Trick or Treat or Witch's Night

Count me odd but honestly, I really don't like Halloween. As a child I took little pleasure in dressing up to walk door-to-door amongst scary costumes only to receive candy I detested. Although, I must say, sometimes I could trade off those undesirables and still end up with more candy than my parents usually had around the house.

And while candy is currently the main focus of this holiday, it did have questionable beginnings. The History Channel gives an excellent explanation of this celebration. I learned a great deal by reading their article.

One thing I already knew was that not every country celebrates this particular holiday. But, as I learned while living in Germany as an adult, there is another yet similar celebration. It's called Hexennacht or Walpurgisnacht, translated Witch's Night, and happens in the spring on the last day of April. Of course it's practiced in other European countries, but since my experience comes from Germany I'll stick with what I know of the celebrations.

What I do remember is that it was compared to our Halloween celebration with two differences. No candy was involved. And, it was only tricks and pranks that occurred that night. As part of the tradition the children or youth of a village play tricks on others in the town. If you left anything outside overnight, it was fair game. It could end up in the town square, or up in your neighbor's tree, or anywhere the teens found humorous. And, don't bother calling the police the next morning because you were warned of the possibility of damage. Most of the pranks we experienced were on the humorous side.

Thinking back to my childhood, I remember being told in school that when the trick-or-treating practice began in this country, the tricking was a reality. Now, as I recall, the trickery was not malice in any way. Interestingly enough, I did not find that bit of information at any of the sites I researched. But it's got me thinking.

I feel this holiday has played the biggest trick on all of us. While we have wonderfully cute costumes nowadays, long gone are sheets pulled over heads to mimic and scare away ghosts, the evil factor still remains. We decorate with the goal of scaring people with fearsome skulls, gruesome cuts, and weapons of bloody destruction. So where's the trick in it all? It takes our focus off the real treat in life.

You see, there is an ultimate treat we might forget to focus on right now. No candy, no sugary substance, no colorful drink can compare to the treat that Jesus has given each of us. He suffered the horrors embraced in this season so that he could be an incredible life-giving treat which takes us away from the fears and dreads this season embraces.