The evenings are getting darker, the nights are getting longer and the shops are full of witches’ outfits and pumpkins carved with hideous faces.   As we approach Halloween, how do we view this increasingly popular mythic culture which seems to celebrate the powers of darkness?  The occult world is a worrying area of interest and fascination for some people, and it is a world which perhaps we treat too light-heartedly.  There are real powers of evil and dark arts which exist in the world, and we need to be aware of the dangers of inviting those powers into our lives.  But is there any harm in encouraging our children to dress up for Halloween and carving pumpkins?

All Hallows Eve (to give it the proper title) falls on October 31^st and is the eve of All Hallows (hallowed = holy), otherwise called All Saints’ Day on 1^st November.  This is when we remember the saints who have witnessed to the Christian faith down the centuries.   As with many Christian festivals, our religious forefathers took over a pre-Christian celebration which already existed in local culture and adopted it as a Christian festival or holy day.  The technical name for this process is acculturation.  The ancient Celtic festival of Samhain involved lighting bonfires and dressing up in costumes to ward off ghostly spirits because as winter approached, this was a time of year associated with death and decay.  At various points during the first millennium the Christian church decided to adopt this occasion as a time to remember the saints, martyrs and the faithful departed.  In churches up and down the land this marks the start of our season of remembrance.

Some Christians feel that it is inappropriate to celebrate Halloween, or indeed any event culturally linked to witches and magic.  The Harry Potter books with all the associated films and merchandise are sometimes frowned upon by certain parts of the Christian church, but since the Harry Potter genre celebrates the triumph of good over evil, it certainly brings a positive moral dimension into the frame.  Furthermore, millions of children who might otherwise have chosen not to engage with reading for pleasure, have been encouraged to read the books and this has to be a major plus point in favour of J. K. Rowling’s fantasy world.

Ancient cathedrals were decorated with multiple examples of stone gargoyles and ghastly faces on their walls and buttresses, and presumably this might be considered a stonemason’s version of pumpkin faces.  I haven’t heard of objections to gargoyles, but perhaps this is because they are often too high above ground level to be easily visible.  On the subject of carving pumpkins, I have seen a number of beautiful examples of pumpkins which have been carved with Christian symbols, especially showing the cross of resurrection, and here is another way in which Christianity can engage imaginatively with popular culture. When my daughter bought a pumpkin the other day to try out her hand at the traditional practice of cutting out a gruesome face in a pumpkin for Halloween, it led to a culinary highpoint in our house: we had a very enjoyable meal of pumpkin risotto followed by pumpkin pie.  So I am not going to object to carving pumpkins!

Sarah Bourne, Chaplain for the Arts – 27^th Oct 2021            sarahbourne@banburystmary.org.uk