Halloween Alternatives
Louis Merryman

No one ever told me about the Witches.  

In 1996, after a year of rejection letters from publishers, I self published 
Halloween Alternatives.  The book was and is a "How To" book on how to put on 
an October 31st Harvest Festival with a harvest.  When we crated the  book's 
web site on the Internet we included Chapter One.  That created a lot of 
Internet mail.  Most of it was from practicing "white" witches.  They were 
civil, informative and tried to convert me to paganism.  They also gave me 
permission to celebrate THEIR holiday.

Most of us think of Halloween as a time when kids dress up in costume and beg 
for candy.  Adults dress up on costumes, eat candy and go to parties.  For candy 
manufactuers Halloween is a great time of year.  But, the image of happy little 
faces chiming out a cute "Twick or Tweet," begging for candy is a facade.  A good 
look into the long history of the festivities of October 31 reveals a dark and 
chilling religious holiday.  

The major Pagan Sabbats (holidays) are Samhain (November's Eve/October 31) the 
feast of the dead, (harvest season ends, winter begins) when the line that 
separates the world of the living and the world of the dead is thinnest, Oimelc 
(February 1) the winter purification festival and Beltane (May 1) the great 
fertility festival.  The dominant theme of Samhain is and has been one of ghosts, 
evil spirits and the dead.  An echo of this theme is found in Mexico's "Day of 
the Dead" when the spirits of the dead wander the earth and are placated with 
offerings and treats.  The Mexican traditions came from the Aztecs.  The European 
Pagan traditions came from the Egyptians.  And before that?

((not necessarily for publication.  My personal opinion is that the holiday was 
started by Noah as a day to remember and honor his dead relatives and friends.  
The Swedes do that.  The day the world died by drowning was evil's last big day.  
When it got a hand hold on man after the flood the dark side of this celebration emerged.))

Most popular American Halloween traditions come from the Irish Druidic celebrations 
of Samhain.  Costumed followers of the Druid god Muck Olla went from house to house 
asking for contributions.  If one donated one was promised continued the blessings 
Muck Olla.  If one failed to give one would suffer bad crops and big trouble.  On Halloween 
we call this "Trick or Treat."  The rest of the year it's called extortion.

Jack was an Irish scoundrel who liked to eat big red turnips.  One day he trapped the 
devil in a tree and wouldn't let him down until the devil promised Jack he'd never live 
in Hell.  The devil agreed.  A year later Jack died.  An unbelieving scoundrel he couldn't 
get into heaven.  The devil wouldn't let him into hell.  To help Jack find his way back to 
earth,  the devil gave him a fiery coal.  Jack put the fiery coal in the lantern he carved 
from his big turnip.  This first "Jack O'Lantern helped Jack find his way back to Ireland. 

Despite the protests of my Internet pagan e-mailers, November's Eve is shared by the 
practitioners of black Magic.  It is a night of occult celebration and dark deeds.  The 
dead return, evil spirits play tricks and humans honor them in costume and deeds.  While 
soaping windows is a practical joke, putting razor blades in candy isn't.

The church has a tradition of "Halloween" alternatives.  November Eve is October 31st, the 
day before November 1st.  In AD 835 the Roman Catholic Church designated November 1st as 
All Saint's day to honor all the saints who didn't have a day when they were honored.  One 
of the reasons for such a day was to counter the popular celebration of  Samhain and other 
October 31st celebrations.  October 31st then became known as All Hallows Eve (Halloween) 
the day before All Hallows day.

The church adopted some of the practices of Samhain such as dressing up in costumes.  Instead 
of costumes of ghosts, goblins and witches, the Christians costumed them selves as saints and 
characters from the Bible.

Today the church continues to offer alternatives to the dark and evil side of October 31st.  

Because our American celebration of Halloween honors characters from the occult and horror movies, 
imitators of these evil creations have turned Halloween into a time of true fear and anxiety.  
When I was young we did not take our home made wrapped candy to be tested and X-rayed.  Parents 
look for safe places for their children to beg for candy.   Tricking is out.  Treating is in.  
Unfortunately tricks in the treats is also in.

The safe havens for "trick and treating" became the church.  

Church run and sponsored Halloween alternative parties began as genuine safe havens for members 
and from the terrors of Halloween.  Kids could do the fun things associated with All Hallows eve, 
bob for apples, carve pumpkins, dress up in costumes, and get safe treats.  Now, and the number is 
growing, Churches put on alternative celebrations for their members, friends and neighbors.

These affairs go by many names but the most common is the Harvest Festival or Harvest Party.  The 
activities are geared to younger children.  Happy costumes and Bible characters are welcome.  Occult 
costumes are frowned upon or banned.  

I love Harvest Parties.  Everyone in the Bible wore a costume.  At Harvest Festivals Christians can 
get into a Bible Character costume and tell Non-Christians about their Bible Character. 

At large Harvest Festivals a good method of crowd control - because anyone can come - is to charge 
a dollar admission or the donation of two cans of fruits or vegetables.  The later can be used later 
in food bags for the needy.  A hand stamp allows reentry.  

Harvest festivals should have Biblical themes.  The world's best apple pies are the ones baked by 
Mary and Martha.  Their cherry pie is O.K.  When it comes to baked chicken, the best baked chicken 
comes from the ovens Shadrack, Mesach and Abednego spent time in.  And the Red Sea punch - outstanding.  

Festivals have skill booths or chance booths.  A young child throws something at a target and gets 
a treat in return.  The thrown items are things that don't go far like beans bags, nerf balls, and 
suction darts.  Water squirt guns are fun, too.  Theme examples:  Feed the Hungry:  Toss a bean bag 
into the mouth of a hungry guy.   Potipar's Pot Throw:  Toss a nerf ball into a toilet seat.   Serve 
in the Court of Pharaoh:  Toss a small basket ball throw a hoop.

Games of chance include hooking a diver in a fish tank and receive a treat or throw a fishing line 
over a blue tarp and having an unseen volunteer put a treat on the end of the line.   Call theses 
booths:  Rescue the Perishing and Sea of Galilee Catch of the Day. 
The key to a fun learning experience is to read the Bible and use your imagination.

Booths are usually 10' by 10' and placed side by side.  Two to three people can work the booths 
comfortably.  Booths are sponsored by "organized" groups in the church.  Big festivals can be put 
on by groups of churches.  The Harvest Party I work is sponsored by two churches.  One supplies the 
land and food.  The other supplies the booths.

Expected fun things are there, too, like face painting, bands, clowns, inflatable jumping rooms 
(kids only, no shoes).  Photos are a big hit.  Taking a picture of a family in costume or just the 
kids in costume is a great momento of a fun evening.  My Harvest Party does ours free.  Puppets 
provide entertainment. 
    
What about the harvest?  In the organized confusion and noise of a Harvest Party it's difficult 
to tell people, big people, little about Jesus.  To tell folks about Jesus and give them His good 
news a quiet place is needed.  This can be done in a church auditorium or sanctuary.  If the target 
audience is the young the entertainment needs to be happy, colorful, full of movement in short 
segments geared for them.  

We don't do it that way.  In an auditorium the performers move on and off the stage.  The audience 
stays put.  We put our performers in fixed locations, rooms, and move the audience from room to room.  In each room the kids meet a Bible Character who in one to minutes tells them about his Bible Adventure or what Jesus did for him.  Each Bible character is appropriately costumed and has a backdrop lighted with colored flood lights so the attention is focused on him and not on the blackboards, poster of events and other trivia in a classroom.  In the last room we present the gospel.  Kids get saved.  At the end of the tour everyone gets a treat.  The new born kids get Bibles and information packs.  

My book, Halloween Alternatives, has several scripts for these walking tours.  These
short scripts can also be used as teaching tools in preparation for class Harvest parties..  
In September the Church School class cast for roles as Bible Characters for a Bible character video 
to be shown at the class party.  The students get their costumes, memorize their lines and movement, 
and secure necessary props.  In October the video is shot and edited before being shown at the 
Harvest Party. 

The Halloween Alternatives describes are geared toward young children.  While some of these work 
with teens, this target group probably responds better to the scarier realities of the age.  

((There is an outfit that franchises these reality horror houses.  For a fee they send you a kit of 
stuff that properly presented scares you with the reality of abortion, drugs, drunk driving etc..))

Harvest Parties are fun ways of teaching the Bible in our age of Visual Media.  For the non-reader 
it's "That's in the Bible?"  I didn't know that was in the Bible?"  For the believer it's 
"Hey, mommie, my Sunday School Teacher taught me that."  "So that's what the blind man looked like?"


And Harvest Parties are safe.