Bishop of Bolton -v- Halloween

Holy Halloween! The Bishop of Bolton has written to the five major supermarkets suggesting they re-think the way they market the old Celtic festival known originally as ‘Samhein.’

He is concerned that by selling scary masks and costumes, supermarkets are focusing on the ‘dark, negative’ side of the celebrations and urges them to consider selling bright balloons and hair braids and other more colourful costumes alongside the more traditional Halloween stuff. Doing otherwise contributes to ‘trivialising the realities of evil in the world’ and encourages anti-social behaviour, he claims.

I thinnk the Bishop should lighten up. Is he really doing himself or the Church any favours by getting so worked up about all this?

Halloween is about death, like it or not, and that’s the way it should stay. We are far too willing in this country to sweep the harsh reality of our mortality under the carpet and pretend it doesn’t happen until it hits us or someone we love smack in the face. Halloween is one festival when it comes out into the open, giving children a way to face the reality of death – and the presence of evil in the world – in a non threatening, symbolic way.

In any case, if the Bishop really wanted to remove all things dark, negative and frightening from our festival year and from our worship, he might start by launching a campaign to ban Good Friday. And get every crucifix removed from every church in the land while he's at it. As a child, I found these infinitely more chilling than Halloween.

But no need, for I suspect what this argument is really all about is the growing popularity of what is essentially, still, a Pagan festival. The Medieval witch burnings may be over but, it seems, the Church is still slogging it out with its old arch enemy in any way it can.