HALLOWEEN IS IT OKAY TO KEEP THE TRADITION? OR...

Each year more and more communities are banning Halloween. The media puts out the warnings about razors in apples, and possible poisonous candy.

Who really needs this candy day? Beside the candy makers, and the children that want to eat candy for weeks to come...

Many have the same thoughts that I just mentioned. But let’s look at what we see when children are knocking on doors that they are anxious to see how many candies are given to them. Is it going to be a neighbor that will give them one candy, or will it be a big smile because this person has given them a handful of candy. Children love the dressing up, the ringing of the bell and the realization that they are getting plenty of good candy.

The interesting part about this special day is that we as adults finally allow our children to knock on the doors of neighbors that we have never met or taken our time to introduce ourselves. What I have seen in the last six years is the elderly neighbors especially, have bought supplies of candy and are waiting to see the cute and scary costumes that the children are wearing. Most gave out two or three times as much of candy per kid as they had originally intended, because there were so few kids out. And they were as delighted to see the kids as the kids were to see them.

What has gone wrong with Halloween? It occurred to me that it wasn't just a handful of crazy people who were endangering this tradition and the joy it can bring to little children and adults as well. It's apathy on the part of everyone else, the failure to recognize that Halloween plays an important function in our society, because it gives the opportunity to see neighbors that you have never met. Plus of course the children are finally having a day of fun around there own neighborhood.

So what's so important about Halloween?

Maybe at one time Halloween helped exorcise fears of death and ghosts and goblins by making fun of them. Maybe, too, in a time of rigidly prescribed social behavior, Halloween was the occasion for socially condoned mischief -- a time for misrule and letting loose. Although such elements still remain, the emphasis has shifted and the importance of the day and its rituals has actually grown. Of course as a Christian, I must admit that it does bother me that based on history, this Halloween day is supposedly an evil celebration.

Nowadays people often don't know their near neighbors, much less the neighbors a few blocks away. For little chidren these strange houses and strange people are a source of fear and anxiety. Children have been taught not to trust or talk to strangers, to beware of them. But on Halloween that prohibition is lifted; and, with fear, but impelled by curiosity and greed for candy and other loot, little ones ring doorbells at houses of strangers to find time and again that these strangers are really friendly people like the people they know well. In the course of the evening they gain confidence in themselves and in their neighborhood and come away not only with bags full of candy to be enjoyed for weeks after, but also a warm feeling about their neighborhood and people in general.

As for adults, especially the elderly and those who never had chidren or who haven't had young children at home for some time, children in the neighborhood are normally a source of anxiety and distrust. What mischief and vandalism might this strange new generation growing up with television, video games and violence be capable of? On Halloween night their fears too are exorcised, as wildly and imaginatively costumed kids parade to the door, a reminder of what they themselves did as children -- a common link of experience.

Looked at another way, Halloween is a time that reconfirms the social bond of a neighborhood (particularly the bond between strangers of different generations) by a ritual act of trade. Children go to lengths to dress up and overcome their fear of strangers in exchange for candy. And adults buy the candy and overcome their distrust of strange children in exchange for the pleasure of seeing their wild outfits and vicariously reliving their own adventures as children.

In other words, the true value and importance of Halloween comes not from parading in costumes in front of close friends and family, but from this interchange with strangers, exorcising our fears of strangers, reaffirming our social bond with the people of the neighborhood who we rarely, if ever, see the rest of the year.

So when you hear all those warnings about pins and poison, use caution and common sense. But don't just abandon a tradition that you yourself loved as a child, that your own children look forward to months in advance, and that helps preserve our sense of fellowship and community with our neighbors in the midst of all this madness. So here are two ways to look at this special day...SO WHAT SHOULD WE DO ABOUT IT?

As Christian we can also explain to our children that Halloween also bring those that believe in the Devil and celebrate this special day in a different way. In this stage of my life I do not believe that it can harm our children as long as they know the Lord and they know that they are walking with the Lord. We can dress our children in positive images instead of negative or evil costumes to be able to show a different side to this old tradition.