The select vestry of Seagoe Parish Church recently wrote to its youth organisations asking them not to focus on Halloween in any events they are organising at this time of the year.

But several parents were angered and complained.

"There are many and much bigger issues for a church to deal with than ducking for apples and discussing spiders," said one female parishioner whose children attend the church but who did not want to be named.

Dr Bob Curran, a Northern Ireland folklore author, said churches had to be consistent.

"Christmas trees, hot cross buns and Easter eggs are all pre-Christian Pagan symbols too," he said.

"It is strange to single out Halloween symbols for criticism."

However, he acknowledged that there were more sinister roots to the festival.

"Originally it was a Pagan festival where people believed that the veil between this world and the world of the dead became very thin and that the dead could return," he said.

Witchcraft covens traditionally view it as a high festival and hold special rituals to bring back the Sun for spring, he said.

Often they would have burnt a large wicker man, which contained human sacrifices, he added.

The Rev Terence Cadden of Seagoe Parish Church said many people from other churches had congratulated him on his stand.

"Only two parents came to me with concerns about the matter," he said. "I explained that we were not forbidding Halloween parties but in fact encouraging them.

"All we were asking was that fancy dress did not include demons, devils or witches.

"We are not saying a witch's costume will harm a child, we are simply opposing the trivialisation of evil and protecting the innocence of our children."