Harvest Party or Halloween Party?
Many parents, for varied reasons, are getting out of the traditional Halloween spirit of trick or treating. For some parents it is a fear of their children getting a hold of tampered with candy or being bullied by older and stronger gangs of teens who really shouldn’t be trick or treating in the first place. For other parents it can be a decison based on religious beliefs.
Religion
Many of today’s parents who are Christians themselves when polled identified Christmas as their favorite holiday as a child. Many of those same parents chose Halloween as one of their favorite holidays as a child too. Alas, that was before we got so very, very politically correct and before just about everyone was offended by something or another.
Safety
In the 1970’s and 1980’s there were reports of razor blades and needles being put into apples being handed out to trick or treating children. Around the same time there were reports that candy and taffy were being laced with poison.
To my personal knowledge these incidents ended up being unfounded but Ann Landers and Dear Abby spoke of the dangers of trick or treating, and all over America concerned parents began to make changes to their Halloween traditions by either closely monitoring their children’s activities or changing their activities altogether when it came to Halloween and trick or treating.
Church sponsored parties for neighboring children first became popular in the 1980’s. During the hours of trick or treating it was common to find the church doors open offering children an alternative to traditional trick or treating. These alternatives still had every kid’s favorite part of the holiday – candy, but also included games and an overall safer way to spend the night. It was also common for churches to rather demonize Halloween by labeling it a pagan holiday. This was the start of Harvest parties replacing the trick or treating and scary Halloween parties.
To replace the door to door trick or treating or Halloween parties, some parents also considering Harvest or Fall parties. These are basically a watered down version of the traditional Halloween.
This leads us to wonder:
Where Exactly Did the Worry About Halloween in Christianity Come From?
Follow along as we see how it all came to be that many Christian parents’ now choose to celebrate Harvest without the “evil” and scary side of Halloween.
The Celtic’s celebrate the end of summer on Halloween by sacrificing to the gods of the Druidic tradition. Their belief was that the lord of death (Samhain) would send out evil spirits to attack the living. The only protection from the lord of death was for them to disguise themselves as evil beings or spirits, thus the costumes.
Wicca followers celebrate Halloween as one of two high and “holy” days. Following the Celtic belief as outlined above and worshipping Samhain, Halloween becomes a very evil day in the eyes of the Christian believer.
Fourth Century Christians, in an attempt to get away from this evil, began to focus and celebrate Christian saints. This is what we now know as All Saints Day on November 1st. It was during this time that parents, realizing that they could not completely get away from this day, began to allow their children to dress up in costumes that were non-evil such as brides, princesses, pumpkins and football players.
October 31st and Halloween will come each year. I hope this brief history on the emerging Harvest parties and Halloween will give you some insight when choosing how you will spend this day.
No matter which tradition you follow, be safe!
Add Fun to Fall Functions with Photo Props & Stand-Ins
Source: ShindigzParty
From the first of the harvest festivals to Oktoberfest and beyond, you can add both to décor and to event activities with a fun fall Photo Stand In from ShindigZ Party.
Here’s the scoop on our photo stand-ins. Colorful and theme-perfect, they have cutouts for attendees to place their faces for hilarious photo keepsakes. Some are right-sized for setting up on a table, counter or bar, while others are tall enough to sit on the floor near the entrance or other center of the party action. The tall stand-ins can be personalized with two lines of event information or seasonal message or greeting. All are free-standing cardboard pieces that are reusable if handled and stored with care.
Harvest Party Scarecrow Photo Prop
Photo props and stand-ins are sure to add an unexpected, extra punch of decorating flair as well as a favored activity to your fall events. Visit our Photo Stand In pages to match a photo prop to your event!
Implementing Your Faith into Halloween Trick or Treating
Here’s an example of how one Christian woman, we’ll call her Ann, combines her faith with trick or treating every year.
Starting the day after Halloween every year, Ann begins preparing for the next year’s trick or treat guests. You see Ann believes that Halloween is a way of opening her door to the children who may, down the line, want to know more about Christianity. She starts preparing goodie bags well in advance and plans well.
Each child who comes to her door receives plenty of candy, but that’s not all. She also includes things in the bag of goodies such as:
Each child also gets something age appropriate explaining Jesus. Things like Cd’s with Bible stories, Veggie Tales videos, and other things are bought throughout the year at dollar stores, Bible book stores, etc. so as to spread the cost out throughout the year.
Why does Ann do this? Her prayer is that when any of those children is ready to learn more about Christ they will remember her as the one who knows Him and can help them do just that.
Ann also decorates her home for the holiday with pumpkins. You won’t find traditional witches and ghouls carved in the sides of her jack-o-lanterns. Instead, crosses, angels and the words of Jesus are the carvings of choice.
For those who might be thinking Ann probably doesn’t get a lot of visitors to her home each year think again. It couldn’t be further from the truth. Each year between 80 and 100 kids ring her doorbell. The past few years have seen a decrease in the number of visitors she gets due to her neighborhood parents doing Trunk or Treat activities.
Trunk or Treat is where parents gather at the school and give candy to the children from the trunks of their car versus going door to door on Halloween night. For folks like Ann, it can be a little sad, but she realizes the positive of having been able to do what she does for over 10 years in her community.
Do you have suggestions or tips for Halloween activities for families of any and all religions? Please share them!