Traditions

It gets more difficult to avoid Halloween as the kids get older. They are wanting more and more to go trick-or-treating. In the past few years, the tradition has been for them to stay at Aunt Sue's and help her pass out candy while we have helped with the "Harvest" parties put on by our church. Now that we're at a new church, there is no harvest party, but the boys have continued to go to Aunt Sue's for the evening. This year they are going to be spending the night.

I think it's a great idea to come up with an alternative tradition, especially when it's a tradition that is rooted in an historical event with great significance like the beginning of the Reformation. Since Halloween is rooted in pagan tradition, celebrating it is paying tribute to pagan ideas. But we really should have no desire to commend those ideas. Instead of trying to just ignore the various Halloween celebrations that happen during this month, it would be much better to replace them with our own celebrations within the Christian tradition.

It would be interesting to post some bits of the history surrounding the various holidays that occupy the coming months. Please post if you feel inclined to.