history of halloween

(the following picture and article were taken from www.history.com)


Halloween's origins date back to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain (pronounced sow-in).

The Celts, who lived 2,000 years ago in the area that is now Ireland, the United Kingdom, and northern France, celebrated their new year on November 1. This day marked the end of summer and the harvest and the beginning of the dark, cold winter, a time of year that was often associated with human death. Celts believed that on the night before the new year, the boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead became blurred. On the night of October 31, they celebrated Samhain, when it was believed that the ghosts of the dead returned to earth. In addition to causing trouble and damaging crops, Celts thought that the presence of the otherworldly spirits made it easier for the Druids, or Celtic priests, to make predictions about the future. For a people entirely dependent on the volatile natural world, these prophecies were an important source of comfort and direction during the long, dark winter.

To commemorate the event, Druids built huge sacred bonfires, where the people gathered to burn crops and animals as sacrifices to the Celtic deities.

During the celebration, the Celts wore costumes, typically consisting of animal heads and skins, and attempted to tell each other's fortunes. When the celebration was over, they re-lit their hearth fires, which they had extinguished earlier that evening, from the sacred bonfire to help protect them during the coming winter.

By A.D. 43, Romans had conquered the majority of Celtic territory. In the course of the four hundred years that they ruled the Celtic lands, two festivals of Roman origin were combined with the traditional Celtic celebration of Samhain.

The first was Feralia, a day in late October when the Romans traditionally commemorated the passing of the dead. The second 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.

By the 800s, the influence of Christianity had spread into Celtic lands. In the seventh century, Pope Boniface IV designated November 1 All Saints' Day, a time to honor saints and martyrs. It is widely believed today that the pope was attempting to replace the Celtic festival of the dead with a related, but church-sanctioned holiday. The celebration was also called All-hallows or All-hallowmas (from Middle English Alholowmesse meaning All Saints' Day) and the night before it, the night of Samhain, began to be called All-hallows Eve and, eventually, Halloween. Even later, in A.D. 1000, the church would make November 2 All Souls' Day, a day to honor the dead. It was celebrated similarly to Samhain, with big bonfires, parades, and dressing up in costumes as saints, angels, and devils. Together, the three celebrations, the eve of All Saints', All Saints', and All Souls', were called Hallowmas.

*********SO, did any of you know this history? i certainly did not. i thought to look it up, because to be honest, i really love this holiday (and not for the reasons associated with it's origin...obviously, i'm not celtic :O) and i wanted to know it's origin personally. i've heard it's a holiday for devil worshippers, etc...but as you can see, that's not quite how it came about. i was please to see that the church got hold of it and actually tried to turn it into a holiday of honoring martyrs and saints. i also am quite positive, at one time or another, i've gotten some looks because of my enjoyment of it. so i thought...hey, i'll use my blog to talk about it. what a novel idea?
in regards to my love of this time of year, i must admit, i just cannot help it. i'm a party girl by nature i guess. i love the idea of celebration. especially when it involves dressing up, carving pumpkins, bobbing for apples, sweet, yummy, wonderful candy, and trick or treating. i know this is an area MANY christians have diverse and no doubt strong feelings about. so because of my love of jesus and wanting to impart spiritual,godly things into my family and especially my son's life, i made the decision years ago to be very careful how i'd participate. my negotiations with myself and the holy spirit of course, lead me to the following conclusions. i have NO and never have had any desire to celebrate death, gore, fear, demonic, or scary. we don't go to haunted houses. we don't watch halloween themed movies. we don't listen to scary music or decorate in anything that has a dark connotation. period. i don't allow that stuff through movies or any other means into my life or home. i do, however celebrate the idea of fall and harvest. therefore, myself (on rare occasion these days) and my son get dressed up in favorable, not evil, costumes. rich and i go to fall festivals, take hay rides, go to pumpkin patches, go through corn mazes, decorate our home with black and orange, pumpkins, and fall foliage, and we throw a pumpkin carving party for our entire family each year. we also participate in trunk or treat and yes....trick or treating. if there's a place to be (boo at the zoo for instance) where we can engage in these types of things, then we go. and i can say, i've never felt convicted about this. this is one are to remind me of how thankful i am for the portion of our bible study we are doing right now, that talked about not judging and realizing that we all can have different convictions when it comes to grey areas. i needed to hear that to remember to extend grace to others, just as i would like it extended to me.
so, there you have it. i just though i'd share. i'm sure some of you are thankful because it's exactly where you are. others may totally disagree & i'm ok with that. let's just agree to love one another and cut each other a little slack. this will come in handy when it comes to the trunk or treat our church puts on. regardless of whether you celebrate or not, we can all participate in order be a blessing to our community. it's an AWESOME outreach that is fun and safe for kids AND has lead many to our church and ultimately to the lord! praise god. he CAN be glorified through any and all things. so get out there and help or just show up and be sure to invite a family you know to come. it will be worth it...i promise.