Nottinghamshire vicar explains why his church is holding Halloween party

A Nottinghamshire vicar has explained why his church is hosting a Halloween event this year despite many arguing that Christians should not observe the festival. The All Hallows Church in Ordsall is hosting a 'Spooky Spectacular Party' on Thursday (October 31), running from 5pm until 7pm.

Halloween is a shortened form of All Hallow's Eve, marking the night before the day that Christians observe as All Saints Day. All Saints Day celebrates the belief that Christians have nothing to fear from death, whilst All Hallow's Eve evolved as a fusion of Christian, pagan and Roman traditions.

Many Christians believe Halloween itself should not be observed, given certain Bible passages that warn about an unhealthy interest in evil. Recent years have seen some Christian churches hosting 'light parties', where the focus is on the positive and joyful side of Halloween rather than the spooky and sinister elements.

Yet Reverend Alex Shiells, the vicar at St Michael's in Retford and All Hallows in Ordsall, has set out his reasoning for hosting a full Halloween party at the latter. Posting a video on the church's Facebook page, Reverend Alex said: "A few people have asked us about this and why it is that as a church, we're doing what seems to be a Halloween party.

"Many churches will do light parties or alternatives to Halloween, yet ours is called a spooky spectacular and the marketing has had some spooky things in it, so why is that?.. We are called All Hallows Church and you may know that Halloween is a contraction of All Hallow's Eve, so we're almost celebrating our birthday...

"Because All Hallow's Eve was about the celebration of life over death, Halloween started because of the fact that people would dress up in order to mock death. We see this in the Day of the Dead festivals in Mexico.

"The message was that because of Jesus' defeat over death, people would dress up as all the things that Jesus has defeated as a symbol that we don't need to be scared of them anymore... We want to open our doors to the community to do something which is welcoming and inclusive, good for children, but also shares the message that we don't need to be afraid."

Describing its Halloween event, All Hallows Church says: "We will be open between 5pm and 7pm for you and your little monsters to come in before, during or after trick or treating and there'll be lots for you to do. This event is especially good for younger children who may be too young to go trick or treating but would love to get dressed up."