Taking every Hallow's Eve Captive for Christ

One Reformed perspective on Halloween, one BBC Radio4 public-interest story, one mother (mine) who adores the silly-ness of Halloween, and one delightfully stimulating dinner conversation all add up to a question: is it good for our souls to celebrate all Hallow's Eve as a preparation for All Saints' by mocking the devil and showing the his powerlessness after the victory of Christ? Here's a snippet of the Reformed perspective mentioned above by James B. Jordan:

The concept, as dramatized in Christian custom, is quite simple: On October 31, the demonic realm tries one last time to achieve victory, but is banished by the joy of the Kingdom.

What is the means by which the demonic realm is vanquished? In a word: mockery. Satan’s great sin (and our great sin) is pride. Thus, to drive Satan from us we ridicule him. This is why the custom arose of portraying Satan in a ridiculous red suit with horns and a tail. Nobody thinks the devil really looks like this; the Bible teaches that he is the fallen Arch-Cherub. Rather, the idea is to ridicule him because he has lost the battle with Jesus and he no longer has power over us....

Similarly, on All Hallows’ Eve (Hallow-Even – Hallow-E’en – Halloween), the custom arose of mocking the demonic realm by dressing children in costumes. Because the power of Satan has been broken once and for all, our children can mock him by dressing up like ghosts, goblins, and witches. The fact that we can dress our children this way shows our supreme confidence in the utter defeat of Satan by Jesus Christ – we have NO FEAR!

When I first read this I thought that it would be a challenge to get this message across to small children, but the Radio4 story had little girls rattling off without any hesitation that the meaning of Halloween was "the victory of light over dark, which means we don't have to be afraid any more"!

Rather than a Frank-Peretti-style thriller pitching capable archangels against the swarthy powers of darkness, we have here holy laughter and the joy of the Spirit as the answer of Christ's people to the threats and scare-tactics of the devil. We spend many of the days of our year giving the devil more than his due; perhaps it is fitting to spend an evening remembering the joy of the kingdom, the powerless of evil to snatch us from Christ, and Christ's humiliation of Satan by the cross, resurrection, and ascension. Drawn up into the life and victory of Christ, is it not fitting that we too should scorn and deride the pride of the evil one?

This is a truth that can be taught to very young children, and perhaps is a better solution to the "Halloween problem" than harvest parties. I'm still thinking about it...but I have to say, I would love any little girl of mine to have the confidence in God's victory that I heard over the radio.