capuchin Crypt. Skeletons, both human and man made, adorn Christian cathedrals all over the world. I poignantly remember a gilded skeleton holding an hour glass… Tick tock.
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We had quite a few trick-or-treaters compared to the norm for us which is none.
We worked hard to entice them!
People loved the Christmas decorations. Had a playful argument with a young girl who thought we were so silly for saying "Merry Christmas!"
Gave away dozens of homemade cookies and an entire gallon of hot chocolate.
Played Christmas music on the porch the entire time.
10/10 would do it again
We worked hard to entice them!
People loved the Christmas decorations. Had a playful argument with a young girl who thought we were so silly for saying "Merry Christmas!"
Gave away dozens of homemade cookies and an entire gallon of hot chocolate.
Played Christmas music on the porch the entire time.
10/10 would do it again
I agree with this post, especially regarding the changing of seasons and the atomization of society. Fall is actually my favorite season and I miss living in a northern state where it represents a really dramatic seasonal change.
I guess it just feels to me like our culture is becoming more demonic in recent years and I am wondering if it is just Halloween showing it's "true colors" or if people are using Halloween as an excuse to celebrate some pretty demonic and disturbing things. Could be both.
The majority of our secular “culture” is Top Down, as in corporations, economists, marketing CEO’s, boardrooms, TPTB, etc., are choosing what appears on the market (our culture essentially) in the products we’re sold, the shows on TV, the ads on our phones. It’s on purpose and by design. The weak minded blindly follow (zombie-like…) this socially-engineered marketing scheme. If these corporations started pushing Christian themed products, they’d lap it up just as easily.
The truth is that it doesn’t have anything to do with “Halloween” specifically, but that a large amount of people in our society are just low IQ and unthinking, happy to be led by the nose. (Edit: Just noticed the double entendre there…
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