Halloween is a pagan holiday, which dates back to the time before the adoption of Christianity.
In Bulgaria it has come from the West.
The attributes and symbols of Halloween reveal the spiritually negative nature of this phenomenon; they personify horror, fear, darkness. The clothes and masks depict evil things, demons, horror movie characters, fantastic ghosts. For an Orthodox person all this is completely unacceptable.
Halloween is a play with the dark power. The reference to the dark force, and even more so to the embodiment of evil images in costumes and masks, is direct. By all these means, one opens the door of evil to oneself, becoming easily vulnerable to demonic influence.
Sadly, confirmation of this spiritual law is yesterday's (29.10.2022) tragic incident in Seoul, South Korea, where more than 150 people in the prime of their youth were killed and as many more injured during a Halloween-celebration stampede. Through such a "harmless" and "fun" occasion, the devil takes his victims, owing to frivolity and ignorance, leaving comfortlessness in the hearts of many people. Thus, we become prey in the hands of the enemy (the devil).
We, humans, forget that we bear within us the image of God and are called to strive for the good, the pure, the Godly, not the evil, the dark, the infernal. When the soul is pure, there is more joy in it, so there is no need for the subject of evil, even in the context of entertainment.
Halloween is imposed in Bulgaria, foreign to our culture and incomprehensible to the vast majority of people. It is largely commercial in nature; shops sell appropriate paraphernalia for the day...
But let us strive to follow the call of God's words which teach us all goodness, righteousness and wisdom: "And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them." (Eph 5:11).
