Halloween...costume-clad children happily skipping from door to door shouting "trick or treat," expecting to fill their bags with candy, gum, and other goodies...houses decorated with jack-o-lanterns, pumpkins, witches with broomsticks, and black cats.
These are the most common sights of the celebration of Halloween. They are all make-believe and harmless...or are they?
Each year at Halloween, parents are faced with the dilemma of what the world calls harmless fun and their own concern about spiritual significance of this holiday. While we all have to hear God for ourselves concerning these decisions, we thought the following history of Halloween might be helpful to you and your family.
The Origin of Halloween
Halloween stems directly from Irish, Scottish, Welsh, and British folk customs. It was celebrated as the autumn festival of an order of priests who worshiped nature instead of the God Who created it. These priests, called Druids, were accomplished magicians and wizards who were at the height of their influence some 200 years before the birth of Jesus.
This holiday was originally celebrated to honor a false god named Samhain, who was known as the "lord of the dead." The Druids only observed two seasons of the year: summer and winter. October 31 was the end of the summer, including the time of harvest. It was followed by the beginning of winter - the cold, dark season when nothing grew.
Because the Druids closely observed and worshiped nature, this time of the year symbolized death to them. They believed that on this date, Samhain called all the wicked souls - who had died and had been condemned within the last year - to live in the bodies of animals. He was believed to have released them in the form of spirits, ghosts, fairies, witches, and elves.
According to Druidic tradition, these souls of the dead roamed the city on Halloween night and returned to haunt the homes where they once lived.
The phrase "trick or treat" grew out of this tradition. The only way the current occupants of the house could free themselves from being haunted was to lay out food and give shelter to the spirit during the night. If they did not, the spirit would cast a spell on them. In other words, they would be tricked if they did not lay out a treat.
The jack-o-lantern was also a part of this belief system. The carved pumpkin symbolized a damned soul named Jack. According to the tale, Jack was not allowed into heaven or hell. So, he wandered around in the darkness with his lantern until Judgment Day. Fearful people hollowed out turnips (and later carved pumpkins in the U.S.), carved an evil face on them, and lit a candle inside to scare him and other spirits away.
The Druids had other outlandish beliefs, which have since turned into tradition. For example, they were afraid of black cats because they believed that when a person committed evil, he would be turned into one. Black cats were thus considered to be evil. To scare them away, the Druids decorated their homes with witches, ghosts, and the like. They also decorated with cornstalks, pumpkins, and other goods in offering of thanks and praise to their false gods.
In addition to honoring Samhain, October 31 was also the New Year's Eve of the Celts and Anglo-Saxons. To celebrate, they built huge bonfires on hilltops to frighten away evil spirits, and often offered their crops and animals to the evil ones as a sacrifice - sometimes they even offered themselves.
When the Romans began the conquest of the Celts around A.D. 43, eventually ruling much of what is now the United Kingdom, two Roman autumn festivals were combined with the Celtic festival of Samhain.
The first, called Feralia, was held in late October to honor the dead. The second festival honored Pomona, the Roman goddess of fruit and trees. The practice of bobbing for apples became associated with Halloween because of this festival.
Although many Halloween traditions began with the Druids, the name Halloween came from a Catholic church observance. For this reason, some people have thought that Halloween's only significance was as the evening before All Saints' Day, a festival of the Catholic church honoring all Christian saints.
The Mass said on All Saints' Day was called Allhallowmas. The evening before became known as the Eve of All Saints, the Eve of All Hallows, All Hallows' Eve, or Hallow Even, which has given us the name Halloween.
Although All Saints' Day contributed to the naming of Halloween, All Saints' Day itself did not exist until A.D. 700 when it was instituted by Pope Boniface IV. Originally, it was celebrated in the spring on the first Sunday after Pentecost.
Its date was changed to November 1 by Pope Gregory III (reigned A.D. 731-741) in an attempt to add a Christian influence to the traditional pagan customs still being celebrated on October 31 by Celtic converts.
When sending missionaries to convert native peoples, the Catholic church encouraged the redefinition of local customs into Christian terms and concepts. Because All Saints' Day and Halloween both involved reverencing the dead, they were unified.
The combination of these customs eventually became the traditional celebration we call Halloween. It is important for parents to consider these "harmless gestures of enjoyment" and the distorted images they make in a child's heart.
Nothing More Than Fear and Death
We must realize Halloween is a holiday centered around fear and death.
Modern-day witches and wizards believe this night to be the most suitable night of the year for magic and demonic activity. In Deuteronomy 18:10-11, God forbids us to participate in any kind of occult practices or witchcraft.
Further, in the New Testament, we are told to abstain from all appearance of evil (1 Thess. 5:22).
As Christians, we should not celebrate Halloween, rather we should recognize October 31 as the day the Lord has made - a day we can rejoice in (Ps. 118:24). And we don't need to be fearful, for God has not given us a spirit of fear (2 Tim. 1:7).
Parents should teach their children faith in God. Children can have just as much fun on a Halloween centered around the Word of God and family fellowship. Make a commitment today to give your children the Word of God instead of the fairy tales the world offers - it will help them grow in the nurture and admonition of the Lord (Eph. 6:4).
Here is a prayer for safety you can pray over your family on Halloween:
Father, in the Name of Jesus, I thank You that You watch over Your Word to perform it. I thank You that my family and I dwell in the secret place of the Most High and that we remain stable and fixed under the shadow of the Almighty, Whose power no foe can withstand.Prayer References:
Father, you are our refuge and our fortress. No evil shall befall us - no accident shall overtake us - nor any plague or calamity come near our home. You give Your angels special charge over each one of us, to accompany and defend and preserve us in all our ways of obedience and service. They are encamped around about us.
Lord, I will train my children in the way they should go; and according to Your Word, when they are old, they will not depart from it. And I bind the devil from trying to influence them in any way this holiday.
Father, You are our confidence, firm and strong. You keep our feet from being caught in a trap or hidden danger. When we lie down, You will give us peaceful sleep. Father, You give this family safety and ease us - Jesus is our safety!
• Jeremiah 1:12
• Psalm 91: 1-2, 10-11, The Amplified Bible
• Psalm 34:7
• Proverbs 22:6
• Psalm 112:7, The Amplified Bible
• Proverbs 3:26, The Amplified Bible
• Proverbs 3:23-24
• Isaiah 26:3
• Psalms 3:5, 4:8; 127:2; 149:5
• Isaiah 49:25, The Amplified Bible
Eagle Mountain International Church, Inc.
aka: Kenneth Copeland Ministries
For the last 50 years Kenneth and Gloria Copeland have been passionately teaching Christians all over the world how to apply the principles of faith found in God’s WORD to their lives.
