Spooky

While I certainly defend the right of certain conservative Christians to eschew Halloween this year because it’s on a Sunday, I also defend the right of some folks to call it goofy — especially since I agree with the latter more than the former.

“It’s a day for the good Lord, not for the devil,” said Barbara Braswell, who plans to send her 4-year-old granddaughter Maliyah out trick-or-treating in a princess costume on Saturday instead.

Some towns around the country are decreeing that Halloween be celebrated on Saturday to avoid complaints from those who might be offended by the sight of demons and witches ringing their doorbell on the Sabbath.

“You just don’t do it on Sunday,” said Sandra Hulsey of Greenville, Georgia. “That’s Christ’s day. You go to church on Sunday, you don’t go out and celebrate the devil. That’ll confuse a child.”

In Newnan, a suburb south of Atlanta, the City Council decided to go ahead with trick-or-treating on Sunday. In 1999, the last time October 31 fell on a Sunday, the city moved up trick-or-treating to Saturday, which brought howls of protest.

Of course, there is some good news in this:

The patchwork of trick-or-treat zones could work to children’s advantage: Some might go out on both nights to get all the treats they can.

Remarkably enough, some folks have actually figured out a non-confrontational way to deal with this (big duh here):

With so many towns split over when Halloween should be celebrated, many are going with a porch-light compromise: If people do not want trick-or-treaters, they simply turn off their lights, and parents are asked not to have kids knock there. “Most people don’t have a problem with it. It’s a pretty universal compromise, so that’s what we go with,” said Grand Rapids, Michigan, police Lt. Douglas Brinkley.

It’s certainly been universal in every neighborhood I’ve ever lived in. You knock where there’s lights out front, you pass by where there’s not. Some folks don’t do Halloween, others aren’t necessarily at home, others may have run out of treats (never a problem in our household).

I can respect folks who hold the Sabbath (as defined as Sunday) holy, not a day for work or frivolity. It’s not my personal way of following my faith, but it doesn’t harm anyone.

But I guess I really don’t get the “Halloween is the holiday to celebrate the devil” thang. Maybe it was growing up Catholic (a sign of the devil in some of the same quarters, of course), and knowing that 31 October is All Souls Day, hardly a demonic celebration, and that Halloween is itself derived from “All Hallows Eve” (the evening before All Saints Day). Certainly trick or treating never struck me as associated with the devil, just with costumes, candy, and a bit of safe spookiness.

There are those folks who dislike all holidays as frippery, who come from Christian traditions that don’t even “celebrate” Christmas or Easter (or who disagree with the commercialized trappings we’ve layered over them, and thus reject them outright). Again, whatever floats your boat.

But I do long for the day when folks were more worried about razor blades in apples than whether a little girl dressed up like a big purple kitty and going door to door looking for Snickers bars was, in fact, being brainwashed into worshipping Satan. The only likelihood is that she’s going to be brainwashed into worshipping Mars.