It’s that time of year again: Halloween. And, again, there are
many who have no idea what it’s all about and what they are getting
themselves and their children into.
Each year, people are confronted with the social pressure of
“Halloween,” This includes those who profess to be Christians.
Halloween had
its beginnings in an ancient, pre-Christian Celtic festival of the
dead. The Celtic peoples, who were once found all
over Europe, divided the year by four major holidays. According to
their calendar, the year began on a day corresponding to Nov. 1 on
our present-day calendar. The date marked the beginning of winter.
Since they were a rural people, it was a time when cattle and sheep
had to be moved to closer pastures and livestock had to be secured
for the winter. Crops were harvested and stored. The date marked
both an ending and a beginning in an eternal cycle.
The festival observed Samhain. It was the most significant
holiday of the Celtic year. The Celts believed that at the time of
Samhain, more so than any other time of the year, the ghosts of the
dead were able to mingle with the living, because at Samhain the
souls of those who had died during the year traveled into the
otherworld. People gathered to sacrifice animals and the produce of
the land. They also lit bonfires in honor of the dead to aid them
on their journey and to keep them away from the living. On that
day, all manner of beings were gathered: ghosts, fairies and demons
– all part of the dark and dread “otherworld.”
Samhain became the Halloween we are familiar with when
missionaries attempted to change the religious practices of the
Celtic people. As a result of their efforts to wipe out pagan
holidays, the missionaries succeeded in effecting major
transformations in it. Rather than try to eliminate their customs
and beliefs, the pope instructed his missionaries to use them – if
a group of people worshipped a tree, rather than cut it down and
burn it, he advised to “consecrate” it to Christ and allow its
continued worship (blasphemy!).
In terms of spreading (false) Christianity, this was a brilliant
concept, and it became the basic approach in Roman Catholic
missionary work. Church holy days were set to coincide with native
holy days. Christmas, for instance, was assigned an arbitrary date
of Dec. 25 because it corresponded with the mid-winter celebration
of many pagan people.
The predominately Catholic feast of All Saints was assigned to
Nov. 1. The day honored every “Christian” so-called saint,
especially those who did not otherwise have a special day already.
That feast day was meant to substitute for Samhain, to draw the
devotion of the Celtic peoples, and, finally, to replace it
forever.
Virtually all present Halloween traditions can be traced to the
ancient Celtic day of the dead. Halloween is a “holiday” of many
mysterious customs, but each one has a history, or at least a story
behind it.
Today, Halloween is becoming once again an adult holiday or
masquerade, something like Mardi Gras. Their masked antics
challenge, mock, tease and appease the dread forces of the night,
of the soul, and of the “otherworld” that becomes our world on this
night of irreversible possibilities, inverted roles and
transcendence.
In so doing, they are reaffirming death and its place as a part
of life in an exhilarating celebration of an unholy, demonic and
magic evening.
No one, especially true Christian believers, should have
anything to do with the celebration of Halloween. No caring mother
or father, Christian or otherwise, should subject their child to
the unknown forces that are present on this evening of the
celebration of the dead. Halloween is pagan, and its emphasis and
glorification of Satan, demons and death can only do harm, and is a
far cry from what true Christian believers should celebrate.
http://www.inforum.com/event/article/id/258110/group/Opinion/
