Halloween
is not celebrated by all
Rachel Moten, posted Nov. 9, 2006
On
Oct. 31, cartoon and imaginative characters went from booth
to booth in search of treats and prizes in the Hearnes Center.
Some of the costumes were Toy Story’s Woody, Frankenstein,
Winnie the Pooh and Spiderman.
Many children look forward to Halloween in the event of trick-or-treating,
carving pumpkins, going on hay rides and having costume parties.
Several MU students indulge into these events also. Jordon
Furnell, an MU student, said Halloween means getting dressed
up and being someone else for the night. “It makes you
feel like a little kid again,” said Furnell.
When it comes to celebrating Halloween, a lot of people look
at it as more than just fun and games. “Some people
celebrate a darker side of Halloween than the innocent masquerade
and candy-fest,” said Matt Thiessen, director of Campus
Crusade for Christ ministry.
Many students celebrate Halloween by dressing up for costume
parties, visiting haunted houses or celebrating the holiday
with their families. “It’s just been a tradition
in my family and my family is so close, so my mom sent me
Halloween candy and pumpkins,” said Brianne Nadolny,
MU student.
Why do students choose to celebrate Halloween? Most of them
grew up carrying the tradition to celebrate Halloween with
their families. “We go to eat at my grandma’s
house and go trick-or-treating,” Furnell said.
“We have bond fires and our house is decked out,”
said MU student, Jaclyn Ackermann. “My dad used to sit
on the porch and scare little kids.”
A lot of students cannot celebrate Halloween with their families,
therefore many of them decorate their doors, pass out candy
to trick-or-treaters or do community service projects.
“We do Halloween, although I wouldn’t say we celebrate
it,” Thiessen said. “It’s just a time for
kids to dress up and run around the neighborhood, while we
get to meet all of the neighbors.”
Thiessen has a 3-year-old son, who dressed up as Superman
to go trick-or-treating. Thiessen and his family went on a
hayride around their neighborhood and stopped every so often
to unload the kids who ran up to the doors and yelled “trick
or treat.”
Halloween to Thiessen’s family represents an evening
for kids to have fun dressing up, getting a lot of candy and
walking around the neighborhood to say hello to all their
neighbors.
Thiessen said he can reminisce to when he would dress up for
Halloween. He has memories of when he had a “large grocery
bag full of candy from the three to four times [he] ran around
the neighborhood with friends.”
That is quite the contrary to the way his wife’s family
celebrated the holiday. Her family would dress up as Bible
characters and go to their church for a Harvest Festival.
He and his wife talked about doing things different for Halloween,
since he said that she feels like she missed out a little
bit. Thiessen said that he and his wife view the celebration
of Halloween as a harmless activity.
Thiessen said that he is a committed follower of Jesus Christ,
but he and his wife “do not see any harm in participating
in this innocent childhood activity.”
Clifford Frazier, bishop for The City of Life Christian Church,
said that he does not believe in celebrating Halloween because
the event focuses attention on the occult, demons, death and
the devil in many cases.
Frazier discourages his congregation from celebrating Halloween
because he said his congregation is dedicated to Jesus and
his cause, and in their views, Halloween is a vivid contradiction
to those goals.
Frazier’s church offers a Harvest Festival, similar
to what Thiessen’s wife’s family does, because
he believes that they must “give children a viable alternative
to Halloween,” Frazier said. “We understand that
children do not understand all the ‘theology’
stuff, [but] being sequestered from getting free candy is
cruel.”
That does not mean, that “believers are called upon
to be mean, condescending or blatantly hostile to those who
celebrate Halloween,” Frazier said.
