I have, for your thought, two articles. The first argues that Halloween is a church
tradition before an evil
corruption. The author argues that we
should celebrate it for its original merits.
The second article says we should not celebrate at the same time as evil
is being celebrated. You choose which
argument you like.
Redeeming
Holy Days from Pagan Lies — Hallowe’en: A short history
There is a lot of new mythology about Halloween that has been
invented to claim that Halloween is a pagan holiday. It is not, and it never
was a pagan holiday.
Where Did Halloween Start
in the Christian Church?
In the first three centuries after Christ’s resurrection, the
lives of the martyrs of the Church were commemorated on the day and in the
place where they were killed.
There were so many who were killed because of their faith in
Christ during those centuries. Throughout the Christian Church different days
were set aside not only for each martyr, but a special day for all Saints.
The earliest reference to a day being dedicated to the
commemoration of All the Martyrs and All Saints of the Christian Church comes
from the 2nd century. The document is titled “The Martyrdom of
Polycarp.” Polycarp was a Christian killed because he would not deny Christ. The
document says:
Accordingly,
we afterwards took up his bones, as being more precious than the most exquisite
jewels, and more purified than gold, and deposited them in a
fitting place, whither, being gathered together, as opportunity is allowed
us, with joy and rejoicing, the Lord shall grant us to celebrate the
anniversary of his martyrdom, both
in memory of those who have already finished their course, and for the
exercising and preparation of those yet to walk in their steps. (Chapter 18)
[Emphasis added]
Later, a Christian Bishop named Ephraim the Syrian mentions a common All Saints’ Day in 373. So,
a common day for commemorating the Saints has been around throughout the
Christian Church from very early times. And the fact that it falls on November
1st today has
nothing to do with paganism.
OK, so what does this have to do with Halloween? In the Bible the day begins at
sundown or evening. This is why we have Christmas Eve. Halloween is All Hallows’ Eve‘, that is All Saints’
Evening. Halloween is the beginning of All Saints’ Day starting at sundown on
October 31st.
But, many of the Christian Churches in the Reformed traditions
claim that Halloween is a pagan celebration. Very often they do this by
referring to Neopagan and Wiccan writings. And there are many in the Neopagan and Wiccan communities who have tried hard to claim Halloween as an ancient
pagan holiday that had been stolen by the Christian Church.
Don’t ever expect truth from Neopagans and Wiccans. They already
live in a fantasy world created by their own fakelore.
But folklore does not support the Neopagan or the
Wiccan claims about Halloween. Instead they depend on fakelore: invented,
and fake, pretend folklore. The typical claims in current sources are that
Halloween came from “ancient Celtic
practices, Catholic and Roman religious rituals and European folk traditions.” With
respect to the origins of All Saints’ Day these claim are false. With respect
to the modern re-paganizing of Halloween, the Neopagan version of Halloween
doesn’t really come from ancient pagan sources. It comes from modern sources
that pretend to be old but are not. These modern sources are simply fiction.
Doesn’t Halloween Have Its
Origins in Samhain?
Neopagans and Wiccans like to claim that the source of Halloween
is the Celtic festival of Samhain (pronounced Sow-in). There are three basic problems with their
claim.
1. The celebration
of All Saints’ Day didn’t originate in Ireland or any other area populated by
Celts or their descendants.
2. None of
the days on which All Saints’ Day was celebrated had anything to do with any
Celtic holiday.
3. The
celebration of All Saints’ Day in Celtic regions is documented to be older than
the documented celebration of Samhain.
So let us look at each of
these three claims:
1. In order
for the Neopagan and Wiccan claim that Samhain is the origin of Halloween to be
true, then Halloween and All Saints’ Day should have started in Celtic areas. But All
Saints’ Day was celebrated in Syria as early as 373 A.D, in Caesarea in 397
A.D., and in Constantinople (under Chrysostom—modern Istanbul) by 407 A.D. So All
Saints’ Day, and Halloween didn’t start in the Celtic countries. But it did
take some time for the declarations of Rome to reach distant Celtic areas like
Ireland.
2. In order
for the Neopagan and Wiccan claim that Samhain is the origin of Halloween to be
true the particular day chosen should have some significance to the Celts and
Samhain. But here we run into some serious problems. According to the best
sources, Samhain was a Lunar festival of harvest. That means that the day of Samhain can vary up to a
month in difference from any Solar year day. Compare, for example, the wide
variety of days upon which Easter can take place. When sources claim that
Samhain was October 31 to November 1 in the modern Solar Calendar they are being dishonest and disingenuous. They are intending to deceive the reader. Due to the differences between lunar and
solar dates, on the average Samhain would take place exactly on October
31st only once in about every 30 years. When the reader adds into this the fact
that the Western Calendar changed over from the Julian to the Gregorian at different times in different places, the reader can better
understand how artificial the Neopagan and Wiccan claims are about Samhain. The
Christian Church didn’t get Halloween/All Saints’ Day from the pagans, the
pagans are trying to claim that Christians stole from them. But the Neopagans
and Wiccans cannot even get their calendars straight. And they are hoping that
the reader doesn’t notice how weak and embarrassing their claim is.
3. In order
for the Neopagan and Wiccan claim that Samhain is the origin of Halloween to be
true Samhain they should be able to prove that Samhain is older than All
Saints’ Day. But, in fact, the opposite
is true. We have a manuscript from 843 A.D. where the Irish Christian Bishop Óengus of
Tallaght wrote about the celebration
of All Saints’ Day. It was celebrated in the Spring of the year at that time and in
that place. The Decree of Pope Gregory IV had still not reached Ireland so that
All Saints’ Day should be celebrated November 1st.
But the earliest-ever-mention of Samhain in Irish folklore doesn’t
come until the 10thCentury (Ronald Hutton’s 1996 book Stations of the Sun: A
History of the Ritual Year in Britain). There
is no mention of Samhain outside of Ireland until centuries later.
These, then, are the facts.
Samhain comes from the 10th Century A.D. and is a newer invention. All Saints’ day is older
than Samhain. All Saints’ Day came from the practice of honoring the Christian
Martyrs in Israel, Turkey, and Syria as early as the 2nd Century and later.
All Saints’ Day and therefore Halloween originated outside the
Celtic sphere of influence and had nothing to do with what the Neopagan and
Wiccan claims are about its origin.
In fact, the newer holiday, called Samhain, was a Lunar holiday.
This means that it could be celebrated on any of 30 or so days in Autumn of a
given year depending on when the harvest moon was recognized in Ireland. And
very, very rarely did this moon happen on October 31st. This
simple truth cannot be emphasized enough.
Any book or website or article that claims that the ancient Celts
celebrated Samhain on October 31 is perpetrating a lie. Modern Neopagans and Wiccans invented their own calendar through the 1970s and 1980s and they chose Oct. 31 to be the day
for Samhain. It was a move on their part to put forward the false claim that
Halloween started in paganism.
Why Would the
Non-Christians Want to Undermine This Holiday?
All Saints’ Eve (Halloween) and All Saints’ Day have a special
place in the commemoration of the Christian Church because of the Reformation. It was
on October 31st, Halloween, that Martin Luther posted his 95 Theses on the door of the church at Wittenberg, Germany. It was on that
date he chose to challenge the corruption in the official church about the
notion that salvation in Christ could be bought with money or works. All Saints
are saved by Grace, through Faith, revealed by God’s Word in Christ.
Halloween, October 31st is Reformation Day. On
October 31, 1517 the Church of Christ began to return to the authority of
Scripture alone over the traditions and will of man.
It should not be surprising that Satan and the World have gone to
such extremes to defile Halloween with anything that would distract Christians
and the unbelievers from Sola Scriptura, Sola Fide, Sola Gratia and Solus
Christus (Scripture Alone, Faith Alone,
Grace Alone, and Christ Alone).
Halloween Traditions:
In this world some traditions have become the mainstay of
Halloween. Though these traditions are not necessarily a problem by themselves,
they have been claimed by the Neopagans and Wiccans as evidence that
Christianity is a fraud and newcomer that has replaced the “Older” so-called
“Truth”. But they lie.
The Haunted House started in the early 1970s. The first records of Haunted Houses
were from Cincinnati, Ohio where the Jaycees (Junior Chambers of Commerce)
introduced the first Haunted Houses as a way to keep kids entertained on
Halloween.
So which is older, All Saints Day starting in the 2nd Century or Haunted Houses starting in the 1970s?
Jack o’Lanterns are an American invention from the mid 1800s. Ireland and Britain
had older traditions of carving vegetables into lanterns. But those traditions
are not ancient. Historian David J. Skal writes:
Although
every modern chronicle of the holiday[ of Halloween] repeats the claim that
vegetable lanterns were a time-honored component of Halloween celebrations in
the British Isles, none gives any primary documentation. In fact, none of the
major nineteenth-century chronicles of British holidays and folk customs make
any mention whatsoever of carved lanterns in connection with Halloween. Neither
do any of the standard works of the early twentieth century.
(see this and other helpful references cited at The Scoopie)
(see this and other helpful references cited at The Scoopie)
It was in 1837 that the term “Jack o’ Lantern” first appeared as a
term for a carved vegetable lantern. Previously the term referred to the man or
boy a town hired to keep the street lamps lit through the night. The pumpkin
was used with the cornucopia as a fruit that was displayed throughout fall
harvest time in America as a sign of God’s providential blessing.
There is a lot of folklore about the Jack O’Lantern, but it is
fakelore invented to create a fictional scary history for the Jack O’Lantern.
But which is older? All Saints’ Day or the Jack O’Lantern?
Trick or Treating is very popular in America and several other countries. In the
Middle Ages (1300s to 1500s or so) there was a practice where children or the
poor would go from door to door to beg. In some places these beggars would sing
or perform in order to get gifts of money or food from householders. While this
happened every day of the year, because these beggars had to eat every day,
they were particular active on holidays. Christmas, Easter, Pentecost, and All
Saints’ Day were special days when children and adults would go from home to
home singing hymns and carols and begging. A good source for what these people
would sing is the Oxford Book of
Carols.
In Shakespear’s 1593 play The
Two Gentlemen of Verona the character Speed accuses
his master of “puling [whimpering or whining] like a beggar at Hallowmas.”
That’s our All Saints’ Day, November 1st.
Wearing costumes on Halloween is first known in Scotland in 1895
and in the United States in 1911. The earliest use ot the words “trick or
treat” is from 1927 in the United States. In the early 20th Century there were thousands of postcards made with Halloween
themes, but none of them showed “trick or treating” until the 1930s.
So what is older? All Saints’ Day or Trick or Treating?
Halloween, Reformation Day,
All Saints’ Day is a very special day of the year for the
Christian Church. We commemorate all saints past, present, and future with the
confession that we cannot save ourselves with our own works, no price we could
ever pay would be good enough. But Christ has paid for the whole world. And all
believers in Christ, and these are the Saints, will be raised on the last day
to eternal life. Reclaiming Halloween means knowing where it comes from, why
the day was established, and the historical significance it holds for the
Christian Church. Satan and the world are always willing to undermine and steal
anything that is of value to the confession of the truth of Scripture. Let us
not fall prey to the lies.
Enjoy Halloween! Enjoy Jack O’Lanterns, Enjoy Trick or Treating.
But confess the truth!
Pastor Joseph Abrahamson
serves Clearwater Lutheran Parish: a parish of four Confessional Lutheran
congregations in very rural Northwestern, Minnesota. He and his wife, Mary,
have 10 children. Pastor Abrahamson is a graduate of Bethany Lutheran
Theological Seminary, and of the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Department
of Hebrew and Semitic Studies. He has served on the Faculty/Staff at Bethany
Lutheran College teaching Religion, Linguistics, Archaeology, and Self-Defense;
and was on Staff at the University of Wisconsin as an Information Processing
Consultant (Computer Geek) while doing graduate work in Semitics. Pastor
Abrahamson has served Clearwater Lutheran Parish (ELS) for since Dec. 2001.
Why
Christians Absolutely Should Not Celebrate Halloween
Setting aside a day to celebrate
evil, darkness, witchcraft, fear, death and the demonic brings disdain to God.
Period. (Flickr/Creative Commons)
Many
Christians celebrate Halloween. Some churches and pastors even do. I recently saw a church advertising they were
having a Zombie Run. Seriously? God's House? This pastor does not celebrate
Halloween and neither does her church.
In a
spirit of full disclosure, when I was a brand-new believer, I allowed my son to
go trick-or-treating. Part of the reason was because my husband was not yet
saved and insisted we do. The other part was because I didn't see the harm in
it. After all, many Christians I respected did it, so as a new Christian I
justified that it must be OK. Right? Wrong!
As I
grew closer to the Lord and gained more knowledge of His Word, I began to feel
convicted about Halloween. I had thoughts like:
o God is
a God of life, but Halloween focuses on death. Should I celebrate a holiday
where people decorate their front yards with tombstones?
o The
Scriptures tell us to put away deeds of darkness (Rom.13:12) and that light has
nothing in common with darkness (2 Cor. 6:14). Is celebrating a dark holiday
something a child of the light should be doing?
o I had
been delivered from fear and panic attacks and knew that fear comes from the
enemy. Should I participate in a holiday that has fear as its very foundation?
o Witchcraft
is clearly detestable to the Lord (Deut 18:10-13). Shouldn't something that
glorifies witchcraft (just take a walk through the Halloween store) be
detestable to me as well?"
o Halloween
is a sacred, high holiday for Wiccans (the official religion of witchcraft). Is
this a holiday Christians should celebrate alongside Wiccans?
o Is it
cute when we dress our kids like the devil (or witches, ghouls, scary
characters, etc.)? Isn't it, well, demonic?
o What if
my child dresses in a wholesome fireman costume? Romans 16:19 says that we need
to be wise to what is good and innocent of evil. If I let him participate in
Halloween, even while dressed as a fireman, aren't I sending him a mixed
message by allowing him to participate in a celebration of evil?
o The
Lord said in 2 Cor. 6:17, "Come out from them and be separate ... Touch no
unclean thing ..." Doesn't God want His children to be set apart from the
world and from sin and evil? Aren't we supposed to be peculiar people?
o My
extended family thinks it's ridiculous that we not allow our son to dress up
for Halloween. Should their opinions matter to me more than God's? Shouldn't
pleasing God be my utmost concern?
o If there
is even a question in my heart and mind that it might be wrong, shouldn't that
be my first clue? Why would I continue to do so with even a lingering thought
that it is wrong?
o Does
Halloween bring glory to God? No! It glorifies the devil! Nuff said.
So as a
new believer, saved only two years, I responded to the conviction of the Holy
Spirit, repented of displeasing the Lord and put a stop to Halloween. And as a
pastor, after observing firsthand the amount of destruction that the enemy
brings into peoples' lives when they give him a foothold, I am even more
convinced I made the right decision to close the door to the enemy and on this
evil holiday.
Setting
aside a day to celebrate evil, darkness, witchcraft, fear, death and the
demonic brings disdain to God. Period. A Christian celebrating Halloween would
be like a Satan worshiper putting up a nativity scene at Christmas while
singing, "Happy Birthday, Jesus!" The two just don't go together.
Jesus has nothing in common with Satan (2 Cor. 6:14), and neither should we.
So,
what did we do instead? Hide in the basement with the lights off? Hustle the
family out of the house? No, darkened homes are the enemy's victory! Where does
your light shine the brightest ... in the darkness!
Halloween
is the one day a year when neighbors come to your door expecting to receive
something. So give them JESUS! Our family chose to give God the glory and the
devil a black eye by reaching out to our neighbors with the gospel of Jesus
Christ! "You are the light of the world ... let your light shine among men
that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven"
(Matt. 5:14-16).
So stop
justifying why it is fine to celebrate this demonic, worldly, evil holiday.
There are no muddled lines or gray areas about it. A committed follower of
Jesus Christ should not celebrate Halloween.
Jamie Morgan is
the pastor of Life Church (Assemblies of God) in Williamstown, N.J., and
the Life House of Prayer (24/7 prayer).
