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All Hallows Evening bump!

(Shorten to Halloween in the U. S.) And of course, the meaning has become completely misconstrued.

Actually, shortened to Halloween hundreds of years ago, somewhere in the British Isles. It was (and, lyrically, still is) common to shorten written words to reflect common pronunciation. Hallowed evening became Hallow' eve became Halloween.

This isn't at all like X-mas. (which, by the way, has some historical background, also).

As for the meaning of the holiday. This article is only partially correct. When Christianity spread through the western world, the missionaries found themselves in the middle of literally hundreds of different pagan religions. Alot of the converts heard the word and believed but had trouble giving up their old practices. Christians made an attempt to replaces alot of the pagan holidays with coinciding Christian celebrations.

If you will notice in the old testament, celebrations and recognitions of God's work is required (Passover feast). In the New Testament, there is nothing that says celebrate the birth of Christ, or the Resurrection.

So, what the Christians did was celebrate new holidays around the time of the pagan holidays to make the transition smoother. Before Halloween was called Halloween it was the day of the dead. Celtic people would remember there dead family members on this day, even praying to them, it was a sad day. But it was followed immediately by the Harvest feast. No there was no witches and warlocks. This was not wicca, but Celtic paganism. All Hallowed Eve and All Saint's Day replaced these. Of course outside of the church buildings, these holidays never completely took.

EASTER, the name of the holiday is actually the pagan name for the holiday. Ostara was the pagan Celtic goddess of life and rebirth. All world religions recognized spring and rebirth in the world. I believe God had planned the passover and the celebration this way. To coincide with the death and resurrection of Christ, to symbolize rebirth at the beginning of spring. So, the Christians tried to replace Ostara's spring celebration with Resurrection Sunday. Once again, never completely took. Although the pagan meaning behind this has seriously lost it's luster, symbols from the pagan goddess can still be seen. Ostara was represented by the Celts with a hare, and was worshipped with feasts of eggs, as eggs were representations of birth.

Wow, did I mess up some. Sorry. Mixed some Celtic gods with other pagan gods. Estre/Ostara was Germanic. Should have re-researched as it has been years since I've had this discussion. Sorry. See links below.

http://www.wcg.org/lit/church/holidays/sineastr.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easter

Also, see the writings of Venerable Bede.

Whoa, did I mess up. Ostara/Eastre was Germanic. I was mixing pagan religions from different areas up. I should have re-researched before posting. Sorry. See links below.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easter

http://www.wcg.org/lit/church/holidays/sineastr.htm

Also see the writings of Venerable Bede.