Why shouldn’t Orthodox Christians celebrate Halloween?

Most of us know that we must avoid celebrating Halloween, but why do we avoid it? Quite simply, Halloween is a celebration of evil, the devil and the demons. We can see this by the fancy dress costumes that people wear to Halloween parties. Dressing up as devils, witches or wizards even as a joke is spiritually dangerous because we are making fun of something deeply serious. Evil is not a joke.

Some people say that by dressing up as demons they are trying to scare off demons. This is clearly nonsense. We protect ourselves by making the Sign of the Cross and by prayer not by imitating the demons. Christ Himself says: 'Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand. If Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand? (Matt. 12:25)

We have said that this festival is a celebration of evil. The horrible practice of ‘trick or treat’ is one example of how people celebrate evil on Halloween. The very idea of blackmailing people with threats of violence or damage to property is obviously anti-Christian. No one, let alone a Christian, should be taking part in trick or treat.

 Nevertheless, most of our friends who celebrate Halloween just use it as an excuse for a party. They probably don’t realize the dangers involved. By avoiding any association with Halloween we can help them learn more about Orthodoxy. Sooner or later they will ask us why we avoid it. We can then say: “Because I am an Orthodox Christian”.

More information on Halloween can be found here

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