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HALLOWEEN:A CELEBRATION OF DARKNESS
What must an unfamiliar
observer think of Halloween? Parents dress their children as monsters,
vampires, devils, witches and ghosts and encourage them to approach total
strangers and ask them for candy and other treats. Home owners decorate their
houses with images of black cats, ghosts, goblins and carved pumpkins and
sometimes transform their yards into make-believe graveyards. Adults dress in
similar strange and outlandish costumes and go to parties in rooms decorated
like dungeons or crypts.
Why are such bizarre practices so popular? Why would anyone celebrate a
holiday emphasizing the morbid and macabre? Where did such strange customs
originate?
As with Christmas and Easter, we can trace the roots of Halloween far back
into the pagan past. By medieval times November 1st had been established as
All Saints' Day. The evening before, October 31st, became Allhallows Eve, or
Halloween, as it is known today.
The Encyclopedia of Religion says, "Halloween, or Allhallows Eve, is a festival celebrated on
October 31st, the evening prior to the Christian Feast of All Saints (All Saints' Day).
Halloween is the name for the eve of Samhain, a celebration marking the
beginning of winter as well as the first day of the New Year within the
ancient Celtic culture of the British Isles. The time of Samhain consisted of
the eve of the feast and the day itself (October 31st and November 1st)" (1987, p. 176,
"Halloween").
Besides Halloween, the Celts observed many other holidays including the
winter solstice (later transformed into Christmas); spring fertility rites
(reborn later as Easter); May Day as a harvest festival;
February 2nd as Candlemas, the supposed day of Jesus' presentation in the
temple and the purification of Mary; and Lammas, a harvest festival on August
1st. In the United States Candlemas persists in Groundhog Day.
FROM THE ENCYCLOPEDIA
OF RELIGION
"On this occasion, it was believed that a gathering of supernatural
forces occurred as during no other period of the year. The eve and day of
Samhain were characterized as a time when the barriers between the human and
supernatural worlds were broken. Otherworldly entities, such as the souls of
the dead, were able to visit earthly inhabitants, and humans could take the
opportunity to penetrate the domains of the gods and supernatural creatures.
"Fiery tributes and sacrifices of animals, crops, and possibly human
beings were made to appease supernatural powers who controlled the fertility
of the land . . . Samhain acknowledged the entire spectrum of
nonhuman forces that roamed the earth during the period" (pp.
176-177).
On this holiday "...huge bonfires were set on hilltops to frighten
away evil spirits . . . The souls of the dead were supposed to
revisit their homes on this day, and the autumnal festival acquired sinister
significance, with ghosts, witches, hobgoblins, black cats, fairies, and
demons of all kinds said to be roaming about. It was the time to placate the
supernatural powers controlling the processes of nature. In addition,
Halloween was thought to be the most favourable time for divinations
concerning marriage, luck, health, and death. It was the only day on which
the help of the devil was invoked for such purposes" (Encyclopedia
Britannica, 15th edition, Micropaedia, Vol. IV, p. 862,
"Halloween").
ANCIENT PRACTICES
CONTINUED TODAY
As with Christmas and Easter, church leaders adopted this ancient celebration
to serve their own purposes. "Samhain remained a popular festival
among the Celtic people throughout the Christianization of Great Britain. The British church attempted to
divert this interest in pagan customs by adding a Christian celebration to
the calendar on the same date as Samhain. The Christian festival, the Feast
of All Saints, commemorates the known and unknown saints of the Christian
religion just as Samhain had acknowledged and paid tribute to the Celtic
deities" (The
Encyclopedia of Religion, p. 177, "Halloween").
Several ancient Halloween practices still exist in modern observances. Bobbing
for apples was originally a form of divination (fortune telling) to learn of
future marriages. The first person to bite an apple was predicted to be the
first to marry in the coming year. Peeling apples was considered a way to
determine one's life span. The longer the peel, the longer one would live.
The jack-o-lantern, now a hollowed-out pumpkin with a demonic face carved in
it and containing a lighted candle, was originally a similarly devised turnip
(pumpkins were substituted when the Irish immigrants came to the United
States) representing a watchman on Halloween night or a man caught between
earth and the supernatural world.
The modern Christmas myth of Santa flying through the air also has a
connection with the supernatural phenomena associated with Halloween. "Historically,
beliefs about mythic Norse spirits and deities who flew through the air to
gather souls and reward heroes influenced the Celtic fairy lore and witch
lore that became a part of Halloween, and they also contributed to the development
of the flying Father Christmas figure we know as Santa Claus, with his furs
and his northern European reindeer" (Jack Santino, All Around the
Year: Holidays & Celebrations in American Life, 1994, p. 26).
THE BIBLE CONDEMNS THE
OCCULT
Although some may dismiss the demonic symbolism and divination associated
with Halloween as harmless fun, the Bible reveals the existence of evil
spirits, led by Satan the devil, whom God holds
responsible for the great suffering and sorrow they have inflicted on the
human race. REVELATION 12:9 speaks
of "the great dragon... that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan... [who] deceives the whole world ..."
The name given him in the Bible, Satan, means adversary or enemy. The Bible warns us that our
adversary "walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may
devour" (1 PETER 5:8).
The apostle John tells us that "the whole world lies under the sway of the
wicked one" (1 JOHN 5:19). Satan and the other fallen angels (demons) constantly try to
keep humanity spiritually blinded, turning them aside from their awesome
destiny as part of the family of God.
As a loving Father, God commands us to avoid things that can harm us.
Concerning the spirit world, notice what God says to His people: "Give
no regard to mediums and familiar spirits; do not seek after them, to be
defiled by them: I am the Lord your God" (LEVITICUS 19:31)
In addition to this command to avoid practices that pertain to evil spirits,
God warned ancient Israel to avoid any kind of occult practices. "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, or one who conjures spells, or a medium,
or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead. For all who do these things are
an abomination to the Lord, and because of these abominations the Lord your
God drives [the nations] out from before you" (DEUTERONOMY
18:10-12).
God has called His people to a different standard. Instead of superstitions
and myths, God tells us to look to Him for our blessings, direction and
future. Superstition and consorting with evil spirits was a serious matter in
ancient Israel with dire consequences (LEVITICUS
20:27).
God's love and commands apply to all. Saul, king of Israel, lost his life when he disregarded
God's instructions. "So Saul died for his unfaithfulness which
he had committed against the Lord, because he did not keep the word of the
Lord, and also because he consulted a medium for guidance" (1 CHRONICLES 10:13).
Modern celebrations of Halloween may appear on the surface to be quite
harmless, but the spiritual implications of dabbling with the spirit world
are extremely serious. Fortune-telling, Ouija boards, telepathy, astrology,
voodoo, clairvoyance, black magic and such can all be related to occult,
satanic forces or the worship of natural phenomena and are forbidden in
Scripture.
Jesus Christ tells us that "the first and
greatest commandment" is to love our Creator "with all your
heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind" (MATTHEW 22:37-38). God alone is the giver of life
and all good things. To give recognition to false gods, and to imitate
practices that honored them, is unacceptable and idolatrous.
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