Churches, Halloween, and Thanksgiving

When I was a young boy in the 1960s, my sister and I would go out on Halloween night in our neighborhood (with parental supervision) and engage in the tradition of trick or treat. We'd usually just wear cheap masks that we got from a local store like G.C Murphy or Woolworth, sometimes along with makeshift robes or sheets over our shoulders. Then we'd walk around our neighborhood with other groups of treat-or-treaters, going up to homes that seemed to be lit up and saying hi to people that we normally didn't talk to. It seemed, in my opinion, to bring the neighborhood closer together in a spirit of simple, good-natured fun and celebration. To me, Halloween was then a children's holiday, and its spirit was like that of Charles Schultz's Peanuts Halloween TV special (when Linus invoked the name of the Great Pumpkin).

In the years since, Halloween has gone off on two tangents. One is that of "horror", where mad-slashers and extremely evil spirits pervade our TV and movie screens, and theme parks promise "horrific" experiences for its customers. The other is the resurgence of paganism, in particular the Wicca religion, which has transformed this traditionally secular holiday into a religious observance (placing it in conflict with some adherents of other faiths). Both of these two "divergences" with regard to Halloween, combined with a surge of strict Christian fundamentalism in this country, have made the holiday rather controversial, especially for those who go to churches that condemn it. Many of these churches have lit upon the tactic of offering a "replacement" celebration on their own grounds, usually on the same night as Halloween. Called various names, such as October, Fall, Autumn, or Harvest Festival, it usually is conducted in the same "fun" tradition that we used to enjoy as kids (although some warped churches have horror exhibits to scare "sinners" back into the fold). But I'm sensing that maybe this strategy wasn't such a great idea, after all.

For by creating substitute "Fall Festival" holidays, these conservative Christian groups have unwittingly raised the significance of Halloween as well, with respect to our holiday calendar. And now, because churches celebrate the Fall season around Halloween, coupled with the explosion of materialism surrounding this holiday, the more subdued Thanksgiving holiday has diminished in comparison. It seems (to me), as the years draw on, the aftermath of Halloween, instead of leading up to the excitement and anticipation of Thanksgiving, has given way to the full-blown start of the Christmas season, with Thanksgiving increasingly becoming more of an intermediary "blip" between the two.

That's too bad, because I've always felt a personal fondness for Thanksgiving and have some good memories of this holiday, which brings people together and emphasizes true virtues such as generosity, gratitude, and kindness. Even where I work, it used to be rare to schedule employees to work on Thanksgiving Day (even if they volunteered). But nowadays, even those who want the holiday off often must lay aside their celebration plans and come to work (even though my company, the US Postal Service, does not deliver mail on Thanksgiving). I say, let's bring back Thanksgiving as a preeminent, meaningful, and respected holiday! You can have your "Fall Festival": I don't need it.