From a Christian perspective, how are we supposed to approach Halloween? Do we involve ourselves with the festivities? My dad taught a class study on Halloween ten years ago, and I still have his notes and thought I would share them with you. He doesn't answer these questions, but presents some pretty dynamic and historical info...enough to allow people to make their own choices. Read on...
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What are some of the things we associate with Halloween? Witches, cats, bats, pumpkins, pranks, masks, costumes, tricks and treats, communion with the dead, divination.
What is society's perception of Halloween? Innocent fun; evil isn't real.
Is it okay for Christians to participate in Halloween? Is Halloween really tied to Satan and the occult?
Occult influence has been around since the fall of man. Eve was without sin and yet was tempted by Satan. The Old Testament has many accounts of sorcery, divination, and idol worship. Kings and Pharaohs all had their team of advisors (cf Exodus 7.11-12, 1 Samuel 28, Daniel 2.1-3).
Fall celebrations or festivals date back to the book of Leviticus where God orders the Feast of Tabernacles (Lev 23.29)...also known as the "Feast on Ingathering".
American traditions associated with Halloween can be traced back to European Celtic culture. The Celts' origin dates back hundreds of years before Christ. Descendants of Noah's son, Japheth, who moved north to the land then known as Gaul (current-day Europe).
The Celts, according to history, were a pagan and barbaric people steeped in tradition and ceremony. In the generations before Christ, they were illiterate. They had no written works, no form of government, and knew nothing of the highly educated Green or Roman culture. The culture was passed on orally through the generations. Everything taught had to be remembered. The cultural leaders were those who were most influential with their speech.
Knowledge was considered a "spiritual gift". Archaeological findings are all that substantiate the existence of the Celts of that time. Celtic writing didn't start until approximately the fifth century A.D. Explorers from Rome recorded stories of their contacts with the pagans of the northern forest regions. They noted specifically their amazement at the Celts' memory skills, eloquence and story-telling abilities.
Celts believed in the immortality of the soul. After a period of time, the soul of a deceased person would pass to another body (usually a newborn child). Evil spirits were believed to inhabit animals...particularly cats. Horses were believed to be a sacred animal, probably because of their size, strength, or beauty. They were sometimes used as sacrifices to appease a perceived angry spirit.
Druids were priests of the Celtic people. They held great power over the people. Their three main functions were 1) the source of knowledge for the tribe, 2) administer law and justice, and 3) oversee social and religious ceremony. Druids were known to practice animal and human sacrifices. They practiced magic and divination using the bones of the offering. Cats and horses were caged in wicker baskets and burned alive. Humans, if they weren't burned alive, were stabbed or shot with arrows. The manner in which the sacrifice died (motions, sounds, etc.) also was used to divine the future.
The most sacred of the festivals for the Druids was the festival of Samhain, Lord of the Dead. Held on November 1, it was the first day of winter and also New Years Day. On the even of Samhain, October 31, (Celts counted by nights, not days--midnight to midnight) the ancestral dead would rise from the grave and, along with demons, roam the earth and cause trouble. Great bon fires were built on hill tops on the eve of Samhain. Druids conducted divinations from the Samhain fire and performed magic that night because they believed the barrier between our world and the powers of darkness was weakest. The spirits of those who had died that year, they believed, were judged by Samhain that night. Good spirits were allowed another 12 months of death; bad spirits were sentenced to 12 months inhabiting a lowly animal.
Families put out food and drink (treat) for dead souls to appease them, so they would not cause harm to them or their property. An angry spirit, they believed, would kill livestock, spoil milk and food, or cause sickness (trick). People disguised themselves in goulish costumes so the evil spirits would think they were of their world and wouldn't harm them.
Bon fires build on hilltops served more than one purpose. They were the center of ceremony--a guide for the spirits and a place to offer sacrifices. One tradition was for family members to mark stones and place them in the fire. The next morning any stone that was missing meant that person would die in the coming year. People were to extinguish all fires in their homes on the eve of Samhain. The Druids would light a torch from the Samhain fires and walk around the village re-lighting the fires in the homes. It was customary and expected to give an offering (treat) in exchange for the sacred fire. If you didn't the Druids were likely to torch your crops, your bull or your house (trick). As a sign of good-will, a jack-o-lantern was placed in the front of your house.
Transalpine Gaul (France and the Rhineland) was conquered by Julius Caesar in the first century B.C., and most of Britain came under Roman rule int he first century A.D. Ireland was never conquered by Rome (they stopped short and just decided not to bother with it). As a result pagan traditions and beliefs remained strong in Britain, Ireland and Scotland regions while Christianity was spreading across the Roman Empire. Thousands of pagans were being converted yet they were still accustomed to celebrating their rituals. In an effort to reach the pagans, the Church began assimilating their traditions into new "Christian" ones. Pope Gregory I declared...
Let the shrines of idols by no means be destroyed. Let water be consecrated and sprinkled in the temples, let altars be erected . . . so that the people, not seeing their temples destroyed, may displace error and recognize and adore the true God . . . And because they were wont to sacrifice to devils, some celebrations should be given in exchange for this . . . they should celebrate a religious feast and worship God by their feasting, so that still keeping outward pleasure, they may more readily receive spiritual joys.
All Saints' Day (also known as All Hallows Day), established May 13, 610 A.D., was a day to remember and honor those who died for their belief. Int the eighth century, Pope Gregory III moved this day to November 1. The church was trying to change people from celebrating pagan traditions to celebrating Christian ones. Traditions with food and costume were even copied.
All Souls' Day (a Catholic feast day), held on November 2, was established in the early ninth century by Amalarius as a special commemoration of those who had died that year to help them through purgatory. In 993 A.D. it was officially made part of the Church by Abbot St. Odilo.
The reformation was initiated by Martin Luther when, on October 31, 1517, he nailed his 95 theses on the church door. The theses opposed the teachings and practices of a corrupt Catholic church (paying money for sins committed). Lutherans and Calvinists fought Catholics for 200 years, and, in the end, reformation Protestants abandoned the observance of All Saints' Day.
On November 5, 1605, Catholic revolutionary Guy Fawkes tried to blow up the Protestant sympathetic House of Lords. He was caught and executed along with his conspirators. It became a celebration day for some of triumph of Protestant over Catholic. Because it was so close to All Hallows Day, traditions were borrowed. Bonfires, hollowed out turnip lamps and grotesque masks became tradition. The eve of Guy Fawkes Day became a night of mischief. Kids went around begging for lumps of coal for fires to burn effigies of Guy Fawkes.
With the Roman influence came the celebration of the Festival of Ponoma, held on November 1. Panoma was the mythical goddess of the orchard and the harvest. She was a nymph who loved pruning and grafting in the orchards. The apple was a symbol of love and fertility. Anyone who could pull an apple from a tub of water using only their mouth was destined to have great fortune in the coming year (thus, apple-bobbing).
The Catholic church continued to support the custom of remembering the dead on the eve of November 1. The three observances became known as Hallowmas. The evening before Allows was known as All Hallows Eve, which later became Halloween. But in all cultures, in one way or another, it remained a celebration of the dead.
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