What about Halloween??

I guess we will start with “Samhain”(pronounced likely as “sa’win”)and means “end of summer” in a proto Celtic type language.

It was a festival marking the end the summer and the begining of the darker part of the year,starting on november 1st but like most ancient calendars the day was sunset to sunset much like the Hebrew day.So november 1st started on what we today define as sundown of october 31st.Animals were brought for the year in from pasture and often slaughtered for winter meat and bonfires were lit to protect against evil spirits.Also the veneration of the spirits of dead and it was believed that spirits of dead relatives would visit and require appeasement and the festival lasted 3 days or so.It was also believed that failure to celebrate Samhain would result in punishment of the gods of the ancient pagan Celts.They had a tradition of “dumb supers” not dumb as in stupid but as in mute and these dinners left unattended were for dead ancestors as a form of appeasement and doors were often left open to let the dead spirits in to enjoy the meals and cakes.

People also left offerings outside villages for fairies and people also dressed up as monsters or animals to avoid being recognized by a spirit they knew who had died that did not like you.One question is was there human sacrifice practiced?It’s not known for sure although most Roman sources claim Druids practiced human sacrifice in general.

“Some academics suggest that these tales recall human sacrifice,^[41] and argue that several ancient Irish bog bodies (such as Old Croghan Man) appear to have been kings who were ritually killed,^[42] some of them around the time of Samhain.”(wikipedia)

Although this is not proven for sure.

The Mexican day of the dead is celebrated on the 2nd of november may be related in some way to these types of ancient traditions where the world and culture revolved around the harvest.

The Halloween itself comes from All Hallows Eve or all saints day which was was in early Christian church history a day of remembering the Saints.

Halloween is thought to have influences from Christian beliefs and practices.^[44][45] The English word ‘Halloween’ comes from “All Hallows’ Eve”, being the evening before the Christian holy days of All Hallows’ Day (All Saints’ Day) on 1 November and All Souls’ Day on 2 November.^[46] Since the time of the early Church,^[47] major feasts in Christianity (such as Christmas, Easter and Pentecost) had vigils that began the night before, as did the feast of All Hallows’.^[48][44] These three days are collectively called Allhallowtide and are a time when Western Christians honour all saints and pray for recently departed souls who have yet to reach Heaven. Commemorations of all saints and martyrs were held by several churches on various dates, mostly in springtime.^[49] In 4th-century Roman Edessa it was held on 13 May, and on 13 May 609, Pope Boniface IV re-dedicated the Pantheon in Rome to “St Mary and all martyrs”.^[50] This was the date of Lemuria, an ancient Roman festival of the dead(wikipedia)

It appears at some point varying from culture to culture that All Hallows Eve and Samhain harvest festival came together.Halloween was along with Christmas not celebrated in early America but Halloween gained traction in the early 1900’s with a large influx in Irish and other Catholic immigrants.There was also devils night ,the night before Halloween known for years for arson and and vandalism but this has gone down in recent years due to increased police presence.

It is also known that Samhain is still very much venerated by pagans and in particular Wiccan’s ,Wicca being a revival in the late 1800’s of English and Saxon pre Christian pagan practices.In old English Wiccan meant “wise one or cunning one” in late Victorian England the Wiccan’s were called the cunning folk.

So should people celebrate Halloween,well as I like say I am a historian not a minister or Rabbi of any type but my personal thought is no.It is pagan and occult and Biblical in any way.I don’t think the world will end if you let your kids trick or treat but still it’s not a positive holiday.Or is it a gateway to the occult,likely for most children who trick or treated as children ,no!But for some yes but paganism is on the rise and the veneration of Samhain is on the rise with it.It was a popular saying in Christian circles some years back that that Halloween trivialized paganism and evil spirits and made paganism seem fun and friendly.I’d say they were right but I’d also say that the ship sailed on that long long ago anyway too.What I mean is the world today already so much trivializes paganism to the extent that celebrating Halloween is sort of beating a dead horse on that point of view .

I am not here to tell people how to live only to give as much information as so they make the most informed decision for themselves.I would say Halloween is not as subversive as it may have been in times past but that is only because society is so much more pagan now anyway.I don’t give away candy on Halloween myself but as I have said this blog is informational not theological or philosophical.