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CAPITAL REGION
Conservatives create alternatives to holiday
Some Christians are against Halloween
BY JESSICA HARDING Gazette Reporter

    Kim, a born-again Christian, used to pull her five boys out of school on Halloween.
    “We don’t celebrate Halloween,” said Kim, a member of Harvest Church in Clifton Park who declined to give her last name. “We used to go to a play center or out to lunch and have a fun day.”
    On Halloween night, Kim’s family accepted trick-or-treaters, but the children stayed home and gave out the candy. “It was never a big deal to them that we didn’t celebrate,” Kim said. “When they got to be teenagers, they used to go out with their friends, but they knew the value of why we didn’t celebrate.”
    According to Kim, the concept of Halloween is against Christian values, which is why some conservative Christians in the Capital Region are finding alternatives to Halloween.
    The Rev. Sean Lawton, family life pastor of Calvary Assembly of God Church in Cobleskill, is hosting an event called “Shine Forth.”
    Lawton said the goal of the event is to give the children a safe, friendly atmosphere for Halloween.
    “Due to the fact that the nature of Halloween is a dark night anyway, we’re going to have a well-lit, safe environment,” he said.
    The event will have carnival games, most of them with Biblebased themes. One game features a 6-foot Goliath on an 8-foot piece of plywood. The children act as David and use a sling shot and paint balls to hit Goliath in the forehead.
    Lawton is expecting between 150 and 200 children from several different parishes to participate in the event from 6 to 8 p.m. Friday in the parking lot next to Catholic Charities on Main Street. “It’s not just one church but a group of churches, and you don’t see that too often,” Lawton said.
    There will be free candy, and the entire event is free to the public.
    Lawton said he is expecting that children walking by on Halloween night will stop to participate. He told the members of his parish that children who are dressed up will probably be there. The children in his parish are allowed to dress up, but Lawton said their costumes will probably also have a Bible-based theme, such as Noah and his ark.
    Children are not allowed to dress up at the alternative Halloween event at Victory Christian Church in Albany.
    More than 200 are expected to participate in this year’s event, called “Confronting an Evil World.”
    Pastor Charlie Muller has been organizing the event for 13 years. This year, his 17-year-old daughter Cassie is the chairperson.
    The event will include games, prizes, dance performances and skits. The children all get a bag of candy when they leave.
    “We do it because kids are getting razor blades in apples. It’s a night where crazy things happen, people are looking to do bad things and we want to get them off the street,” Muller said. “This is a way for them to have fun. The kids come into this whole production.”
    Muller said Halloween is contrary to the church’s beliefs.
    “If you go to the Halloween roots, it’s not real Christian,” Muller said. “The whole concept is … well, is it really fun to send your kid out looking like a devil? There has got to be something more productive than that.”
    The event is scheduled for 6:15 p.m. Friday at 118 Quail St.
    Not all area clergy find Halloween celebrations to be intolerable. At St. Luke’s Roman Catholic Church on State Street in Schenectady, the Rev. Dominic Isopo, pastor, noted that the day used to be called All Hallows Eve, an “eve that is holy.” Children used to dress up as saints or other people within the Christian community.
    “Halloween is a cultural holiday, a chance for children to be creative and dress up as something they’ve always wanted to be, and the free candy adds to the excitement. We’re not opposed to it,” Isopo said.

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History of Halloween

Halloween is a holiday celebrated on the night of October 31. Traditional activities include trick-or-treating, bonfires, costume parties, visiting "haunted houses" and carving jack-o-lanterns. Irish and Scottish immigrants carried versions of the tradition to North America in the nineteenth century. Other western countries embraced the holiday in the late twentieth century including Ireland, the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico and the United Kingdom as well as of Australia and New Zealand.

Halloween has its origins in the ancient Celtic festival known as Samhain (pronounced "sah-win").

The festival of Samhain is a celebration of the end of the harvest season in Gaelic culture. Samhain was a time used by the ancient pagans to take stock of supplies and prepare for winter. The ancient Gaels believed that on October 31, the boundaries between the worlds of the living and the dead overlapped and the deceased would come back to life and cause havoc such as sickness or damaged crops.

The festival would frequently involve bonfires. It is believed that the fires attracted insects to the area which attracted bats to the area. These are additional attributes of the history of Halloween.

Masks and consumes were worn in an attempt to mimic the evil spirits or appease them.................http://www.halloweenhistory.org/

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Masks and consumes were worn in an attempt to mimic the evil spirits or appease them

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Halleluia Family Festival
It’s back and better than ever! Are you looking for a fun-filled, safe, family-centered alternative to Halloween? We have just the event for you. Join us on Friday, October 31 from 5:00 to 8:00 p.m. for our annual Halleluia Family Festival. There will be new games, prizes, candy, face painting, bounce houses, food, music, and a great gospel presentation at 7:00 p.m.. Ned and Joan Way of Noway Productions, will perform a variety of illusions and juggling acts that present the gospel message in a unique and interactive way. This is an outreach event and you are invited to bring friends. Contact us for information about outreach tickets.

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Evangelism You Can Count On!

Ned and Joan are professional illusionists, jugglers and family/kids evangelists based out of Louisville, KY. They have performed for Ringling Brother's/Barnum and Bailey Circus, Disneyland, Disney World, and other notable places. They have also been featured performers with Kid's Gig a part of the Billy Graham Crusade.

Ned, president of No Way Productions LLC, is also a licensed minister. Joan has a BA degree in Elementary Education from the University of Northern Iowa. They are recipients of the "Excellence in Ministry" award presented by International Network of Children's Ministry.

They travel far and wide reaching kids and families with their presentation, seminars, and workshops. They travel from coast to coast including Alaska, Hawaii, Canada, the Virgin Islands, and even abroad.