Started on Tuesday, September 14, 2004
Completed on September 16, 2004
I know that in writing this article, it will no doubt stir things up a bit.
You can disagree if you please, that's your right, I just ask that you
read this in its entirety and don't skip over any of it. I have included
my biography as it relates to the topic of this article.
Over the years since I've owned my Christian web site and during
the autumn months, I have scoured random sites dealing with the subject
of whether Christians should "celebrate" or take part in some of the
festivities of Halloween. I have come to a conclusion about those
who are so dead set against trick-or-treating because they feel it is evil.
I believe that they are
outwardly religious and have hang ups of their own that have
nothing to do with Halloween.
In writing this article, I had to determine where I could go to get
a correct answer to my Halloween history questions. I had
already decided I would NOT inquire of any of the undocumented
Christian sites on the web. I have noted my sources of information
thoroughly at the end of each page with links attached.
I have included links at the end of this article to other
Halloween sites on the Web that would be beneficial to some.
With that said, let's delve a little deeper inside the cauldron shall we?
1. Halloween has its roots from the Celtic Druid worshipers of long ago?
ANSWERS: The following is taken verbatim from :
Wilkpedia, Encyclopedia Entry for
Halloween: Celtic observation of Samhain
I went to several other sources and believe
the following to be the overall conclusion
drawn of most notable sources on the history of Halloween:
Samhain.
"Its earliest roots are found in the Druidic holiday of death which took
place each year on October 31, in the season of Samhain.
After the crops were harvested, Druids in Ireland and Britain
would light fires and offer sacrifices of crops and animals. As
they danced around the fires, the season of the sun passed and
the season of darkness would begin. When the morning of November
1 arrived, the Druids would give an ember from their fires to each family
who would then take them home to start new cooking fires.
These fires were believed to keep the homes warm and free from evil spirits, as it was considered a time of year when the veils were thin between worlds. A three-day festival called (pronounced "sow-inn") followed. In Ireland it was believed to be the night on which the invisible "gates" between this world and the Other World were opened and free movement between both worlds was possible. In the Other World lived the immortal "Sidhe" (pronounced "shee"), the female members of whom were called beán sidhe or anshees".1
My Reply:
Because Druids in Ireland would light fires and offer up sacrifices of crops and animals for their successful crops on October 31 or any other day, does NOT mean ANYTHING to me personally. What possible bearing does this knowledge, even if it is ALL true, what does this have to do with ME, a CHRISTIAN, in 2004? Christians, or anyone else for that matter, please do me the favor of NOT holding me responsible for what some Druids believed or ACTED ON at one time in past history. I am Scottish in heritage, but I care nothing about my Scottish history in particular. I am who God made me to be, nothing more, nothing less. I read in my bible that we are not to give heed to fables, wouldn't that include superstitions as well? I suppose some Christians just glossed right over what Paul said to Timothy about this...
1 Timothy 1:4 Neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which minister questions, rather than godly edifying which is in faith: so do.
1 Timothy 4:7 But refuse profane and old wives' fables, and exercise thyself rather unto godliness.
Invisible "gates" into the spirit world and fending off evil spirits:
What the above piece of historical data proves to me is that the Druids were a bunch of superstitious people who were not clued into the truth and therefore due to their apparent lack of knowledge, they were duped into following the leading of their own imaginations with regard to the spirit world, nothing more, nothing less.
2. The Celtics carried out rituals. Among them was the tradition of Trick or Treating.
Such Rituals that require BEGGING for food, bizarre beliefs as to why trick or treating was done in ancient times... What were they? The following from Chick: Halloween: A Little Door to a Big Temptation:
"The modern custom of going from door to door asking for food and candy goes back to the time of the Druids. They believed that sinful, lost souls were released upon the earth by Samhain for one night on October 31st while they awaited their judgment". 2
"They were thought to throng about the houses of the living and were greeted with banquet-laden tables. People greatly feared these spirits and thought that the spirits would harm and even kill them if the sacrifices they gave did not appease Samhain. They carved demonic faces into pumpkins or large turnips, placing a candle in them to keep the evil spirits away from their homes".2
My Reply
Much of this has been seized upon and embellished by radicals, many of them in the Christian church. Not denying that the above is true, but I know that some CHICK publications are way off base. Where is the entire research for the Halloween tracts that they produce? Some history is precise, some history is not. I would rather believe better of others when I do not have CONCRETE and valid information than think the worst. Trick or treating as I know it now, and have ALWAYS known it is:
dressing the kids up in silly costumes, driving them around to the houses of those you know, most preferably, and allowing them to knock on the door and receive "treats" from those who live there! I might also add here that it brings GREAT JOY to many who anxiously await those trick-or-treaters because many times they do not get to see children, let alone see them dressed up in such outrageous garb.
But suppose we were to find out that EVERYTHING that we've read from CHICK
and others proved to be 100% accurate?
You would have to tell me what possible bearing that would have on MY life and MY decision to allow MY children to trick or treat simply because the two have nothing to do with one another and here's the reason why: I am NOT observing the Druids customs - this is an issue of the HEART and NOT one of judgmental letter of the law APPEARANCES!
Here is a scripture to ponder:
Romans 14 : 5 One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind
To those who would still take issue with a CHRISTIAN allowing their child to trick or treat on Halloween, I have only one question for you: Do you use a CHRISTMAS TREE ?
Origins of the Christmas Tree:
"The first decorating of an evergreen tree began with the heathen Greeks and their worship of their god Adonia, who allegedly was brought back to life by the serpent Aessulapius after having been slain".3
"European Druids decorated oaks and pines with apples, candles, and cakes in the form of various animals and birds as a thank offering to their gods of fertility, agriculture, and light. Greeks and Romans decorated the trees sacred to their gods and goddesses with garlands of flowers and cloth. In Finland, Lapps filled little boats with bits of food and placed them in a pine tree marked with sacred symbols. Then they killed a reindeer and placed its internal organs in another tree which they smeared with the animal's blood".4
"The Christmas tree tradition dates back to Western Germany in the 16th century. They were called "Paradeisbaum" (paradise trees) and were brought into homes to celebrate the annual Feast of Adam and Eve on DEC-24".5
Questions Abound
Do you care of the origins of the Christmas tree? What does the Christmas tree mean to you? When you decorate your tree every December, are you celebrating the festival of Adam and Eve? Of course not, because that is NOT what the Christmas tree means to us personally! To me, a Christmas tree symbolizes the Christmas season. When I look at it, I think of Christ being born into this world, living a sinless life and then being crucified for this lost world. It symbolized something else entirely to the pagans who originated the use of it, but it does not symbolize that to us as Christians. The following is excerpt from
Jack Chick : his web page states that:
"We cannot separate Halloween from its origin with the Druids".
My reply:
This is untrue. Christians have quite successfully separated Christmas from its Pagan origins in the winter solstice. Many, perhaps most, Christian seasonal days of celebration have Pagan roots which are unknown to most people. Many dozens of Christian saints were originally Pagan gods and goddesses; yet few realize this today".6
3. Halloween is steeped in SYMBOLISM that is wicked or twisted.
This is what I hear and I believe that to SOME PEOPLE, the Halloween holiday WAS and STILL is steeped in twisted and wicked symbolism. But I repeat, what does that have to do with judging ME EVIL for allowing MY child to trick or treat? What does that have to do with ME carving a pumpkin, setting a candle in it and lighting it? Do you believe that because I do these things that I am observing some evil twisted symbolism of long ago? I am NOT. Perhaps some have an agenda or motive that is EVIL and not pure in heart when they carve up their pumpkin, I will leave that judgment to God and God alone though and won't take on the heavy burden of making such judgments that is not my right to do anyway.
Jack O lantern is the symbol of WHAT? A damned soul?
The Jack O Lantern PERHAPS was a symbol of a damned soul to some of long ago but I repeat what I said at the beginning, these people were superstitious and misguided and because of their apparent lack of spiritual knowledge, they were open to all forms of twisted and perverted spiritual beliefs. It was the equivalent of running away from someone when nobody is chasing you!
BATS, CATS and TURN-A-PS?
God made the Bat, God made the Turnip, as well as the CAT
Some Druids, Celts, or other people of long ago thought that cats, bats, turnips and other things held special meaning or symbolism to them in spiritual ways. I refuse to see what that has to do with me. When I see the cat, bat and turnip that GOD MADE, simply for us to enjoy and to thank him for, the symbolism these things held for Druids of long ago is never thought of by me. What was a good "omen" or whatever to these people of these times in history is nothing more than a Gift from God as far as I am concerned. At least that is the way I see it.
1. Wilkpedia, Encyclopedia Entry for Halloween: Celtic observation of Samhain http://www.yourencyclopedia.net/Halloween.html
2. Halloween: A Little Door to a Big Temptation http://www.chick.com/bc/1999/halloween.asp
3. Should Christians Celebrate Christmas? http://www.sovereigngrace.net/should.htm
4. Christ Story Christmas Symbols http://ww2.netnitco.net/users/legend01/xmastree.htm
5 What is a Tree? http://www.serve.com/damien/personal/chain/paper2.html
6. HALLOWEEN: MORE MISINFORMATION FROM EVANGELICAL CHRISTIAN GROUPS http://www.religioustolerance.org/hallo_ev3.htm
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