It’s October 31 again and we all know what that means; only two more weeks until Halloween. Stores are in full holiday mode, geared up for high volume sales of candy, cookies, costumes and all of the other various sundries that coincide with the spookiest night of the year. Retailers also rejoice as they warm up the cash registers to receive something in the neighborhood of $8 billion this year. That’s right, billion, with a “B”, that’s what Americans spend on average each year for Halloween festivities.
There is something about Halloween that excites us all. Scary movies, haunted houses, parties, dressing up in silly costumes pretending to be someone or something else and skipping around the neighborhood gathering candy and treats from each house. For the most part it’s innocent fun, but the origins of this unofficial holiday are far from innocent.
As Christians, how should we respond to Halloween? Should we totally abstain from any and all celebrations? Should we go along with the crowd and just have a little fun, it is innocent fun, right?
Pagan Origins
The name “Halloween” actually has its origins in the early Christian church. All Saints Day was a day that was set aside to remember and celebrate the lives and sacrifices of Christian saints and martyrs. All Hallows Eve, just like Christmas Eve was the day before the actual holiday and it was when the remembrance began. Eventually “All Hallows Eve” was condensed to “Hallow-e’en” which over time became “Halloween.”
2,000 years ago, the Celts celebrated Samhain (“sow-en”) festival which marked the end of the harvest season, Oct, 31- Nov, 2. They believed that during those three days the ghosts of the dead returned to earth to cause trouble for the living. The people dealt with these evil spirits by dressing in spooky costumes so they wouldn’t be recognized by the walking dead.
These evil spirits were believed to take on grotesque shapes and haunting figures. Some believed that wearing costumes that resembled evil spirits would fool these spirits. Others believed that the spirits could be warded off by carving frightening faces into large gourds and placing a lighted candle inside them.
Many people, instead of fearing this season of haunting, embraced it by engaging in the dark arts such as, divination, witchcraft, necromancy (“communicating with the dead”) and satanic worship. They called on divine spirits (“demons”) or the spirits of their ancestors to bless the coming crops, bring good health and wealth and even to cast spells for love and revenge.
Eventually the light of God shined into this dark and superstitious world and newly converted Christians armed themselves with the truth and no longer feared evil spirits roaming the earth. In fact, these Christians denounced their former occult practices in accordance with Deuteronomy 18:
9 “When you come into the land which the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the abominations of those nations. 10 There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, or one who practices witchcraft, or a soothsayer, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, 11 or one who conjures spells, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead. 12 For all who do these things are an abomination to the Lord, and because of these abominations the Lord your God drives them out from before you. 13 You shall be blameless before the Lord your God. 14 For these nations which you will dispossess listened to soothsayers and diviners; but as for you, the Lord your God has not appointed such for you.
As the centuries passed, Christians began making compromises and slowly rejoined the pagan celebrations, especially the Samhain festival. Over time, the traditions and practices of Samhain and All Hallows Eve mixed together leading to Christianized superstations that provided even more fodder for fear. Christians began to understand that the pagan ancestral spirits were in fact demons and that the diviners were practicing witchcraft and necromancy. The tradition of going from house to house asking for food, what we call Trick or Treating, became an opportunity for young people to engage in mischievous behavior. People who refused to give treats would awake to find their property had been vandalized in various ways.
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