Before there was “Halloween”, there was “All Hallows’ Eve” – and All Saints Day. For hundreds of years, before jack-o-lanterns and zombies and candy corn, Christians around the world have remembered the dead, the saints, the cloud of witnesses that have gone before us.
Halloween comes from the same root word as “hallowed” or “halo”, meaning holy.
This weekend liturgical Christians around the world honor “all saints day” by reciting the names of the holy saints of God throughout the centuries.
Rather than glorifying death, Halloween is a time we can celebrate life, remembering the lives of our loved ones and the heroes of the faith. The dead can inspire the living to truly live.
While we don’t need more gore and blood, there is something sweet about being able to laugh at death and fear, something Halloween gives us permission to do. After all, we know the dead can rise again and death has lost its sting.
Every year on Halloween, I bring out some photos of dead people, saints, loved ones, heroes of the faith. And I talk to our kids about what Halloween can really mean.
It’s not about zombies, but it IS about the living dead. Just as Jesus rose from the dead, so can we. Halloween is a time to remember how “hallowed” – how holy – life is. And how death has lost its power over us.
Halloween is a time to cherish life, laugh at death, and remember that the tombs are empty.
Oh death, Thou art dead!
Happy Halloween.
The dead will rise!
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