Most people today think of Halloween as simply a day when kids dress up in costumes and go from house to house to do "trick or treat" and collect enough candy to make any parent cringe. However, Halloween was much more important in ancient times. October 31 was a very important day for the ancient Celts of Ireland, Scotland and Great Britain. No craziness in costumes and trick or treat bags; Halloween was much more serious for the non-Christian sects a thousand years ago.
Halloween continues to be a popular day in the US, Canada, Puerto Rico, Ireland, UK, Australia and New Zealand. Kids get to dress up in their favorite costumes and ring the bell in their neighborhood to collect as much candy as possible. In the United States, Halloween is the second most popular holiday (after Christmas) to decorate, reaping a huge financial bounty from the retail trade of terrifying costumes to both children and adults, decorations, and candy. But for centuries, the history of Halloween has encompassed ancient beliefs about the world - both living and dead.
Understanding the history of Halloween may help you decide what you want your kids to participate in and what to keep your kids away from. Also, knowing the origins of Halloween and its history can also help Christians see the activities for adults, youth, and children associated with Halloween celebrations in the light of Christ's truth.
Halloween originated long before the Christian era among the Irish Celts, Scots and Anglo-Saxons in Britain. Originally called Samhain, it was a time when they believed that the division between the worlds of the living and the dead became very thin and that ghosts and spirits were free to roam as they pleased. The name "Halloween" is a shorter form for the Gaelic name All-Hallow Evening. Pope Boniface IV instituted All Saints' Day in the 7th century as a time to honor saints and martyrs, replacing the pagan feast of the dead. In 834, Gregory III moved All Saints' Day to November 1, making October 31 All Hallows' Eve ("saints" means "holy").
On the night of Samhain, spirits of the restless dead and mischievous spirits were believed to roam freely with people and during this one night, spirits could make contact with the physical world while their magic was at its peak. The Celts believed that by allowing the dead to enter the world in one night, they would be content to return to the land of the dead. The Celtic people would make sacrifices of food to appease the spirits who might harm and harm them, and Celtic priests would make sacrifices, animals and humans, to the gods for the purpose of chasing away the evil, terrifying spirits.
They built fires where they offered sacrifices to the Celtic gods to provide protection from the dead spirits. Samhain was also a time when it was customary for the pagans to use the occult practice of divination to determine the weather for the coming year, harvest expectations and even who in the community would marry whom and in what order.
When Rome took over their land, the Samhain was integrated with two other Roman festivals: Feralia and a festival in honor of Pomona, the Roman goddess of fruits and trees. By the time Christianity came on the scene, Halloween had already taken root from pagan beliefs and integrated into Christian practices. When the Europeans made their way to the New World, they brought their traditions with them which soon evolved into their new land.
Many habits that are still observed today originate from these ancient beliefs. For example, the elaborately crafted jack-o-lantern is said to be named after the Irish story of a greedy, hard-drinking gambling man, Stingy Jack, who tricked the devil into climbing a tree and locked him there by making a rough crossing in the trunk of the tree. . In revenge for being trapped in the tree, the devil cursed Jack and made him walk the earth at night forever. Today's jack-o-lantern is carved with a scary face to prevent Jack and other ghosts from entering their homes.
One problem for the Celtic people was... if the souls of deceased loved ones could return that night, everything else, human or not, nice or not-so-nice could. So to protect themselves on such an occasion, these superstitious people would pretend to be one of the demonic hordes, wear masks and other disguises and blacken the face with soot to hopefully pass between them unnoticed. This is the source of modern Halloween costumes portraying devils, imps, ogres and other demonic creatures.
For Christians, the origin, history and current practices of Halloween have their root in Satan, the author of deception.
He was a murderer from the beginning, who did not abide by the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. [John 8:44]
While some may say that Halloween is now just a fun children's holiday, it should be noted how much modern American practices and modern witchcraft have in common with the ancient beliefs of the Celtic people. Contrary to some beliefs, the historical Samhain was not a time for witches and the worship of Satan. Samhain marked the end of the harvest season and the official beginning of autumn. The ancient Celts celebrated a successful harvest season on Samhain and gave thanks for the abundance of crops harvested. The Satanic celebrations now celebrated on Halloween are a more recent invention of more contemporary Satanists who have focused more on this season as a time when the dead can easily communicate with the living, making divination and sacrifice more feasible. Contemporary Halloween has thus become a mixture of ancient beliefs, occult practices and a highly commercialized children's holiday.
While some people consider celebrating Halloween a sin, others simply think that Halloween shouldn't be a holiday at all! A few southern states are known to ban trick-or-treating on Halloween, especially if it falls on a Sunday. Halloween parties are rebranded as "autumn festivals" and children replace scary costumes with costumes of biblical characters, historical figures, or no costume at all.
Considering that Satan is the father of lies, it is understandable how many are confused and misguided about this holiday. Like Christmas and Easter, both Christian celebrations, the true origin of Halloween, a non-Christian celebration, are centuries old and some of the true meanings of the traditions of these celebrations have been distorted over time. Lately, Christmas seems to be more about presents, parades, and parties than celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ. Halloween traditions have followed the same fate. All too often we think of Halloween just as a time of dressing up in costumes to do trick or treating in the neighborhood. In ancient times, the traditions of Halloween were of immense importance in Scotland, Ireland and Great Britain.
Aside from the religious controversy surrounding Halloween, many families also struggle with normally well-behaved children who are driven into destructive behavior by unseen forces. Vandalism and wanton disregard for the property of others is common on Halloween night. Police officials everywhere report a large increase in such activity on Halloween. Worse still are the horrific stories of poisoned candy and fruit booby-trapped with razors and needles. Such threats are so real that many hospitals offer free X-rays of Halloween treats to prevent harm to children. Who else but Satan could inspire such monstrous actions on this supposedly harmless children's vacation?