Mayor refuses to judge Halloween pumpkin contest

The mayor of a small English town, and his wife, have refused to judge a local Halloween pumpkin-carving contest saying that it "glorifies Satan's angels."

Tom and Sonja Wilson of Nuneaton, England have refused to judge the town's pumpkin carving contest after consulting with members of their local Baptist Church. They have concluded that it is against their religious beliefs, reports the Telegraph. Mayor Wilson feels that the town's youth should not be taking part in Halloween because it "glamorizes evil." Mr. Wilson said in an interview with the Telegraph, "It glorifies Satan's angels and celebrates the dark side. Halloween is a pagan festival. I don't think it's appropriate to involve youngsters in this sort of thing." Most scholars accept Halloween's beginnings as Samhain, an ancient harvest festival held at the end of the Celtic year. The occasion was held at the end of summer, just before the winter when it became darker and the participants believed that during that time evil spirits came to destroy their crops and play tricks on the living, reports the Huffington Post. The book The Worship of the Dead finds the origins of Halloween to be even further back in history. It says, “The mythologies of all the ancient nations are interwoven with the events of the Deluge. The force of this argument is illustrated by the fact of the observance of a great festival of the dead in commemoration of the event, not only by nations more or less in communication with each other, but by others widely separated, both by the ocean and by centuries of time. This festival is, moreover, held by all on or about the very day on which, according to the Mosaic account, the Deluge took place, the seventeenth day of the second month, the month nearly corresponding with our November.” (London, 1904, Colonel J. Garnier, p. 4) Thus these celebrations actually began with an honoring of people whom God had destroyed because of their badness in Noah’s day. Sonja Wilson, the mayor's wife and a town councillor, said to the Telegraph, "We feel strongly about the potential dangers of letting youngsters become involved in it. We never encouraged our own children to join any Halloween activities because it's unhealthy." She says, "The Bible says not to believe in other idols and Halloween is all about promoting Satan. There is a risk that it could lead to other things like an interest in the occult and witchcraft, it's like encouraging young people to drink beer," reports the Telegraph. Councillor Clive Stringer, the town's deputy mayor took over the task of judging the pumpkins, and told the Telegraph, "As far as I'm concerned it's just a bit of fun for the kids. I was brought up as a Christian but I don't see anything wrong with children dressing up as witches and wizards and making faces out of pumpkins." Americans spend over $5 billion annually on Halloween, reports the Huffington Post.