“Before there was ‘Halloween,’ there was ‘All Hallows’ Eve’ — and All Saints Day. For hundreds of years, before jack-o-lanterns and zombies and candy corn, Christians around the world have remembered the dead, the saints, the cloud of witnesses that have gone before us. Halloween comes from the same root word as ‘hallowed’ or ‘halo,’ meaning holy.
Rather than glorifying death, it is a time we can celebrate life, remembering the lives of our loved ones and the heroes of the faith. In fact, while we don’t need more gore and blood, there is something sweet about being able to laugh at death… after all, we know the dead can rise again. Oh death, Thou art dead. Happy Halloween.”
—Shane Claiborne, Philadelphia-based Anabaptist social activist, on Facebook.