I’ve tried. I have really tried. I have marshalled all my self-righteous bluster and vast knowledge, and I still can’t do it. I’m pretty orthodox, as orthodoxy goes, so it seems I should be able to – it kind of makes sense. My brain tells me I should be able to… but I just can’t bring myself to do it. Believe me, I’ve tried, but I can’t.
I can’t hate Halloween. I’m sorry to disappoint some of you.
Yes, I know that:
It is pagan in its origins. (Much like Christmas and Easter)
People dress up as bloody, ghoulish, soulless, evil creatures.
Complete strangers are bussed into my neighborhood and show up at my door expecting candy.
In the old days there was a lot of “mischief” surrounding the “trick” part of treating.
Candy is bad for you. And expensive.
Nowadays walking through a costume shop is semi-pornographic.
Insides of pumpkins are slimy gross.
Dorky, uncostumed teenagers ride around on skateboards with bulging pillowcases full of candy.
Some kids get crazy from the sugar. (nevermind – that is a proven myth)
I know all these things – but I like Halloween anyway. Maybe it’s because we contain it. We don’t go scary or bloody. We try and go cute and creative. The satanic/gory stuff isn’t our “cup o’ tea.”
Halloween is fun. We live in a community where there is still a LOT of trick-or-treaters. We think it’s great.
Not only that, Halloween is the single most charitable day of the year. Name one other day of the year that complete strangers can knock on other stranger’s doors and walk away with something they value – leaving the ‘givers’ expecting absolutely nothing in return. Not even blessings. There is precious little we do that is so non-discriminating.
For the past year, it seems like there has been a constant push by our leaders to help us remember to be missionaries by being good neighbors.Remember that 2nd great commandment: Love thy neighbor? I don’t think what is meant by that is that on the one night of the year the entire neighborhood is interacting with each other, I should turn of my lights, lock the doors, and go somewhere else to avoid those very neighbors.
It is along those same lines that I don’t really care for the “Trunk-or-treat” activities. The vast majority of the people that have shown up to ours are the members of our ward. The kids amass huge amounts of candy, without even having to walk down the street or knock on a door. Meanwhile, I stand around and chat with the very same members that I will chat with next Sunday, and the SUnday after that.. Yes, it is fun – but it makes it easier or me to justify turning off the lights on our neighbors. Sometimes we as Mormons are already working off a stigma of being “cliquish,” this reinforces it – even if we invite.
This was a big deal a few years ago when Halloween fell on a Sunday. There was a lot of discussion and lot sof options on how to handle it. We eventually kept our kids home, but passed out candy like we did every other year. It was weird, but we still had quite a few trick-or-treaters show up, We felt good that we did – rather than put a sign out in the front yard that said “Holier-Than-Thou.”
I like:
Seeing the FOMLs get excited to play dress-up.
Having photo archives of their costumes as they grow.
Milky Ways. A lot. (But lately I have ben on a Baby Ruth kick.)
Hanging out in the streets and chatting with my neighbors.
Carving pumpkins with my kids – especially now that they are old enough to ‘gut’ them by themselves.
Reese’s cups.
Holding hands with the little ones and watching from the sidewalk as they courageously make their first door approaches. (Mission prep?)
Ward parties, even if we call them something less pagan.
Watching the maniacal kids run around in their costumes at the ward parties
Smarties.
Seeing the cool adults dress up and not being spoil sports.
Green apple Jolly Ranchers.
Watching my kids sort their candy on the floor and learn basic trading etiquette.
Refusing to give candy to a kid unless he actually utters the magic words ‘Trick-or-Treat’. (Tiny tots excluded)
Asking the slackers “What are you supposed to be?”
Big Hunks, though increasingly rare.
Quoting Titus 1:15 to people who are “Anti-Halloweenites”.
So, if you are looking for a spiritual, or doctrinal treatise on why we shouldn’t participate in Halloween, you’ve come to the wrong place. Sorry.
No treatise. Only treats.
(Did I mention that I like Milky Ways?)
Other post about Halloween: “My Worst Halloween Ever”
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Great post! Faithful, life-long Mormon here, and a Halloween enthusiast as well (encouraged by two Halloween birthdays in the family). Faith and Halloween don’t have be mutually exclusive, especially if you keep it clean and fun.
lol..I’m not a Halloween lover, (because we don’t live in the States and it’s kind of one of those American traditions that seems to be creeping in to our culture as something that our local shops use as another opportunity to make money0…BUT…in saying that our ward members are organising safe and fun activities that are extra opportunities to create memories for our kids and fellowship one with another. It’s just so sad that it seems to be such a huge financial outlay at a fairly costly time of year.
I’m not sure about your Titus scripture though…that could be twisted to support a lot of non “pure” types of activities.
😉
Love your blog posts though.
What does SIL stand for?
I appreciate your spiritual and humorous thoughts. I agree with much of this post. For past Halloweens, I’ve had the mentality that as long as a trick-or-treater is dressed up, they get candy, regardless of their age. However, my SIL recently enlightened me by sharing a Halloween list of friendly reminders. One reminder was that some kids can’t stand costumes because of sensitivity issues; another reminder is that some kids don’t say “trick-or-treat” because they are non-verbal—both traits of autistic children and youth. Just something to keep in mind at Halloween:-) Have a great evening!
I disagree on both counts. If a kid is able to wear clothing to school, he can wear SOMETHING as a costume. And hopefully, any child who is non-verbal has someone with him/her that IS verbal enough to give the wink and a nod to the people passing out candy.
Our ward did a “trunk or treat” for the first time when Halloween was on Sunday a few years back. It was a big hit, so since then they’ve done one (coupled with other games, etc.) every year, on a non-Halloween night. It’s been a good opportunity to interact with members of the ward we usually wouldn’t, particularly those who aren’t so active, and we could still be there for the neighbor kids on Halloween itself.
This year they’re doing it on Halloween, and I think it’s just a straight “give out candy” thing with no other games, etc. So, we’re going to skip that and stay home. We don’t get many kids in our neighborhood, but we also don’t get much opportunity to interact with them, and we don’t want to miss the chance.
And, Butterfingers for the win.
Another awesome blog! Love your common sense. Thanks for the great reading during the week.
CANDY!!! I GET ANYTHING WITH COCONUT!!! …Great post BTW.
Amen and Amen! You hit the nail on the head in this post, and I agree with every word. Except maybe loving Smarties. 😉
Well, I remember the names of every member of my (26 member) household , but I started mismatching names and faces years ago, just as my folks did a couple decades ago
P.S. Priesthood Quorum and Relief Society leaders might consider making subtle inquiry among the elderly and shut-ins re whether they look forward to or dread Halloween. For some it may just be a costly nuisance, but for others it may be the highlight of their year, and if nobody comes, the un distributed candy just a sad daily reminder of age and loneliness for days or weeks thereafter.
Yup, “…suffer the little children to come…” But “little” ends at 8 years of age, 12 at the very latest. YM and YW have no business but to escort the little ones around, get them across streets safely and be able to list every address visited. It should be a rule that kids do not go to any house that their parents do not know the names of every member of the household, if only for safety’s sake. Don’t know enough people to get your kids bags filled? Shame on you. Maybe you should get out more, eh? Or organize a block party every summer.
“It should be a rule that kids do not go to any house that their parents do not know the names of every member of the household.” What? My kids would never get another piece of candy. Some days I can’t even remember the names of every member of MY household.
Brilliant! 🙂 I agree with everything you said…Halloween is awesome!
Before I begin…I found your blog a few months ago and you’ve been added to my favorites list. We seem to be on the same “wave length” – I appreciate how you can express and articulate my concurring thoughts and you have the ability to make me LOL, not easy to do when there is no one else in the room. I also have never commented on any blogs that I follow, so if you want to consider yourself “special” go right ahead.
On my To Do list today, one item says “figure out what to do Thursday night.” I confess I have gradually evolved into a hater of Halloween. So your post today has hit a nerve and I feel slightly called to repentance. I really used to enjoy the holiday when my boys were young and I knew just about every trick or treater that came to my door. They all WALKED to my house and were not shuttled from who knows where to our street, by the car and van loads as they are today. So a couple of weeks ago when I told my husband that we were not going to be home on Halloween and what would he like to do – go to a movie or something? He looked at me in horror and disbelief because – did I mention that I’m married to the Bishop? I said where in the handbook does it say that the Bishop is required to be home on Halloween night while his wife hands out candy to children who come from out of state for all I know, because they certainly don’t live in the ward boundaries. He finally caved, but not after declaring he would deliver treats to the 6 children (from 2 families) who recently moved onto our street. So maybe I’m starting to waffle just a bit – after reading your post today (written just for me?) OR if the World Series goes to game 7 tomorrow night – then for sure I’m staying home and the Bishop can hand out treats. Happy Halloween!
You’ve taken up one of my soap boxes! I love Halloween and as a Happy Valley church goer, ardently protest trunk or treat’s because in our area they seem to ostracize the non-members. Also, we have a very large amount of children in our immediate neighborhood. I get 350+ visitors every year. Add people who are hopping church parking lots and the impact of candy on my pocketbook goes waaaay up. Not to mention I like that my kids have to “work” for their candy. No procession lines moving from car to car, bag outstretched, expectations met with no questions asked. Trunk or treats have their place, but they’re not for me!
I love Halloween. I reminds me of everything good about my childhood. You don’t have to dress sleazy or aggrandize evil to celebrate it. I tend to focus more on the Superhero side of costumes. We probably do more activities as a family around Halloween than any other time of year. I don’t like it when people imply that good Mormons shouldn’t celebrate Halloween. I don’t think they are mutually exclusive. Last night we carved pumpkins and then ate roasted pumpkin seeds while we read scriptures together. Just like anything else, Halloween is what you make it.
Amen and Thank You!!!
I understand your reasons for not being a fan of the “trunk-or-treat”, but I have become a fan for these reasons:
1) Ours too are attended by people that are mainly members of our ward-but many are inactive and/or part-member families that we as a large group seldom see. And it’s combined with a chili cook-off where everyone is sitting down and eating first, giving the “active” members a chance to really fellowship with people they don’t regularly see at church. Plus our full-time missionaries brought just about every investigator they had. And a lot of the kids/families invite their friends, neighbors, etc. If done right (and I know it’s a big “if”), these are great missionary opportunities.
2) We’ve usually held our ward trunk-or-treat on a night other than Halloween. Thus preserving the opportunity for traditional door-to-door trick or treating. And it provides more candy for dad (me) to “test” and/or “tax”
3) We have quite a few members that live in areas, apartment complexes, etc (living outside of utah/idaho/arizona where our ward is more than 3 square blocks) that just don’t get a lot of traditional trick-or-treaters. This gives them a chance to have fun and interact with the kids as well.
Tom
That’s a big part of it – right? No communities are exactly the same 0 so there is no one-size-fits-all solution. Thanks!