A RECTOR is urging families to boycott Halloween parties and trick or treating – describing them as dark and satanic.

The Reverend Susan Kent said the mounting commercialisation of Halloween festivities puts pressure on people to take part.

She added: “This trivialises its sinister and worrying aspects, hiding them under cheap plastic horns and tacky outfits.”

In a message to parishioners at her six churches in Weardale, County Durham, she is calling for them to celebrate Halloween, or All Saints’ Day, at an “alternative party”.

Instead she is inviting children to dress in colourful clothes and “think about the good things in life”, rather than allow themselves to be dragged down by darkness and fear.

She said: “Many churches in Britain are becoming increasingly concerned about the potential for anti-social behaviour and criminal activity under the cloak of trick or treat.

“While it may appear innocent to go round the streets ringing doorbells and asking people for sweets or money, some people feel scared and intimidated by the practice.

“Trick or treating puts children in danger, even if they go around in groups.

“Many children live in a hard world, where there are many things that cause them pain and put them in danger.

“There is enough darkness and evil to be going on with.

We should take the opportunity to celebrate the light things in life.”

But Clair McGregor, who owns a fancy dress and party shop, the Party Godmother, in Bishop Auckland, believes Ms Kent is “taking things too far”.

She said: “A lot of the customers who come into our store are families. Most of them are only interested in holding responsible parties in the privacy of their own homes. It is a way of bringing families together in what are difficult times.

“There is nothing dark or sinister about this.

“One of our most popular Halloween costumes this year is a pink ballerina witch.

What’s sinister and evil about that?”

Ms Kent will hold her alternative party at the Church Hall, in Stanhope, on Saturday, October 30, the day before Halloween. It will include games, crafts, food and fun activities.

• HALLOWEEN has its roots in the pagan Celtic festival of Samhain, Roman religious festivals and the Christian All Saints’ Day, all of which have been blended down the centuries with folk traditions.

The Celts would light bonfires and wear costumes to ward off the ghosts of the dead, which they believed returned to earth.

The Romans then combined Samhain with two festivals, Feralia, when Romans commemorated the dead, and Pomona, celebrating the goddess of fruit and trees.

In the 800s, Pope Boniface IV made November 1 All Saints’ Day or All-hallowmas, to honour saints and martyrs. The night before it began to be called All-Hallows Eve, later Halloween.