Unlike most other holidays, most
people who celebrate Halloween don’t really know much about it. They dress up every year and go to parties
or send their children Trick-or-Treating for candy. What does it all mean?
Where did such a strange holiday come from? Halloween actually is a combination of many different
traditions. Some of these traditions
are completely harmless, while others are distinctly pagan.
Halloween was a Celtic celebration
of the end of summer. The end of the
summer was the end of the harvest for this farming culture. Part of the celebration included killing the
weaker animals which they didn’t believe would survive the harsh summer months.
This New Year celebration also
included a celebration of the dead.
During this time the Celts believed that the “veil between the worlds,”
the world of the living and the world of the dead, was at its thinnest. While the Celts didn’t believe demons or
devils in their belief system, they believed in fairies. Unlike the current Tinkerbell-like idea of a
fairy, their fairies were considered hostile and dangerous to humans. It was believed that at this time of the
year fairies were supposedly more active.
The Romans also had similar
festivals. The Romans’ harvest festival
was called Poloma, and their holiday to honor the dead was called Feralia. The Romans offered prayers for the dead on a
day intended to give rest and peace to them.
These festivals were celebrated on February 21, which was the end of the
Roman year. Sometime around the seventh
century Pope Boniface IV introduced All Saint’s Day to replace the pagan
festival of the dead. It was observed
on May 13. In 835 Gregory III changed
the date to November 1.
Many of the traditions associated
with Halloween were brought over by immigrants to the United States, while
others were born here. Whatever the
history of Halloween, it has become a celebration of ghosts, demons,
witchcraft, and superstition. Today’s
ceremonies have little good or wholesome associated with them. If you don’t want to support these icons of
evil, there are many ways around them without giving up the candy or fun for
your children. Many churches today offer
Halloween alternatives. Even if you are
not a Christian, you can attend these events as long as your children wear
appropriate costumes (nothing “evil”).
Not only does this offer a wholesome alternative to a day associated
with evil, it is also safer than roaming city streets knocking on strangers’
doors.
“Do not conform any longer
to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your
mind.” Romans 12:2