Diary Adventures of LagosMums: DALM | Mummy what is Halloween?
When your child asks you what Halloween is you should think about how you answer. First of all by the time he or she is asking they are old enough to know that there is something called Halloween. They are also inquisitive enough to want to get an answer that suits him or her.
Also be mindful that the answer that you give can be the beginning of how your child who asked innocently will view Halloween. Your answer will determine whether or not your child will be a participant in the “celebration” of Halloween or not. The question “what is halloween” should get the same reaction when your child asks “what is witchcraft”.
What is Halloween
Halloween is a time that is celebrated by children and adults wearing costumes of witches, wizards, zombies, skeletons and carving out pumpkins into scary faces. This should be the first inkling that something is not right with the idea of Halloween.
Let us not miss the fact that it has been nicely packaged and commercialized. It has become just a time of year to wear costumes and go trick or treating. The root of the celebration has not changed; it is a fetish celebration. The idea of trick or treat is a time to play tricks on people. [Read: What Halloween really Signifies]
The police force in some Countries have reported that during Halloween celebrations, there are spikes in activities that are out of the ordinary and criminal. Run a google search on Halloween cakes and you will notice an alarming number of cakes shaped as haunted houses, ghosts and various other spooky cake forms. You really have to wonder why you are celebrating this holiday? or at the least understand what you are celebrating if you choose to celebrate it.
Halloween is not like the Easter Bunny or like Santa Claus. These are holidays that though commercialized have traditions or roots where the underlying celebration is harmless and holy. The Easter Bunny with Easter does no harm, Santa Clause is just a big man in a red costume who goes about bearing gifts. Superheroes are generally people with supernatural power who go about saving people and fighting for the oppressed. Halloween on the other hand is simply a celebration of spookiness!
What Can You Do
When you child ask, you can tell them that Halloween is a time that people dress up like ghosts and wizards. This is not a good thing any which way you look at it. These things are scary and are not nice to celebrate. I would encourage the child to wait till Christmas which is round the corner to celebrate the birthday of Jesus Christ who was born to save the world.
While it might not be easy to let a young child understand this, done with firmness, love and consistency your child will eventually accept it. Lastly if you happen to be somewhere where Halloween is popular it might be worth finding ways to occupy your child with alternative activities in order to reduce their desire to celebrate Halloween.
So what do you think? Do you celebrate Halloween or not?
