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Halloween Haunts 2013: Trick or Treat by Kristina Stancil

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Should Halloween not be a case where the parent is the boss of what their child does without it being considered evil? Hypocrite or actual devout Christian can find some way to make sure their children are not ostracized this Halloween by their classmates because peer pressure among adults is one thing. For the most part we as adults can handle the snide comments concerning how we choose to celebrate Halloween but why punish our children? Halloween and Christmas, while in a base sense reflect two different religious views, are paramount to young children.  They view them on almost the same level as they eagerly compare notes to their peers on “what they got.”

It seems that a lot of nonsense begins with Charles Vallancey who claimed that Samhain was a festival celebrating the Celtic Lord of Death. Lisa Morton, Halloween expert and HWA Vice President informed me, this “is a mistake perpetuated by an eighteenth-century would-be historian named Charles Vallancey (who was reviled during his own lifetime for his ridiculous conclusions).” The actual name is Summer’s End. There was no costuming on Samhain. It was a time to bring in crops and animals.

While I note a lot of non-denominational churches have alternatives for the children in their congregation to interact with their peers, have fun, candy, etc., there are quite a few who do this in staunch opposition of them prowling their neighborhoods with friends and family in costume. The more controversial or hypocritical of these churches go out of their way to preach how evil not just Halloween is but being different as well. They attempt to teach the kids and those unlucky enough to be invited to attend with them that different is evil. Conformity is key to their belief system. If this was so we would not be in the United States with various religions practicing with the protection of the United States Constitution.  Even mega popular preacher Rick Warren has his thoughts on Halloween that differ from the norm by promoting the American Tract Company’s religious tracts for Halloween that come with candy or a toy as a way to hand out to children YA versions of religious messages. True, most kids will throw this away but in the spirit of Christianity and American freedom attempting to mesh would it not be easier to compromise? At the very least realize that how we choose to raise our children is our choice not society’s.

Generations of children grew up trick or treating without adverse effects. In fact according to the website, Askyourpreacher.org, allowing your children to play fantasy and get a lot of candy is not promoting the proclaimed root of Halloween’s origins which organized religions consider to be sinful. Ironically the church supporting the website is Monroe Valley Church of Christ, (the religion I was baptized in,) and their site states, “Good and faithful people debate this issue all the time, but, yes, you can celebrate Halloween without sinning. Halloween does have its roots in pagan rituals. All Hallow’s Eve is often associated with evil spirits, demon worship, voodoo, and witchcraft. It is, however, also associated with happy scampering children whose most wicked intent is the desire to glut themselves on candy. New Year’s Eve could be viewed the same way. New Year’s Eve is often associated with inappropriate male and female interaction and drunkenness. It is also associated with fresh starts, reflective new beginnings, and an evening of friendship and brotherly kindness. These holidays can be a good thing or a bad thing. How you participate and your reasons for participating will make the difference.”

I am a firm believer of “it’s your child, it’s your choice,” on a lot of things, but in this day and age people are going so far as to be hypocrites with their own children as opposed to themselves and how they were raised. True, we learn from our mistakes and the mistakes we think our parents made with us, but some adults are choosing to claim their religion is a choice for their decisions.

Although for the religious and the hypocrite they can of course twist the Bible to suit their own purposes. Halloween is just one of the biggest excuses for the moral majority to impose their will on a nation that was born on the principles of personal freedoms.

A local church in my area does “Trunk or Treat,” where children are not allowed to dress in costume but are invited to the church’s campus to get little grab bags of candy from members’ cars, play games. They offer hot dogs and chips for kids. (Yet they also hold a Fall Festival…which occurs around the pagan celebration.) This seems a little overboard to me. In fact, a few years ago I worked as a hostess at a restaurant and members of a church demanded that we force another table of customers out because they promoted the pagan arts for dressing up for Halloween. Interesting enough several of these church members and members of the Catholic Church spend the majority of Mardi Gras drinking and dressed in “themed costumes,” but do not find excessive drink and the celebration of the pagan god, Bacchus, a sin but they would rob children of innocent fun where their biggest sin is gluttony for which a good parent or an upset tummy will render them punishment or repentance for at least another year.

So instead of trick or treating in their neighborhood where they know the families, parents are enticed to allow their children to meander from stranger to stranger and their open trunks? Does this not teach them a far horrifying lesson that it is okay to walk up to some random stranger’s car because they offer free candy? Did we learn nothing from PSAs in the 80s?

While the church I was baptized in soundly and emphatically denounces Harry Potter they seem okay with CS Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia with similar themes. True, the Pevensie siblings are normal children with no paranormal powers, but Lucy, the youngest had to be sensitive and inquisitive enough to find the portal in the first place. Both movies up to a certain point are age appropriate for tweens and as the children grow in each movie the situations also mature. Rowling emphatically denies affiliation or promotion of the cult and cites that Harry thought he was a somewhat normal boy and much like David in the story of David and Goliath is often at odds with the ultimate evil and in most cases sadly outgunned as a child facing an aging wizard. In Potter, the mother sacrifices herself to protect her son as Jesus dies to protect the human race. This seems to be Harry’s saving grace through much of the movie.

What does the Bible say to all these self-professed Christians?  “God soundly condemns witchcraft and any magical arts (1 Sam 15:23, Acts 19:19). Anyone participating in Halloween in an occult way is sinning,” according to Askyourpreacher.orgSo spending time with your children playing make believe is evil? There are alternatives to the macabre Halloween costumes and diabolical horror stories that seem to fill the airwaves. For instance Disney has a great line up of entertainment that has a solid following of award winning entertainment that dabbles with ghosts, witches, and vampires. With the Nielsen ratings on these shows, especially Wizards of Waverly Place it seems that even in these religious households they’ve been watched at least once.  Yet Disney is applauded for their wholesome family entertainment but one day a year is sinful for children to emulate things parents allow them to watch on TV?

Another interesting point that Lisa made to me was that all of these delusions about the evilness of Halloween is from the book, Halloween Through Twenty Centuries by Ralph and Adelin Linton as proof that Halloween is Satanic. All of the so-called facts were disproved centuries ago and just recycled Vallancey’s paranoia.

TODAY’S GIVEAWAY: Kristina is offering e-book edition of her short story “The UnKnown.”

Giveaway Rules: Enter for the prize by posting in the comments section. Winners will be chosen at random and notified by e-mail. You may enter once for each giveaway, and all entrants may be considered for other giveaways if they don’t win on the day they post. If you would like to comment without being entered for the giveaway, include “Not a Giveaway Entry” at the end of your post. You may also enter by e-mailing memoutreach@horror.org and putting HH CONTEST ENTRY in the header.

Stancil_cover_TerrorTwinsKRISTINA STANCIL is a supporting member of the Horror Writer’s Association currently serving as the Chair for the Horror Curriculum Committee and was interviewed as the HWA’s August 2013 Fresh Blood new member. Kristina currently working on her Master’s in Humanities, Creative Writing concentration at Tiffin University and on her first paranormal novel, The Terror Twins. She is the owner of Thrillerz 13 Entertainment which specializes in promoting horror and paranormal entertainment. At this time she is ranked #12 on Examiner.com’s Entertainment Reporters for the New Orleans market for her weekly horror column, “Supernatural Saturday Night.” In the coming weeks Thrillerz 13 will be holding open submissions for their monthly literary ezine and their annual anthology.

About The Terror Twins

Born on the Winter Equinox during a violent, rare lightning storm twins Andrea and Andrew McKinley are just as rare as the twin bolts of lightning that struck the hospital on the night they were born.  Amanda, their mother, believed they were the children of prophecy and convinced her coven to use them as the focal point in which to draw power from.  She underestimates the strength of a twin bond.  Terror Twins follows the twins from the tragic events of their sixteenth year to the cataclysmic battle that erupts ten years later on the banks of the Mississippi River just south of Baton Rouge.

Read an excerpt from The Terror Twins by Kristina Stancil

Andrea could not move.  She was held immobile by some unseen force but she wasn’t just frozen still.  The air was extremely chilly and she knew light lay behind the blindfold she wore.  She could hear and she could feel.  As scared as she was of her powers this unknown paralysis and blindness drove her to near panic.  She reached out her senses to discover her surroundings.  She was in an examining room and her mother was pacing in the room near her.  It was dark outside and the doctor who came in wore a full face mask disguising his appearance.  Her mother looked up expectantly as the doctor forced Andrea’s legs apart.  She screamed in fear and anger of what he planned to do.  “No,” she cried out silently.  “Drew…” she reached her senses out searching for her brother.  He was not near her but she could not tell how far away.  The spell or the drugs forced upon her were clouding her mind.

“She is unspoiled.”  The doctor intoned.  “She will make a fine sacrifice for the goddess.”

“Hold,” a woman with a smoky voice said entering the room in a scarlet cloak covering her face.  “The girl may not be an utter waste.  Even now she listens to us.  Even now she knows what we do and what we plan.  She fears her powers.  She holds them at bay in a dark cage in her mind but for her to release them will require something drastic.  What of the boy, does he yet yield to my will?”

“No, Goddess,” the twins’ mother said casting her eyes down in guilt and fear of retaliation.  “He still shows loyalty to the one that survived the womb with him.”

Andrea’s consciousness turned to her….one who survived?  What did she mean?  Did the imaginary friend that they’d swore they’d both created, pretended that it was him who moved things who did things when it was kinda scary cool that things moved when they wanted them too without touching them……they called him Adrian.

“She knows,” the one they called Goddess said in her intoxicating voice.  “Be wary of which you speak Amanda,” she admonished the twins’ mother.  She tilted her head to the side and analyzed Andrea.  “What secrets do you keep hidden in the dark recesses of your mind, little one?  You could be of much use to me in the coming days….much more use than that of your brother.  Trust, he will have his uses, the spirit of his touch lingers deep within those who despair and ache with illness but you, little one, you have the power to bring me back to power.  A powerful handmaiden to a Goddess,” the head tilt again as she feels the indignation of servitude.  “Perhaps,” she snickered, “you wish to reign with me,” she turns away to face her mother.  “Do no more harm to this child.  I take care as an offering of your servitude.”

“But Goddess,” she sputtered.  “She’s the runt….she barely survived.  Andrew holds great power….”

“He’s male,” she spat.  “Only through female kind shall my legacy survive.  A binding of her to a male of proven breeding stock will produce a child of unfathomable power; as will the binding of her brother to another of my chosen daughters.  You have done well, Amanda.  The sacrifice of binding yourself, ever so briefly to such a man will not go unrewarded.”

“Thank you, Goddess,” Amanda said eyes still on the floor.

5 comments on “Halloween Haunts 2013: Trick or Treat by Kristina Stancil

  1. Pingback: Halloween Haunts from the Horror Writers Association

  2. Interesting post. The school our kids go to have cracked down on Halloween significantly, to the point where it is barely celebrated at all. But I think this is less about religious issues and more out of worry due to the violence in schools we have seen over more recently.

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