Absolutely,
As a child, Halloween was always a great holiday. When else can you dress up in a ridiculous costume, go knock on a stranger's door, be greeted and given candy? My parents, two brothers, and I always had a great time driving to the "rich" neighborhood because they had the good candy.

We won't be, but then we hide behind the fact we are British and don't really do it anyway. I just have the feeling there is more to Halloween than we realise, and wonder if Carol's Storybook quote is an example of putting a Christian spin on things to make them acceptable. Ex-Witch ministries has a view on it - http://www.exwitch.org/cms/mod.php?mod=userpage&menu=34&page_id=95

So does that mean you have problems with Christmas and Easter, too? Both are Celtic and Teutonic (read pagan) feasts that early Christians adopted as their own.

Not only did it make converting the pagans (especially royalty) much easier to accomplish, but also it allevated the tensions between the Christians and non-Christian neighbors.

I'm still not sure about it all, but I would like more proof of Anonymous statement that Christmas and Easter both have there roots in pagan system of believe.

I would also like more proof of this statement that Carol's cited:


"Many articles in books, magazines, and encyclopedias are written by secular humanists or even the pop-pagans of the so-called "New Age" movement. (An example is the article by Wynn Parks cited above.) These people actively suppress the Christian associations of historic customs, and try to magnify the pagan associations. They do this to try and make paganism acceptable and to downplay Christianity. Thus, Halloween, Christmas, Easter, etc., are said to have pagan origins. Not true."

I guess my point is that maybe we should take things more in the spirit of why and how we celebrate them than where and from whom they sprang from.

Sure some people may burn incense to the dead spirits, dance under the moon, blah, blah, blah. But they’re doing that on the 3rd Tuesday of every month anyway. Should we not go out or allow our children out on the 3rd Tuesday? Do we allow some one else’s context to dictate how we live our lives?

To me Halloween is a kid’s holiday that allows them to dress up in fanciful costumes, eat entirely too much candy, and probably staying up later than usual watching Pooh’s Halloween Huffalump movie. For the parents, it’s a way to capture a point in time, most of the time a point of fun and innocence.

If you don’t want to have cute little pictures of your children dressed up as a lion, cowboy/girl, or an alligator with a bag weighed down with candy and chocolate smeared smile on their face, then I think that is your lose.

PS The 3rd Tuesday is purely an arbitrary day.

You might (or might not) find my comments on Halloween and other questionable holidays helpful - or at the least, interesting.

http://nowheresville.us/halloween.php

I have also understood that Christmas and Easter have pagan roots. Christmas was to do with the days getting darker and appeasing the sun god or something like that. Easter comes from the god Eostre who is a fertility goddess or something like that (as you can see I am no expert). However Easter is at the same time as the Passover, and this is (in line with Christ's death and resurrection) what I celebrate.

I think its a good point though why we celebrate some things and not others. The thought of my kids dressing up and having fun is something good, but I wonder if there is a hidden (not very sometimes) agenda for the night that we are not aware of. Something I have done is run an alternative event for my youth group. I don't feel there is anything particularly Christian about trick or treating. In the UK it is not cute little kids, it is teenagers who egg your house. There are many things though that we allow to seep into society without much thought.

For example, many people would say yoga is just exercise, but it has its roots in Buddism and as you progress, it does become a lot more spiritual. Equally some would say Free Masonry is just a men's club but that too is a whole lot more.