HALLOWEEN IS CANCELED

CANDIES! COSTUMES! PARTIES! THRILLS! Halloween is a “holiday” that is celebrated all over the world. This is a time of year when kids dress up in costumes and go house to house collecting as many candies and treats as possible. Some will watch scary movies or go to haunted houses. For the world, this may seem like a lot of fun. The problem is that they don’t know what they are really celebrating.

Halloween was created by a group of people called Celtics. Every year there would be a Celtic Festival where the people would gather for the Fall harvest and make what they called a “sacred bonfire.” During this festival they would offer their animals and crops as a sacrifice to celebrate the dead. They believed that the souls of the dead would return to earth on this day. The animal’s skin would be used to dress up skulls. Later they would dress their children like the dead to confuse the spirits.

This is just one of the many cultures that celebrate Halloween where the true meaning is related to celebrating death, evil or worshiping something other than Jesus. I learned that sometimes we celebrate these holidays, but we don’t know the meaning behind them, which is dangerous.

My school friends always ask me what I am going to be or do for Halloween. My response is always “nothing, that’s the Devil’s birthday.” I explain that I do not celebrate Halloween because it is filled with celebrating evil and the devil, and I believe in Jesus. I don’t watch scary movies or enjoy going into stores and seeing the creepy costumes and decorations. Nor will I go to a haunted house or hang out in a graveyard for fun. These are just a few of the things that kids my age tell me they do. I don’t understand how they don’t see what’s wrong with doing those things.

My mom and church members taught me that I have to be careful of what I watch on the TV, the things I do and the places I go. People don’t realize that evil spirits are real and they put themselves in danger by doing things that open them up to evil.

For me, Halloween will forever be CANCELED!

Analise Smellings

East Hartford, Connecticut