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Home > All Things Considered > Trick or treat; harmless fun or seriously sinister?


	Podcast:		All Things Considered
	Episode:		Trick or treat; harmless fun or seriously sinister?
	Category:		Music
	Duration:		00:27:41
	Publish Date:		2023-10-29 09:31:00
	Description:		At the moment you can’t move in the shops for sales of pumpkins and all kinds of Halloween outfits – such as masks, witches’ hats, and luminous skeletons. It’s being reported that spending on Halloween is expected this year to surpass the billion pound mark. Come Halloween there’ll be the trick or treat ring of the doorbell, and spooky parties serving foul-looking broth, witches’ fingers and graveyard chocolate cake. But as far as the church is concerned, there’s little or no engagement except perhaps for a so-called Light Party. Rosa Hunt takes a broader look at Halloween. We hear about the history of bonfire celebrations on 31 October which stretch back to pre-Christian times; in Wales Nos Calan Gaeaf had both agricultural and spiritual significance. We ask why many in the church have little or nothing to do with Halloween. As far as popular stories like the Harry Potter books or Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials are concerned, the church has sometimes been sometimes been accused of keeping such fantastical story lines at arm’s length. We consider why. And amidst all the Halloween trick and treating, can all the fun tip over into something more sinister? Rosa’s guests this week are: Sergeant Sue Carrington, a crime prevention police officer based in north Wales. Revd Dr Rob Beamish, a school chaplain and Baptist minister based in Colwyn Bay. Mandy Bayton, Director of Evangelism, Church in Wales. Twm Elias, Welsh author who has written a written a book about festivals during the year including Nos Calan Gaeaf. Revd Canon Dr Jason Bray, Vicar of St Giles’s Parish Church Wrexham and a Deliverance Minister.
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