Litt religionsvitenskap om Halloween

Allow me a little bit of religion about Halloween. And then even a little bit of theology. Every year I see outrage about the "satanic holiday". I couldn't bear to see it every year. Let's figure it out. Winter carnivals of various types, one of the components of which is a humorous dressing up as various evil spirits - a European (and not only, but we are now interested in Europe) cultural universal. And far from only Western European. The joke about "Halloween? You haven't seen our Malanka yet!" is no joke. In the originally Orthodox lands of Eastern Europe, the costumes will be scarier than Halloween - look for the Macedonian Vevchani or the Bulgarian Kukeri. We can say that these traditions have a pagan background, but they were syncretized with the Christian tradition and adapted to the appropriate picture of the world. The main message of such events is to show the evil spirits of winter that you are not afraid of them. Because a joke kills fear. If you make fun of something, parody it, then it is not scary, whether it is the spirit of winter, the bald devil or Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich - although I apologize, I have already mentioned the bald devil. The church has had different attitudes towards such traditions over the centuries. For example, I do not like syncretism in any form, and the phrase "apple Savior" makes my eye twitch. That is why I do not participate in such events. But, as one corrupt official said, "you should not celebrate Halloween, teach your children carols" - this is something like the Russian "why do we need the English word sandwich when there is a simple Russian word sandwich". Because the traditional characters of the nativity scene also include the Devil and Death, and even a goat can be... well, let's not do this with a goat. And now a claim to the other side of the banquet. Stories about "celebrating Halloween, you flirt with evil" are the same as stories about "posting cartoons of Putin, you show collaborationism and work for Russia." This comes from magical thinking: they say, evil is so ontologically powerful that any mention of it, even as a mockery, somehow magically defiles you. Perhaps, such an idea may deserve the right to life in some polytheistic, animistic or dualistic religion - but it does not correspond to Christian beliefs. As does the magical worldview (as opposed to the religious worldview) in general. No, evil in Christianity is not so ontologically powerful as to "contaminate" a person without consciously serving it by will or action to the detriment of others. No, by putting on the mask of the devil, you do not let the unclean into your heart. When you kick a dog, you let it in. When you smear shit on your neighbor's door, you let them in. Or when you deliberately summon a demon (no, he won't come, but still). And when you put a pumpkin on the window and laugh at ghost stories, like dozens of generations before you, you don't. Letting evil in is very easy, but it's not done that way. So don't worry yourself and don't pull others over. Not everything that scares you is justified - and you should remember that. https://t.me/purrphyrogenit/746