I received a phone call from my friends at BBC Wiltshire yesterday evening asking whether I was free to go into the Breakfast Show this morning to talk about Hallowe'en. From the 10 minute chat with the researcher it became apparent that they weren’t necessarily looking for me to come on as the Christian who sees Hallowe'en as the work of the devil and a cover for the occult. (There may be something in that but I haven’t heard of many virgins being sacrificed in Swindon to be honest – there is a joke waiting to escape there, but I’ll let you, dear reader, fill in your own punch line.)
So having gone in to the studio the conversation we had was along the lines as Hallowe'en now being nothing more than some imported commercial thing which the supermarkets have latched on to as a way of selling lots of “stuff” , naff costumes, sweets and pumpkins. But we also talked about how for many people, particularly the elderly but also anyone who lives alone, Trick or Treat is a genuinely frightening thing. After all, if you are elderly, the last thing you want (or expect) are strangers ringing the doorbell. And then on opening the door you are confronted with people dressed in scary costumes shouting “Trick or treat” at you.
And, to be honest, not only do you not want to be disturbed by strangers, but you have no idea what Trick of Treat means.
In my preparation for the programme this morning I did a quick bit of research on line about the origins of Halloween and Trick or Treat. What I am about to cite comes mainly from an article in the Daily Telegraph dating back to 2009 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/6468637/Halloween-a-history-of-All-Hallows-Eve-from-Samhain-to-trick-or-treat.html Though there are plenty of other things too.
It seems as if there was an ancient pagan festival around this time of the year called Samhain that marked the ending of the light half of the year and the start of the dark part of the year. (Today we call that the festival of putting the clocks back an hour.) Samhain was a sort of harvest festival, when the last crops were gathered in for the winter, and livestock killed and stored. But the pagan Celts also believed it was a time when the walls between our world and the next became thin and porous, allowing spirits to pass through.
As was often the case with the early church, in order to convert the natives, a Christian festival was established called All Souls (or “All Hallows”) in which the dead were remembered and their souls were prayed for, in order to be released from purgatory. (Bear in mind I am no authority in Catholicism and the practices of the early church; if it’s not a Trappist beer I don’t understand it.) In time it became the norm for this festival to start on the night before All Hallows – All Hallows Eve hence “Hallowe'en”.
So what of Trick or Treat? It seems as if in some Catholic parts of the world there was a tradition of giving gifts to the poor at the time of All Hallows. The idea would be that the beggars would say prayers for the souls of the dead in exchange for food. “Guising”, disguising oneself as a ghoul to fool evil spirits. Is this the origin of Trick of Treat? Or did it just emerge in the USA in the 1920s? As they say on QI “Nobody knows”
What most seem to agree is that there was no tradition of Trick of Treat in this country. Those of us of a certain age remember Hallowe'en being a time when you might play some silly games at home such as Apple Bobbing or Apple on the Line. But the major festival was Guy Fawkes on November 5th. But sometime somehow Trick or Treat invaded. (In a 2007 piece Sean Coughlan described Trick or Treat as “The Japanese Knotweed of festivals” http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7067804.stm. Meaning I suppose it’s been imported and is pernicious.)
So am I just being an old grouch to be opposed to Trick or Treat or am I right to voice concern?
Let me say first of all, I don’t think that dressing up children as Margaret Thatcher or something equally scary will mean they become devil worshippers. Certainly my American Christian friends don’t make that association and I think it fair to say that a good number of them are more conservative in many respects than Christians here. So if there was more to Trick or Treat you’d expect them to oppose it.
So my opposition is based on two aspects.
Firstly, there is an anti-social element to it. I’ve mentioned above the genuine fear single and / or elderly people have about being disturbed. Whilst these fears may be unfounded for the most part, they are still genuine. And there will be instances of the houses and cars of people not wanting to participate, being “bombed” with eggs and flour. Also what message does it send to young people? For 364 days of the year it would be illegal to demand money with menaces but suddenly on Hallowe'en we’re telling them it’s fine to demand something (albeit sweets) backed up with the threat of violence.
Secondly, we are allowing commerce to dictate to us. A visit to my local supermarket this morning showed an aisle wholly dedicated to the sale of Halloween stuff. OK people don’t have to buy but there is huge pressure on families to conform.
I suppose I am in the minority and most people see it as a bit of fun. But as I’m on police chaplaincy duty this evening, I’ll be interested to see the effect of this bogus festival.
In the meantime if it’s not too late you can download a “Trick or treat no thanks” poster here:
http://www.wiltshire.police.uk/index.php/campaignsand-events/3343-halloween
Finally, I’d like to point you to a great blog by a friend of mine, on the theology around this topic:
http://tractorgirl66.wordpress.com/2013/10/24/light-in-the-dark-places/
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