HALLOWEEN/PLAYING WITH THE DEAD

It is that time of year again, and what do we do? We want our children to fit in and enjoy things with other children, but not at the expense of celebrating in a tradition that goes back many years, and is rooted in pagan customs. If you do not decide to read all of this, at least go to the bottom of the page and read the last few lines.

Throughout the past centuries pagan and “Christian” beliefs have been intertwined in celebrations. The quote marks are there for a reason. Just because someone calls themselves or their religion “Christian” does not Christian make. I say this because some “Christians” see no negative significance in Halloween [or other holidays] treating it as merely a purely secular holiday.

The holiday of Halloween can be traced back to the Celtic’s and the festival of Samhain, a time of celebration when the lines between the living and the dead became blurred. Twice a year burial mounds were opened up [marking the beginning and end of summer] the spirit world, the residences of Sidhe, as well as the dead were then accessible. The Ancient Gaels believed that on October 31, the boundaries between the worlds of the living and the dead overlapped and the deceased would come back to life and cause havoc such as sickness or damaged crops.
The Celtics depended on the prophecies of their priests and priestesses, and believed that the spirits would aid them in their predictions of the coming seasons. As the Romans occupied the Celtic territory some of their traditions were also brought into the festivals. Feralia, a day celebrated by the Romans for the passing of the dead, and a festival for Pomona a Roman goddess.

Many European cultural traditions, in particular Celtic cultures, hold that Halloween is one of the liminal times of the year when spirits can make contact with the physical world, and when magic is most potent.

Because Christianity embraced the Celtic notions of family, community, the bond between all people, and respect for the dead, those traditions were integrated into “Christian” beliefs.
How did this come about? Because of people being guided blindly by others. “Father Gabriele Amorth, a Vatican-appointed exorcist in Rome, has said, "[I] English and American children like to dress up as witches and devils on one night of the year that is not a problem. If it is just a game, there is no harm in that."

But how did it become connected with any church to begin with? Pope Gregory IV standardized the date of All Saints' Day, or All Hallows' Day, on November 1 in the name of the entire Western Church in 835. As it now began at sunset, the holiday coincided exactly with Samhain. Although there is no official documentation that Gregory considered Samhain when selecting this date, it seems consistent with the common practice of leaving pagan festivals and buildings intact, while overlaying a Christian meaning. While the Celts might have been content to move All Saints' Day from their own previous date of April 20, the rest of the world celebrating it on May 13, it is speculated without evidence that they were unwilling to give up their pre-existing autumn festival of the dead and continued to celebrate Samhain.This Vigil was suppressed in 1955, but later restored in the post-Vatican calendar.

Halloween did not become a holiday in the United States until the 19th century, where lingering Puritan tradition restricted even the observance of Christmas prior to the 1800's. American almanacs of the late 18th and early 19th centuries do not include Halloween in their lists of holidays. The migration to the United States of nearly two million Irish following the Potato Famine [1845-1849] brought with it the holiday. Scottish emigration to Canada and the Untied States brought the Scottish version with it.

Outside the Catholic church most “Christians” hold the view that the tradition is far from being "satanic" in origin or practice and that it holds no threat to the spiritual lives of children: being taught about death and mortality, and the ways of the Celtic ancestors actually being a valuable life lesson and a part of many of their parishioners' heritage.

People of diverse religions (or no religion at all) may naturally be concerned about the vandalism that can occur on the holiday. Some Wiccans feel that the tradition is offensive to "real witches" for promoting stereotypical caricatures of "wicked witches". However, other Neo pagans, perhaps most of them, see it as a harmless holiday in which some of the old traditions are celebrated by the mainstream culture, albeit in a different manner.

Some of these many traditions which can all be traced back to pagan religions are listed below.
Pomona the goddess of fruit is the origin of bobbing for apples.

The jack-o-lantern can be traced back to the Irish legend of Stingy Jack, a greedy, gambling, hard drinking old farmer who tricked the devil into climbing a tree, and trapped him by carving a cross into the trunk of the tree. In revenge, the devil placed a curse on Jack which dooms him to forever wander the earth at night.

Some games traditionally played at Halloween are forms of divination. In Puicíní (pronounced "poocheeny"), a game played in Ireland, a blindfolded person is seated in front of a table on which several saucers are placed. The saucers are shuffled and the seated person then chooses one by touch. The contents of the saucer determine the person's life during the following year. A saucer containing earth means someone known to the player will die during the next year, a saucer containing water foretells emigration, a ring foretells marriage, a set of Rosary beads indicates that the person will take Holy Orders (becoming a nun or a priest). A coin means new wealth, a bean means poverty, and so on.

In 19th-century Ireland, young women placed slugs in saucers sprinkled with flour. The wriggling of the slugs and the patterns subsequently left behind on the saucers were believed to portray the faces of the women's future spouses.

A traditional Irish and Scottish form of divining one's future spouse is to carve an apple in one long strip, then toss the peel over one's shoulder. The peel is believed to land in the shape of the first letter of the future spouse's name. This custom has survived among Irish and Scottish immigrants in the rural United States.

In North America, unmarried women were frequently told that if they sat in a darkened room and gazed into a mirror on Halloween night, the face of their future husband would appear in the mirror. However, if they were destined to die before marriage, a skull would appear.

And then we have the color associations
Black-death, night, witches, black cats, bats, vampires
Orange-pumpkins, jack o lanterns, fire
Purple-night, the supernatural, mysticism
Green-goblins, monsters, zombies, aliens

Are you still with me? The final decision is up to you. Do you really want your children playing with fire? That is what you are doing when you let them take part in Halloween. You do not play with demons or in their world and not get burnt. Their world is not a playground that you want your precious gifts from God in.

True Christian churches are rising to the occasion and having events at area churches to keep our children in a safe, protected environment. Our children can have fun, play games, and come away with prizes and candy, without taking a part in Halloween.

The Bible clearly says that we are not to take part in pagan religions, nor in their traditions.

2 Kings 23:5 And he put down the idolatrous priests, whom the kings of Judah had ordained to burn incense in the high places in the cities of Judah, and in the places round about Jerusalem; them also that burned incense unto Baal, to the sun, and to the moon, and to the planets, and to all the host of heaven.

Micah 6:16 For the statutes of Omri are kept, and all the works of the house of Ahab, and ye walk in their counsels; that I should make thee a desolation, and the inhabitants thereof an hissing: therefore ye shall bear the reproach of my people.

Zephaniah 1:4 I will also stretch out mine hand upon Judah, and upon all the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and I will cut off the remnant of Baal from this place, and the name of the Chemarims/idolatrous with the priests;

God Bless,
rECj/LJG

SCRIPTURE FOR TODAY
2 Corinthians 6:17 Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean/forbidden thing; and I will receive you.