When someone says ‘Halloween’, I think of a carved pumpkin’s zig-zagging smile. I see mini ghosts haunting through the cut-out eyes of their years-old bedsheets. I picture a suburban American neighbourhood accosted by fake spiderwebs and witch garden gnomes, and I hear kids brag about their sugary treasures. Part of me was always sad when I heard my friends talk about their plans for an October 31st party. My costume would have been awesome (and so much more movie-accurate).
I always watched Halloween from afar, through a TV screen or the slightly parted window curtain. When the skull decorations emerged in shopping aisles, my parents would pull me away saying, “We don’t celebrate evil, Tia.”
Beyond the spooky allure of dressing up and lollies, decorating and scary movies, what is Halloween about?
History of Halloween
Halloween is rooted in the Celtic festival of Samhain (meaning end of summer), an ancient pagan celebration welcoming the harvest. It was this night, on November 1st, that the Celts believed the world of the gods became visible to mankind. This was the night when demons, spirits of the dead, and mythic creatures were believed to creep amongst the living. People wore animal skin costumes to ward off gods and evil beings, and told each other’s fortunes. A bonfire roared with the sacrifices of crops, animals, and sometimes people, burned to appease the gods. Folklore is filled with gory tales of Druids eating firstborn children and drinking the blood of the sacrificed.
In AD. 609, Pope Boniface IV established All Martyrs Day, a festival that later expanded to celebrate all saints. This merged with Samhain, and then with Christian traditions, to create All Soul’s Day. The point of this was to override the Celtic festival with a Catholic Church-approved one. The bonfires and dressing up remained, and this day became known as Halloween.
Halloween Now
Despite creating a new name (‘hallow’ meaning ‘holy’), the festival and its traditions are still heavily influenced by that of Samhain. Halloween is seen as playful and obviously very commercialised, but elements of darkness, evil, and witchcraft remain central. Apple bobbing stems from the belief that ladies could find their future husband (based on who bit into the apple the lady had marked). Jack o’ Lanterns came from a story where a drunk blacksmith makes a deal with the devil by hacking a cross in a tree. In the end, Jack wasn’t allowed into heaven, and Satan wouldn’t claim his soul (as he promised) so Jack was doomed to wander the earth with a lantern lit with hell’s coal. Interesting.
Other images associated with Halloween are Bloody Mary (a spirit people can supposedly summon), the black cat (considered to be the familiars of witches), trick-or-treating (formerly known as mumming where individuals would curse one another if they weren’t given a treat), and dressing up (originally to fend off evil spirits or honour the dead, but now often glorifies evil).
After researching these elements further I am beginning to understand why my parents weren’t so keen on letting me participate.
God wants us to be faithful to Him and Him alone. He wants us to trust and love Him, not seek guidance elsewhere. Satan uses witchcraft and other displays of supernatural power to mislead people, drawing them away from God. In Leviticus 19:31 He says “Do not turn to mediums or seek out spiritists, for you will be defiled by them. I am the Lord your God.” Instead of celebrating evil, let’s celebrate God’s holiness and goodness this October.
Extra supporting verses:
2 Chronicles 33:6, Leviticus 20:6, Revelation 21:8, Galatians 5:20, Micah 5:12, Acts 19:17-20, Isaiah 8:19-22