The Joy of Mocking Evil: Why Halloween Is a Christian Celebration.
Some of my favorite childhood memories are of walking around the historic churches of the Eternal City with my grandmother. Yes, I was fascinated by the art and architecture, but I am not going to hide the fact that I also found the relics absolutely fascinating: bones, skulls, some still covered in skin, and even one that reminded me of a creepy ghost bride. Some of the Baroque paintings captured that same spooky atmosphere, with their depictions of death. One example is Bernini’s Tomb of Alexander VII in St. Peter’s Basilica, where Death itself appears as a frightening skeleton, its head concealed beneath a cloth, symbolizing the uncertainty of death, while the hourglass reminds us of the passing of time.
I also enjoyed the more Anglo-American version of gloom. How could I not mention the spooky monuments, churchyards, and Gothic or colonial churches of the northeastern United States and the UK, with all those Sleepy Hollow and Salem vibes? Being a 90s kid, Halloween was, for me, an exciting celebration. Movies such as The Addams Family and Casper the Friendly Ghost, Tim Burton’s films, and the Goosebumps books captured that atmosphere wonderfully. I loved that Gothic aesthetic. Like many children, I enjoyed trick-or-treating and, as a teenager, the wonderful parties with my school friends, and indeed, the thrill of a good scare!
I never thought that this innocent joy (and fright) could have anything to do with evil until I became a more regular churchgoer and Christian. That was when I began to think: what a shame. Surely that can't be right, and surely Christians shouldn't be fun-killers! And yet, across conservative wings within various Christian traditions, one still encounters rather extremist, quasi-Puritanical attitudes towards Halloween: portraying it as something inherently sinister, associated with the Devil and the occult, or dismissing it as an imported American celebration that has no place in European culture or Christian tradition. I think these assumptions deserve a closer look. There is, after all, a much longer and richer history behind Halloween than we sometimes give it credit for. So, let's take a look at where these traditions actually come from, and why perhaps we shouldn't be so quick to dismiss them.
Halloween derives from All Hallows’ Eve, the evening before All Saints’ Day, on November 1st, and is followed by All Souls’ Day, on November 2nd. Its history belongs to the Christian calendar, as it combines the remembrance of saints and the departed with local European folklore, seasonal customs, and popular festivities. These celebrations developed distinctive customs. In Italy, Ognissanti and the Giorno dei Morti are marked by cemetery visits, flowers, candles, and family remembrance, with traditional foods being prepared. In some regions, children traditionally receive candies and presents.
Historically, in parts of Britain and Ireland, medieval “souling” involved visiting houses, praying for the dead, and receiving cakes. Scottish and Irish guising involved dressing up as saints and sinners and entertaining neighbors. Turnips were carved into lanterns, a tradition Scottish and Irish immigrants brought to America, where pumpkins eventually replaced turnips.
In Mexico, the DÃa de los Muertos developed as a distinctive tradition combining indigenous customs and Catholic observances. Families create offerings with photographs, candles, flowers, and food to remember the departed. Decorated skulls and skeletons celebrate the occasions and the bonds of the dead with following generations. In the United States, during the 19th century, Scottish and Irish immigrants brought Halloween customs to North America, where they evolved into the familiar modern celebration. The traditional carved turnips were replaced by the abundant American pumpkin, giving us the Jack-o’-Lantern. Its name comes from the legend of Stingy Jack, a man condemned to wander with a burning coal inside a carved turnip after repeatedly tricking the Devil. Although folklore rather than Christian doctrine, this story illustrates the tradition of using humor and frightening imagery to mock evil. By the 20th century, Halloween had become a major American community celebration, with neighborhood parties, costumes, games, decorating, pumpkin carving and trick-or-treating. American movies, television, and popular culture subsequently helped export these traditions around the world.
There is nothing inherently un-Christian about decorating with skeletons and ghosts. Christian tradition has long embraced the Memento Mori: remembering one’s mortality and preparing for eternity. Medieval European churches often featured a depiction of the Danse Macabre, depicting skeletons dancing with kings, bishops, and peasants alike as a reminder that death makes no distinctions across social classes and ranks. Renaissance artists such as Hans Holbein developed this imagery, while Baroque vanitas paintings incorporated skulls, hourglasses, extinguished candles and wilting flowers to depict life’s transience. Some churches in Rome, such as Santa Maria della Concezione and Santa Maria dell’Orazione e Morte have a crypt in which bones are arranged artistically, reminding us that one day we shall be like them. A favorite depiction is Guercino’s Memento Mori in the Palazzo Barberini collection in Rome.
Christian art also repeatedly depicted the defeat of evil through paintings and sculptures of Saint Michael crushing Satan, Saint George defeating the dragon, and Christ triumphing over death. Medieval art often portrayed demons as grotesque but easy to overcome. Mocking the Devil, rather than glorifying him, has a long Christian cultural history. This is also the idea behind Halloween.
Dressing up and decorating with skeletons, ghosts, etc. is not an endorsement of evil. Costumes, masquerades, and theatrical disguises have long belonged to European popular culture, such as in Mardi Gras and Carnival, celebrated before Lent. There is nothing in Christian tradition that gives reason to consider imaginative dress or theatrical celebration inherently un-Christian at Halloween. Decorating our homes with pumpkins, cobwebs, ghosts, and skeletons draws upon centuries of European folklore and Christian art, costumes and decorations are expressions of playful folklore, and children having fun, not a profession of faith; turning Halloween into the ultimate defeat of evil and comical mockery of the devil. Many conservative wings within Christian traditions have condemned the modern celebration of Halloween. Yet Halloween can instead be understood as a celebration of life over death, and as an opportunity to mock evil rather than fear it. when Halloween night is over and the decorations gone, it is only a matter of time before we start preparing for the celebration of God becoming incarnate in Jesus Christ our Lord. It would be rather ironic for the modern Christian to adopt this puritanical suspicion of the feast.
For many who grew up in the 90s and early 2000s. Halloween was a true celebration of the season of fall: colorful pumpkins, decorated houses, autumn leaves, costumes, trick-or-treating, school parties, scary films. It was a wonderful opportunity for both children and adults to enjoy imagination, dressing up, and a bit of harmless fright. When properly understood, it is an opportunity to rediscover a rich European and American inheritance of Christian art, folklore, and festivity. This is why we should celebrate this colorful celebration of community. Saying it doesn’t belong to our European culture is simply untrue, and what’s wrong with adopting some of the later American additions that made it so much fun?
Ultimately, Halloween can be celebrated as a cultural expression of Christianity; the decorating, the costumes, the pumpkins, ghost stories, and fun are a way to exorcise death and to mock the devil. Halloween has a deep theological message which is Christ’s own victory through the Cross and through it we know we can fear no evil, because our God triumphed over death. A favorite Renaissance depiction of the devil being mocked by Antoniazzo Romano is to be found in the Monastero di Santa Francesca Romana in Rome. Whose faith is weak enough to be challenged by Satan looking like an anthropomorphic chicken? Perhaps, we should focus instead on the endless depictions of Saint Michael the Archangel casting down Satan under his feet? Maybe that could be your Halloween costume!
