Tuesday, October 30, 2018

Fr. Sergei Sveshnikov: Death to Halloween! (Very Scary!)

From one of my favorite bloggers and authors, a new post entitled "Death to Halloween! (Very Scary!)"


It is that time of year again when Orthodox and some other Christian writers attempt to warn people about the evils of Halloween. They assert—and I have done no less in my much younger days—that Halloween is a pagan holiday, and thus everyone who participates in its celebrations by default participates in the ancient Gaelic harvest festival called Samhain (“summer’s end”). As I grew older I saw that the people who dress up as princesses and Marvel super heroes have about as much to do with devil worship (for this is often the claim) as people who send each other Christmas cards or Easter candy have to do with worshiping Jesus Christ. This is all that I will say about it, and it may be a topic for another time. For myself, I still do not see any need to celebrate Halloween any more than I do the Chinese New Year, the Parinirvana Day, Eid-al-Adha, or Yom Kippur. But I am no longer interested in writing pseudo-pious articles linking my neighbors’ children to devil worshipers for merely dressing up in costumes any more than I am interested in condemning Russian Orthodox Christians for making (and partaking of!) pancakes on Maslenista, since pancakes are an ancient pagan symbol of the cult of the Sun (round, yellow, hot—reminds of anything?).


However, the grinches of Halloween (of whom I am chief) just might see the death of it after all. And no, it is not our fiery blog posts and inspirational sermons that are killing the evil practice of carving pumpkins and exchanging miniature candy bars. No, the butcher of Halloween is the modern phenomenon of super-sensitivity and hyper-offendedness. It is insensitive to dress up as a princess because this is a class misappropriation and may offend real princesses. Likewise, one should not dress up as a prince or a knight, unless the same is in fact a prince or a knight. No more Count Dracula costumes—they may be insensitive towards ethnic Transylvanians and persons bearing the noble title of count. Definitely, no Cowboys or Indians—for very obvious reasons. The Little Mermaid costume may offend persons with sirenomelia. A pirate costume is insensitive to people who have been victims of real pirates. (And it may also offend Somali-Americans due to the Western stereotyping of Somali pirates in the MSM.) Certainly, no more skeletons, zombies, or any other costume with reference to injury or death, because they may trigger traumatic experiences in some people. And no, no more children dressed as teddy bears, cats, or any other animal—speciesism and misappropriation! No more black capes. Period. They offend Orthodox clergy. Obviously, nothing sexy due to the abomination of objectification! No more nurses, nuns, witches, firemen, or clowns. I should not have to go on; the pious reader will understand the principle by which any costume is inappropriate unless worn by the very actual person it pretends to portray.

Halloween decorations are no less harmful in our culture. Heads carved out of pumpkins risk offending people who are sensitive to all of the recent beheadings committed by Islamic terrorists. Fake hanging corpses are unacceptable because they trigger the historical trauma of lynching. Spiders and spider webs are offensive to people with arachnophobia; and the fake RIP tombstones are insensitive to those who recently lost their loved ones. No more scarecrows in the yard, because they may scare people who are scared of scarecrows. There simply is not a single piece of Halloween decoration that is not insensitive or outright offensive to someone!

It is very possible that in our lifetime, the greeting “Happy Halloween!” will finally be replaced with the neutral “Happy holidays!” and everyone with walk around dressed strictly as themselves, exchanging carrot and celery sticks. (Candies are offensive to people without dental insurance and may be a conspiracy of the dental lobby.) Perhaps then, Orthodox bloggers with stop writing about the horrors of Halloween and focus instead on the memory of the Evangelist Luke or Saint Joseph of Volotsk, whose memory we celebrate on October 31 (those on the new calendar will have a pick of several of the Seventy Disciples.)

9 comments:

  1. I would actually be quite alright with a local practice developing in America to reclaim the 1 November as a synaxis of all saints and 2 November as a universal commemoration of the departed. Redundant, maybe. But a legitimate option I'd say.

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    1. That would be fantastic. I actually attended a Western Rite (Antiochian) parish for the first time this past All Hallow's Eve, because I wanted to avoid the yucky stuff but still have something to do. It was great!

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  2. Some churches have Vespers for St. John of Kronstadt the evening of Oct 31st.

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    1. Or Ss. Cosmas and Damian on the new calendar.

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    3. I should also say that the decision to have Vespers for Ss. Cosmas and Damian had nothing to do with Halloween. It is just one of the feasts we have services for.

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  3. For the record, not holding my breath on any account. Halloween remains a neighborhood tradition where families meet the kids and parents that live nearby... but don't see much of the year. Do we need to make political and theological statements against community? You were right to revise your initial position that it has little to do with devil worship.

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    1. It doesn't seem that innocent when there are houses covered in skulls and tombstones and other scary things (I have young children that I do not want to see such things.) I'm not judging the motives of those that celebrate, but my family does not because of this verse and others: "Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things." Phillipians 4:8. Too many things associated with halloween do not meet this criteria irregardless of its origins.

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    2. I affirm your decision not to participate. My wife and I have made the same decision, at least for now. It's a really difficult issue to settle, I think. I do wish those in favor of Halloween would make more efforts to rationally justify it rather than just painting those who disagree as narrow-minded or abstemious.

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