Posted on 10/22/2006 10:37:57 AM PDT by DouglasKC
Halloween is undoubtedly one of the strangest holidays people celebrate, with its symbolism of witches, devils, skeletons, bats and black cats. Is it not a little bizarre that children are taught to dress up as ghosts and monsters to go from house to house demanding "trick or treat!" (with the threat of a trick or prank constituting a playful form of extortion)?
While tricks are no longer the norm in most places, it used to be common in many areas that refusal to give trick-or-treaters candy invited minor acts of vandalism, such as having one's windows marred with a bar of soap, trash dumped on the lawn, toilet paper unrolled across tree limbs, and raw eggs thrown against the house and car.
Where, how and when did such strange customs begin? And why do they continue?
Many parents encourage their children to celebrate Halloween, assuming it to be harmless and innocent fun. But why? Would parents honor this holiday if they knew what's behind it—behind the mask?
Halloween's origins
Few people really understand the origins of Halloween. However, many clues are obvious from the trappings of the holiday—witches, ghosts, jack-o'-lanterns, skeletons and the like.
History shows that behind the dark mask of this popular children's holiday reside the terrors of an ancient Celtic festival renamed All Hallows Eve. It was originally a holiday marking the mythical time when the dead supposedly rose from their graves to walk the earth.
To better understand the origins of Halloween one needs to be introduced to the ancient pagan festival of Samhain (usually pronounced sow-en).
In The Encyclopedia of Religion, under the heading "Halloween," the authors link Halloween to 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."
This encyclopedia explains that "the time of Samhain comprised the eve of the feast and the day itself (31 October and 1 November). This event was a crucial seam in the social and religious fabric of the Celtic year, and the eve of Samhain set the tone for the annual celebration as a threatening, fantastic, mysterious rite of passage to a new year" (1987, p. 176).
Both the eve and day of Samhain were thought to be a time when the barriers between the human and supernatural worlds were broken, allowing passage between the two. "Other worldly 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 that controlled the fertility of the land. Samhain acknowledged the entire spectrum of nonhuman forces that roamed the earth during that period" (ibid., p. 177).
The Encyclopedia of Religion then explains the origin of the bizarre customs that survive in today's Halloween: "Divination activities remained a popular practice. Adults, dressed in fantastic disguises and masks, imitated supernatural beings and visited homes where occupants would offer tributes of food and drink to them. A fear of nocturnal creatures, such as bats and owls, persisted, since these animals were believed to communicate with the spirits of the dead" (emphasis added).
Halloween comes to the New World
Centuries later, Irish and Scottish immigrants brought the custom of Halloween with them to the New World. After massive immigration of the Irish to the United States during the great potato famine in Ireland (1845-46), Halloween eventually became a national event.
Today, says The Encyclopedia of Religion, "modern Halloween activities have centered on mischief making and masquerading in costumes, often resembling otherworldly characters. Folk customs, now treated as games (such as bobbing for apples), have continued from the various divination practices of the ancient celebrants of this occasion. Supernatural figures (such as the ghost, the witch, the vampire, the devil) play a key role in supplying an aura of the mysterious to the evening, whether or not they originally had an association with the festival.
"Children are particularly susceptible to the imagery of Halloween, as can be seen in their fascination with the demonic likeness of a carved and illuminated pumpkin, known as the jack-o'-lantern. In recent times, children have taken up the practice of dressing in Halloween costumes and visiting homes in search of edible and monetary treats, lightly threatening to play a trick on the owner if a treat is not produced . . .
"There also has been renewed interest in Halloween as a time when adults can also cross cultural boundaries and shed their identities by indulging in an uninhibited evening of frivolity. Thus, the basic Celtic quality of the festival as an evening of annual escape from normal realities and expectations has remained into the twentieth century" (p. 177).
God unmasks Halloween
Does the Bible have anything to say about strange customs and holidays such as this? In fact, it does—and none of it is good.
While God's Holy Days in the Bible celebrate the role of Jesus Christ in bringing mankind to salvation in the eternal family of God (as explained in the following article and our free booklet God's Holy Day Plan: The Promise of Hope for All Mankind), Halloween is a celebration of the opposite—of demonism, witchcraft, death and evil spirits.
God's Word makes it clear that no one should dare entertain witchcraft or act as a sorcerer. "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" (Deuteronomy 18:10-11, emphasis added throughout).
God pronounced death on any Israelites who would dare dally with demonism or Satanism: "A man or a woman who is a medium, or who has familiar spirits, shall surely be put to death; they shall stone them with stones. Their blood shall be upon them" (Leviticus 20:27). "You shall not permit a sorceress to live" (Exodus 22:18).
Why such a harsh penalty? God did not want such perverted, demonic practices to spread among His people and corrupt others. "But that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because he has spoken in order to turn you away from the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of bondage, to entice you from the way in which the LORD your God commanded you to walk. So you shall put away the evil from your midst" (Deuteronomy 13:5).
Would God be against something as harmless as Halloween, especially since it allows children to have fun and enjoy a little entertainment? Can't we let them have a little harmless fun?
Frankly, Halloween is anything but harmless. It focuses one's attention on witchcraft and demonism, which flies in the face of the holy God Almighty! When parents not only allow but also encourage their children to celebrate witches and goblins, they are teaching them that it's acceptable to deal in demonism.
And we have seen what God thinks of that. God is a God of light and truth (1 John 1:5). Satan, "the god of this age" (2 Corinthians 4:4), is a very real being—a being of darkness, deception and death (Revelation 12:9; John 8:44). We are to have nothing to do with his ways. (To learn more, request our free booklet Is There Really a Devil?)
Do not assume that Halloween is a harmless holiday. God hates mankind's dabbling in the spirit world of Satan and his demons!
If there were no other reason available, that should be enough. But there are more reasons. Halloween keeps humankind, and many Christians, confused, disoriented and separated from the one and only true God.
God is not the author of confusion (1 Corinthians 14:33). Nor is He the author of Halloween or any other "Christianized" pagan holidays (Amos 5:21). Why would the only true God who loves mankind support any worldly holiday that blinds human beings to Him and His truth and that holds men, women and children captive to deception?
What does God expect from you on Halloween?
You now know what lurks behind Halloween's mask: Satan the devil! God will one day unmask the ritual and tradition of Halloween to all people (Hebrews 8:10-11).
If you believe that God exists and you understand that He is highly offended by the holidays designed and perpetuated by the god of this age, then you have a choice: whether you will begin honoring God the way He expects to be honored and be blessed for doing it, or whether you will ignore the truth revealed in history and His Word. Don't wait!
God is not a god of masks, but a God of truth. God says that if you honor Him, He will honor you (1 Samuel 2:30). Ignore God and He will leave you subject to the god of this world and all that entails. God expects all who love and honor Him to repent from dead works and turn in faith toward Him, the only true God. GN
I know that they do mock these holy celebrations of the Lord.
That is quite different from Chrstians willingly and knowingly celebrating a pagan holiday, one which has no redeeming Christian value.
Yup. Suppose some creep raped 3 year old girls and violated in the most gruesome way possible. Then suppose his followers commemerated these acts by inventing a holiday to celebrate it. Then suppose 500 years later some people decided to dress up as little girls and rapists to have some fun. At what point did this stop being offensive to God?
So, Christmas remains a distinctly Christian holiday, and no one here should worry about attempts to secularize it because any celebration on that day gives power to Christianity.
No, Christmas also is a counterfeit holiday. God created real holy days for his followers to observe. These are listed in the Leviticus chapter 23.
If you're still celebrating a day established by those who oppose God then you probably haven't been called by God yet. I'm confident that one day you and your children will come to know this truth.
What's worse than liberal busybodies? Religious busybodies.
Nobody is forcing you to do anything. Take this information and use it however you want.
Your railing against Halloween indicates you are afraid of it and give those superstitions power over you.
It's the day before All Saints Day. The Church evidently thought it had enough value to give it its own name.
Then I suggest that you not put up a christmas tree, if you are so afraid of pagan worship practices. The christmas tree is 100% pagan. Blasphemer!
Good grief. Don't people have enough to do that they have to be terrified that children might actually be having fun?
While you're at it, force children to stop playing "Ring Around The Rosy", since that game has its source in the Dark Ages, and is a re-enactment of The Black Death.
People just need to grow up.
Halloween doesn't "celebrate" witches, demons, evil, death, or Satan. It makes fun of them. One night a year. Only 1/365th as important as the author of the article is making it seem, for starters.
Jack-o-lanterns aren't demon faces, either. They are a celebration of God's abundant harvest. We have so many pumpkins, we can take 1000s of them, cut them up and put lights in them to celebrate the harvest. No more tiny turnips with coals in them, like our ancestors had to settle for. And what is that Light does to Darkness?
Those who celebrate Los Dias de los Muertos also understand the concept of honoring those who have gone before us. It is a festival making fun of death, as just one stopping-off point on the journey to eternal life.
In order to believe that Halloween is all the things the article states, one would have to believe only in the crucifixion, but not in the resurrection. No thanks.
Do you and your family celebrate Christmas in any way?
Do you celebrate these feast days? Do you burn seven male lambs, two rams and one bull for the Feast of Weeks?
Actually my analogy is a little mild. Demons love it when you portray them and their ways as "harmless" and "poke fun" at them. They love it that their celebrations have "morphed" into a "harmless" activity. It's a much easier sell.
2Co 11:14 And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.
Your railing against Halloween indicates you are afraid of it and give those superstitions power over you.
I wouldn't say I'm afraid of Halloween, but I am very cognizant that Satan uses that day to drive his agenda. What I'm doing by posting this article is informing the general public that there is indeed an agenda and that they can free themselves from his grip by obeying God.
If I don't get candy, I kill.
If I don't get candy, I kill.
Agreed and well said...well, except the blasphemer part.
No. God commandmend that we observe the days that he created for his followers to observe. The same days Jesus Christ observed. They are listed in Leviticus chapter 23.
No, I committed to observe God's new covenant. Under the new covenant Christ is the sacrifice. This is clearly outlined in the book of Hebrews. Read Hebrews, especially chapter 10.
See. Proves the point about Halloween. Candy = death and violence.
I read Hebrews, chapter 10. So, what do you do to celebrate these days?
That would require a very long answer that's specific to exactly which holy day. But generally meet with other believers on those days to worship and honor God through his son Jesus Christ.
Wiccans are not to be lumped in with Satanists. Buy a clue.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.