One key paradox of my adult life is that of inventing traditions, something which is almost definitionally impossible. Traditions (from the latin ‘tradere’) are things handed-on to you. How then can they come from your own hands?
Nevertheless, when you are trying to build a rich Christian family culture in the 21st century you are bound to find yourself inventing traditions, despite the incongruity.
Since this is the week of ‘Halloween’ I want to use this (hopefully brief and uncomplicated) post to describe the small set of traditions that my family have developed to mark the date, in the hope that it might be useful to others in our situation who are starting some of these things ‘from scratch’.
Christians Celebrating Halloween?!?
I did not grow up as a Halloween celebrator. As a British evangelical of the 90s and 00s, the holiday was guilty of two major crimes: Being pagan and being American (it’s not always easy to tell which one is worse in British Christianity). And, by most measures, I am still not really a Halloween celebrator. There are no ghoulish decorations in our home, I walk past the spooky section of the shop with complete disregard, and I have never tricked nor treated. The only spider’s webs around are those made of 100% genuine spider silk, and still occupied by their creator. There are enough unlovely trappings to modern Halloween that I completely understand why many Christians reject it entirely.
As to the historic origins of the holiday, enough has been said by others for there to be little need for me to rehearse it here. If you want to think more about it then this article by Dr Glenn Sunshine is a good place to start, or this podcast episode with Jason Farley that goes into some of the questions about whether Christians can celebrate Halloween or not. I am convinced that Halloween, or ‘All Hallows Eve’ to give it it’s fuller title, is a Christian feast day in origin, and therefore can be very useful for Christians wishing to consciously mark the turning of times.
And so, though many would look at our celebration and regard it as a small and unhalloween-y thing, the big change for us is that we now do something on All Hallows Eve, whereas before, we did not.
Sparklers, Pumpkins, and Sweets
All Hallows (Saints) Day and All Hallows Eve has traditionally been a festival to memorialise martyrs, the victorious dead who died for their confession of Christ. And so, our family traditions centre around that. Though they are still being formed, and we’ll see what sticks with time, this is roughly what we do:
In preparation, I carve a pumpkin. Last year I carved a symbol of a palm leaf, and a crown (see potato-quality image below) to symbolise the victory of those who have died for Christ, and the glory with which they have now been crowned. I put a candle in it and light it at dinner time.
After dinner we get the children ready for bed, and then reconvene for stories from church history (preferably told in a dramatic manner) whilst everyone eats more sweets than is strictly sensible. Last year, I told stories of Polycarp, Boniface, Latimer and Ridley. Once the stories are done, we light some sparklers, and maybe some other small fireworks. This year, we will also sing ‘The Son of God Goes Forth to War’.
And then, hyped on sugar and fire, the kids go to bed.
Thematically, we focus on light (candles, sparklers, fireworks) as something of a nod to the famous Latimer/Ridley quote (and modified Polycarp quote):
“Be of good comfort, Master Ridley, and play the man. We shall this day light such a candle by God’s grace in England as I trust shall never be put out.”
This is, after all, the hope and promise that we are declaring on a night like All Hallows Eve:
For the Christian, resurrection and victory comes through death of myriad kinds. For the church, resurrection and victory comes through death of myriad kinds. And this is all because our portion is in Jesus Christ, whose death and resurrection brought victorious light that can never be put out.
Photo at top of post by joseph tury on Unsplash
Helpful, brother! Appreciate it. I look forward to incorporating some of these ideas into my home next year.