RePost

Now that I don't have ads on my blog anymore, I can blog about what I want with no fear of what will be advertised...........I guess ONE plus to not having extra money?


So here it goes:

The fact that my family and I don't celebrate Halloween has set us a part from so many of our friends, that it almost surprises me!

Here is why WE don't celebrate Halloween:

Halloween has its origins in the ancient Celtic festival known as Samhain. The festival of Samhain is a celebration of the end of the harvest season in Gaelic culture, and is sometimes regarded as the “Celtic New Year”. Traditionally, the festival was a time used by the ancient pagans to take stock of supplies and slaughter livestock for winter stores.

The ancient Gaels believed that on October 31, now known as Halloween, the boundary between the alive and the deceased dissolved, and the dead become dangerous for the living by causing problems such as sickness or damaged crops. The festivals would frequently involve bonfires, into which bones of slaughtered livestock were thrown. Costumes and masks were also worn at the festivals in an attempt to mimic the evil spirits or placate them. Believe it or not, most of our Halloween practices can be traced back to these old pagan rites and superstitions.


As for the name “Halloween” it is shortened from All Hallows’ Even (both “even” and “eve” are abbreviations of “evening”, but “Halloween” gets its “n” from “even”) as it is the eve of “All Hallows’ Day”, which is now also known as All Saints’ Day.

Now one might argue that the Halloween we celebrate today, at least in the United States is nothing like the pagan rituals it was derived from but rather an innocent time of the year to dress up in costumes, trick-or-treat, host or attend Halloween parties, visit haunted houses and mazes, watch horror flicks and otherwise enjoy the dark side of humanity including ghosts, witches, gouls, monsters and demons. And while that may sound innocent enough and non-seroius to most, Halloween is a very sacred holiday to others.

For example, those who follow the Wicca religion consider Halloween to be one of eight holy days they observe throughout the year. “Halloween, plain and simple is our favorite time of year,” writes one follower of Wicca on witchway.net. In fact they feel it is a true time for witches, Witchcraft itself, and Wiccans alike who feel that on this night the separation between the physical and spiritual realities is it’s least guarded and it’s veil the thinnest.

That same person goes on to write, “It is a time for dimensional openings and workings, it is a somber holiday, one of dark clothes and thoughts for the dead, it is said to be the time when those of necromantic talents can speak with the dead and it is certainly a time to remember ones own dead. Witches believe it is a time of endings of relationships and bad situations and it is the time when one can see the glimmer of hope in the future. There are as many concepts attached to this holiday as any other, truly a time of remembrance of our ancestors and all those who have gone before.

”What about other organizations? Is Wicca the only group of people that view Halloween in this manner? Anton LaVey, author of The Satanic Bible and high priest of the Church of Satan states, “Satanists consider Halloween the most important day of the year. Satanic, occult and witchcraft powers are at their highest potency level…Satan and his powers are at their best that night.”

So if we know that Halloween is derived from anchient pagan rites and rituals and that at least two very non-Christian groups consider Halloween a sacred and holy day, should we as Christians celebrate it?

If we do celebrate it, does that not violate 1Thessalonians 5:22 where it says, “Abstain from all appearance of evil” or even the common knowledge that to follow Christ is to be like Him and not live our lives in a paganistic fashion?

One would argue, “What about Christmas?" - Christ was not born on December 25th or even in the winter and the commercialism of Christmas with its Santa Clauses, elves, snowmen, reindeer, gift-giving and the like have nothing to do with the birth of the Son of God. But that is an entirely other post.

So what should a Christian do? I leave you to your own convictions but I choose certainly not to celebrate it and not to participate in it. To celebrate the holiday to me is to contradict my faith and give praise to what is most definitely a darker side of humanity. I think we Christians today do enough of that already when we constantly fall prey to embracing the world around us as opposed to Christ.

For many people I believe it's a lack of knowledge, here are some of the traditions of Halloween and their history.

Trick or Treating:

During Samhain, the Druids believed that the dead would play tricks on mankind and cause panic and destruction. They had to be appeased, so country folk would give the Druids food as they visited their homes.Bobbing for Apples:Apples were the sacred fruit of the goddess, and many games of divination involving them entered the Samhain customs.

The Witch's Broomstick:

The witch is a central symbol of Halloween. The name comes from the Saxon wica, meaning wise one. When setting out for a Sabbath, witches rubbed a sacred ointment onto their skin. This gave them a feeling of flying, and if they had been fasting they felt even giddier. Some witches rode on horseback, but poor witches went on foot and carried a broom or a pole to aid in vaulting over streams. In England when new witches were initiated they were often blindfolded, smeared with flying ointment and placed on a broomstick. The ointment would confuse the mind, speed up the pulse and numb the feet. When they were told "You are flying over land and sea," the witch took their word for it.

Jack-O-Lanterns:

Irish children used to carve out potatoes or turnips and light them for their Halloween gatherings. They commemorated Jack, a shifty Irish villain so wicked that neither God nor the Devil wanted him. Rejected by both the sacred and profane, he wandered the world endlessly looking for a place to rest, his only warmth a glittering candle in a rotten turnip.

How about you? If you are a Christian, do you feel my convictions are just a bunch of nonsense, stooped in silly superstitions? Or do you agree and either resist celebrating the holiday? Do you find alternatives? If you are not a Christian, do you think Christians should celebrate this holiday? I’d love to hear some various opinions and may I remind you that what I have written here are my own convictions. I do not force them on anyone but only ask if you are a follower of Christ, to prayfully consider the facts that surround this holiday.