Christian

Post N° 66

Halloween Origins and CustomsFirst Part

Blending of Paganism with
Christianity

When Christianity spread to parts of Europe, instead of trying to
abolish these pagan customs, people tried to introduce ideas which reflected a
more Christian world-view. Halloween has since become a confusing mixture of
traditions and practices from pagan cultures and Christian tradition.


By A.D. 43, Romans had conquered the majority of Celtic territory.
During their rule of the Celtic lands, Roman festivals were combined with the
traditional Celtic celebration of Samhain. The Romans observed the holiday of
Feralia, intended to give rest and peace to the departed. Participants made
sacrifices in honor of the dead, offered up prayers for them, and made
oblations to them. Another festival was a day to honor Pomona, the Roman
goddess of fruit and trees. The symbol of Pomona is the apple and the
incorporation of this celebration into Samhain probably explains the tradition
of "bobbing" for apples that is practiced today on Halloween.

As the
influence of Christianity spread into Celtic lands, in the 7th century, Pope
Boniface IV introduced All Saints' Day, a time to honor saints and martyrs, to
replace the pagan festival of the dead. It was observed on May 13. In 834,
Gregory III moved All Saint's Day from May 13 to Nov. 1 and for Christians,
this became an opportunity for remembering before God all the saints who had
died and all the dead in the Christian community. Oct. 31 thus became All
Hallows' Eve ('hallow' means 'saint').

Sadly, though, many of the
customs survived and were blended in with Christianity. Numerous folk customs
connected with the pagan observances for the dead have survived to the present.


In 1517, a monk named Martin Luther honored the faithful saints of the
past by choosing All Saints Day (November 1) as the day to publicly charge the
Church heirarchy with abandoning biblical faith. This became known as
"Reformation Day," a fitting celebration of the restoration the same biblical
faith held by the saints throughout church history. [What about Halloween?]

Trick-or-Treat?

Some trace the origins of present day
"trick-or-treat" to Samhain, which was the supreme night of demonic jubilation.
Spirits of the dead would rise out of their graves and wander the countryside,
trying to return to the homes where they formerly lived. Frightened villagers
tried to appease these wandering spirits by offering them gifts of fruit and
nuts. They began the tradition of placing plates of the finest food and bits of
treats that the household had to offer on their doorsteps, as gifts, to appease
the hunger of the ghostly wanderers. If not placated, villagers feared that the
spirits would kill their flocks or destroy their property.

The problem
was... if the souls of dead loved ones could return that night, so could
anything else,human or not, nice or not-so-nice. The only thing the
superstitious people knew to do to protect themselves on such an occasion was
to masquerade as one of the demonic hoard, and hopefully blend in unnoticed
among them. Wearing masks and other disguises and blackening the face with soot
were originally ways of hiding oneself from the spirits of the dead who might
be roaming around. This is the origin of Halloween masquerading as devils,
imps, ogres, and other demonic creatures.

Others trace "trick-or-treat"
to a European custom called "souling". Beggars would go from village to village
begging for "soul cakes" made out of square pieces of bread with currants. The
more soul cakes the beggars would receive, the more prayers they would promise
to say on behalf of the dead relatives of the donors. At the time, it was
believed that the dead remained in limbo for a time after death, and that
prayer, even by strangers could guarantee a soul's passage to heaven.


In many parts of Britain and Ireland this night used to be known as 'Mischief
Night', which meant that people were free to go around the village playing
pranks and getting up to any kind of mischief without fear of being punished.
Many of the different customs were taken to the United States by Irish and
Scottish immigrants in the nineteenth century, and they developed into 'trick
or treat'.