Halloween is my least favorite holiday. It was not always so. As a child I enjoyed dressing up with siblings and cousins and Trick-or-Treating. Who wouldn’t. What other time of the year would your parents let you accumulate a huge bag of candy? But as a became an adult, the holiday lost its appeal. Halloween parties in costume were okay, but it just seemed contrived to me.
And then things began to change. Today Halloween is a $10.6 billion dollar industry in the United States. Take away gift shopping and it is larger than Christmas. But do we even know what we are celebrating on October 31st? Here is a quick overview of how we got to our present day Halloween.
The story actually begins with a different holiday on November 1st – All Saints Day. According to the Encyclopedia Britannica:
All Saints’ Day, also called All Hallows’ Day, Hallowmas, or Feast of All Saints, in the Christian church, a day commemorating all the saints of the church, both known and unknown, who have attained heaven. It is celebrated on November 1 in the Western churches and on the first Sunday after Pentecost in the Eastern churches. In Roman Catholicism, the feast is usually a holy day of obligation.
So, the day before All Hallows’ Day is All Hallows’ Eve or in old English, Hallows’ Even. And from there we get Halloween. Originally, All Hallows’ Eve was a day of preparation for All Saints Day. And then a regional holiday in ancient Ireland, England, and northern France was mixed in. About two thousand years ago the Celts observed a festival called Samhain on the night of October 31st. The Celts believed that the dead returned to earth on the night of Samhain. So the two commemorations melded over time and evolved into our present day holiday that celebrated all things macabre.
And then there is All Souls’ Day which is observed on November 2nd. Again, from the Encyclopedia Britannica:
All Souls’ Day, in Roman Catholicism, a day for commemoration of all the faithful departed, those baptized Christians who are believed to be in purgatory because they died with the guilt of lesser sins on their souls. It is observed on November 2. Roman Catholic doctrine holds that the prayers of the faithful on earth will help cleanse these souls in order to fit them for the vision of God in heaven, and the day is dedicated to prayer and remembrance.
The American Halloween tradition of trick-or-treating probably dates back to the early All Souls’ Day parades in England. During the festivities, poor citizens would beg for food and families would give them pastries called “soul cakes” in return for their promise to pray for the family’s dead relatives. Sounds a bit weird, but no more so than letting our children run the streets at night for candy!
So what about Halloween today? For those of us a bit older, the holiday has changed significantly. In our youth, Halloween was a fun, harmless holiday. Yes, we had our witches and ghosts, but they were more cartoonish and we all knew they were make believe. Today, things are different. Much darker. Portrayals are more detailed and scary. It is as if people are identifying with our at least fans of evil things. Don’t think so? Here is an example of how our culture has shifted from supporting good to now siding with evil. I remember when the original three Star Wars movies came out. They were good movies and contained a great message of good striving to win over evil. We held up as examples the heroes in the films – Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, Han Solo. Fast forward to the Star Wars movies that have been released since the turn of the century and the focus of fans has shifted. Darth Vader has now taken over as the fan favorite and Storm Trooper costumes are popular at Halloween. What happened?
We have certainly come a long way from a day that was meant to prepare to commemorate those who have led a good, faithful life. And I am of the opinion that the path we have chosen has taken us down a dark road of worshipping evil things and evil deeds. So, I do not celebrate Halloween. I will, however, celebrate All Saints Day tomorrow and commemorate the passing of many family and friends who are now in heaven.
Matthew 7:13-14
Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.
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