Accidental Pagan

    Halloween will be here soon. My memories of Halloween are all positive--carving pumpkins, making (because we couldn't afford) costumes, trick or treating. Going myself as a child, my biggest worries were that big kids would steal my candy, the paper grocery bag that held the candy would give way from the rain or snow, or that some of the homes would give those disgusting Banana Bike taffies. When I was a little old for trick or treating, I was assigned the duty of taking my younger brother and sister. I stood back so it would not look like I was trying to get candy, but I secretly hoped the residents would notice me standing there and give me some. There were some sketchy houses in Missoula even back then, and I would make Roddy and Robyn throw away the candy from those places.

      The days of letting kids trick or treat unsupervised were over by the time we had ours and our first home in Kalispell was not on the best side of town so, once again, I stood on the sidewalk waiting for kids. This time I was not hoping they would share some of the candy, I was already planning which treats would be my commission for parental supervision. Carving pumpkins. Coming up with costumes. Handing out candy. None of these are evil. The memories are sweet.

    When my sister moved to Kalispell, I got to continue family traditions with her kids in the form of Aunt Connie day. Although there were Halloween alternative parties by then, carnivals held at churches or schools, those were not usually on Halloween night, so I took Alex and Amanda trick or treating in our over-dark, under-served neighborhood. Since the lots are large on our street and there are no streetlights on our end, few kids come, so the residents tend to lavish candy on whoever shows up. Besides, it was a good chance to catch up with my neighbors and show off my niece and nephew, who actually got store bought costumes. I enjoyed the visits because Halloween, thankfully, is not a drinking holiday. Although, when we lived in Helena, I found out every holiday was a drinking holiday.   

     This is an area where Christians are free to disagree. It is similar to the meat sacrificed to idols dilemma of Paul's day, except Paul was not writing about pagan customs from hundreds of years before, long forgotten by Roman culture. This meat, if it was halfway fresh, had just been sacrificed to a false god by someone who might have just passed you on the street. To those intimidated by the idol connection, eating it was sinful, to those who recognized the impotence of idols, it was just cheap steak.

    I find it hard to believe the devil has nothing more important to do than watch kids in costumes get candy. Satan's power is neither that trivial nor that omnipresent. He has rulers to sway, media to influence, pronouns to prefer. And there are holidays much more suited to sin--Carnival in South America, Mardi Gras in New Orleans, the Harley rally in Sturgis--where the themes are to get rowdy, drunk and, at least partially, naked. Same theme any day in Las Vegas. Big cities don't require a holiday to get rowdy, they have raves where monkeypox is one of the more benign things that gets spread. Demons would probably feel right at home there.

     Cremation has pagan origins, yet I don't know anyone who had a loved one cremated out of pagan beliefs. Most of our holidays have some connection with pagan practices, but if I have to go back hundreds of years to be offended by them, I would just as soon skip the trip. Whether I am standing under the mistletoe, saying bless you when someone sneezes, helping my granddaughters hunt Easter eggs, or handing out candy to trick-or-treaters, I am not afraid of becoming an accidental pagan.