Research Paper Draft 1: All Hallow's Eve

Rebekah Robbins

REL2100-01M

Ms. Spring

1 November 2010

All Hallow’s Eve

On the evening of October 31^st, children around America dress up in costumes and trawl the local neighborhoods for gifts of candy, nuts, and small toys. The night is devoted to fun and games and – if the child or adult is so inclined – to pranks and tricks of both well-meaning and malicious nature. Billions of dollars are spent in America over the course of several weeks for that one night of enjoyment, that one night of abandonment – abandonment of inhibitions, of accountability, and of identity. This night of ‘go as you aren’t’ is the holiday known as Hallowe’en.

Hallowe'en Question

What are your views on Hallowe'en? Should Christians have anything to do with it? Should we "avoid all appearance of evil" and denounce it? Or do we ignore the pagan origins as we do with Christmas? What do you think?

I recently wrote a research paper about the religions behind the holiday; not in depth, as it was only a 5-page paper, but it was still interesting to learn and write about. I will be posting that paper later on.

I simply wonder about Christians' views about secular holidays: do we think about what we're doing in certain traditions? Does it take an informed decision before we can say that what we are doing is not sinful? Is it sinful to participate in these traditions unless we have made an informed decision? It's something to think about...

Check out http://tiny.cc/48nom to see what one person has to say about Hallowe'en.