Halloween or Diwali

Tonight is Diwali.  A few nights ago was Halloween.  I started to think about these holidays.  We don't celebrate Halloween, mostly because we are in India and there is no Halloween here.  I guess we kind of celebrate Diwali.  At least we enjoy the fireworks that others are setting off.  And we let Micah go to some friends house to light fireworks.

One year we were in America during Halloween and Micah dressed up in some old stuff we had and went to two doors.  One wasn't home and one was his grandparents.  He wasn't too impressed with the whole thing.

I think it is pretty obvious why we don't celebrate Diwali, because it is a Hindu festival and we are Christians.  The real part of the holiday is lighting lights around your house to invite Laxmi in to bring you good luck.  And the firecrackers are to scare of evil.  We don't want any part in inviting Laxmi into our house and I doubt evil is scared by firecrackers.

The question I ask myself is "would I let Micah celebrate Halloween if we were in America?"  I don't really like the whole idea of going door to door and getting candy from strangers.  I mean, isn't that one of the rules, "Don't take candy from strangers"?  And I am cheap so I don't want to hand out candy or decorate the place.  And Micah doesn't really eat a lot of sweets, so he doesn't get excited about candy.  So what is the point.  Maybe it is fun to dress up.

With Diwali I can put a spiritual twist on the holiday at least.  I can think about Jesus being the light or that we are the light of the world.  We know who the true light is.  And we know that He has overcome the evil one.  So I don't need to light candles to keep evil away.    But Halloween is a bit harder to find a spiritual lesson from.  We have kids running around, many times in evil costumes or inappropriate clothing and getting candy.  It just seems kind of stupid.  But I remember enjoying the different candies and seeing how much we could get.  It is just hard to enjoy it anymore.  Maybe I have just lost my fun-bone.

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