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Out of the darkness
Island churches are putting a more
positive spin on traditional Halloween
celebrations
No witches. No devils. No scary or evil creature costumes.
Those are the rules for most "alternative" Halloween celebrations planned by island churches.
There will be candy, games and prizes. There will be all manner of food and snacks. There will be live music, bouncers, creative balloon craft and an illusionist -- no, not a magician, that's un-Christian!
Hawaii follows the national trend of replacing the traditional door-to-door trolling for treats, among God knows what manner of tricky or nasty strangers, as clubs, parks and schools offer supervised gatherings where the safety of the kids and the goodies can be ensured.
For some Christian churches, safety is also a theological issue. There's a modern view that the ancient pagan roots of the autumnal festival are fearful and dangerous. "Because the customs of Halloween started from ancient pagan religion, growing numbers of Christians are turning away from Halloween," according to a brief history on the Web page of Island Christian Guide, which lists two dozen church parties planned for Oct. 31. See islandchristianguide.com.
"There is a dark side in the world, a force of evil in the world," said the Rev. Jim Newman, assistant pastor of Calvary Chapel. "Halloween started as All Hallows Eve. What it became is this celebration of darkness. Witches, goblins, in stores you see all these grotesque images.
"Even though people might celebrate it in a harmless way, the focus is on wickedness.
"We don't want to celebrate the darkness. The Bible says overcome evil with good," Newman said.
Calvary Chapel will host one of the biggest Halloween parties at its new site at 98-1016 Komo Mai Drive in Aiea. Country music star Dennis Agajanian will perform in free evening concerts, a treat for the grown-ups accompanying kids for their costume parade. "We are encouraging the kids to dress as Bible characters, but others are acceptable," Newman said. Senior pastor Bill Stonebraker will speak on "Satan's Devices" at the evening event.
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The Rev. Steve Franks, pastor in residence at King's Cathedral, said, "We are not trying to take everything about Halloween away from the kids; we are just vehemently disagreeing with some of it."
The church, which purchased Niu Valley Shopping Center, is inviting the neighborhood to its Pumpkin Patch Party in the parking lot. "We will have a costume contest and we encourage them not to come as a hatchet killer. We would prefer that they would be more positive," Franks said. Kings Cathedral was started on Maui and there they present "Hell House ... a Christian version of a haunted house," Franks said. "Next year, we will do it here. It is an entirely religious connotation, with drama vignettes that show there is a hell and we want to avoid it at all costs."
There's no problem with scary and ghoulish at Saint Louis School, where seniors in John Yoshioka's science class are creating a haunted house as their community service project. The Catholic school boys will don scary costumes for the pleasure of children visiting the house Friday night.
The root of Halloween in the pre-Christian Druid religion of Ireland and England is not a problem for Catholics, said Regina Pfeiffer, assistant director of the theology department at Chaminade University.
"In the history of Christianity, they often adapted existing festivals, such as the Druid festival of the sun, which now becomes Christmas. Roman Catholicism adapted itself to that dialogue of what was before, taking from that culture and putting it into context of the faith. We look at the Druid festival of the dead, remembering those who have gone before in death. For us, the dead are all part of the communion of saints."
Halloween is a grammatical slip from "All Hallows Eve," the night before All Saints Day, when the early Christian church remembered all those who died in Christ. In some Catholic dioceses, but not in Hawaii, Nov. 1 is a holy day, when Catholics are obliged to attend Mass, Pfeiffer said.
The only church to announce its celebration of the Feast of All Saints this week was St. Mark's Episcopal Church on Kapahulu Avenue. Billed as a "Sacred Treat for Halloween" is the 6 p.m. Oct. 31 solemn high Mass, featuring music by classical composers.
"If you want to wear a costume, OK, or come as you are in shorts and slippers," said the Rev. Darrow Aiona, St. Mark's pastor. "Every religion has a capacity for fun. It's OK for adults to let off steam. It is a time to lighten up.
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"Sometimes we take religion too seriously," Aiona said. "I don't want to go back to the Puritans and Pilgrims, imposing their beliefs on society.
"There has to be some sense of mystery. There needs to be balance between the secular and religious world; it makes for a healthy religion," he said.
"Rather than fearing the pagan roots, we see that we Christianized the non-Christian, we took it over," Aiona said. "It is a time when we remember the everyday heroes. We are supposed to be ordinary, after all Jesus was ordinary. Some people are so ordinary, they are extra-ordinary. That's what we are celebrating."
Donna Carroll takes Halloween evil very seriously. She is directing the "Hallelujah Harvest Fest" at Faith Baptist Church, 1230 Kailua Road. The invitation to neighbors says, "Please no ghosts, witches or scary costumes," and Biblical characters are suggested costumes for members' children.
Carroll's view of Halloween was set years ago when her husband was on military assignment at Fort Leavenworth, Kan. "In October, police warned people to be careful of their pets; many pets would disappear at Halloween. There were police reports about fires on hillsides and animal carcasses would be found. Satanic groups would meet and offer sacrifices. It was very much their satanic holy day."
"It was an eye-opener for me," said Carroll, the mother of five children. "I took the stand with my children that we would be different.
"This church has decided that, instead of glorifying what is evil and ugly, we would take a stand for the light. I have a strong personal conviction about it."
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