Halloween is my favorite all time holiday!!! And I am very defensive of it's reputation.
I love all of my very Christian friends. However my antiHalloween friends need a little history lesson.
Over time certain interpretations have become inaccurate. Halloween, which I believe, is the most misunderstood holiday of all time needs a little fact fixing. Yes Halloween was a pagan holiday (love to all my Pagan friends) it dates back to ancient celts. The idea was to celebrate the end of the harvest season. The scary costumes were to scare away the bad spirits so the next harvest would be healthy. All that scariness was to ward off evil. Sort of like Christian metals, and crosses, and holy water. I realize this is not exactly the Christian purpose of wearing a cross, or using holy water, or having a St. whoever metal but it's similar. It makes christians feel safe and closer to god. Pagans chose the other route, to scare off evil to be closer to god, to have healthy crops, to have a prosperous year. Because this was the end of the crop season the grasses and hay were becoming short in supply, this lead to moving livestock and slaughtering some farm animals and salting them to eat a later date, and to have at their big celebration meal. These were not 'animal sacrifice' or gifts to gods, but a necessity to avoid starvation of farm animals. The holiday Samhain, was a little like Thanksgiving. It was a big feast, a family gathering, a bonfire, a start of the new year etc. It was also a day believed to be where the spirit world and our world came very close to one another. Some left soul cakes to help our ancestors on their journey. There is nothing satanic about Halloween. In the Celtic world there wasn't a satan or a devil. Only mischievious spirits that some called evil.
In the Catholic religion Halloween is All Souls day or the eve of All Saints Day which is holy day requiring attendance at a Mass service during which prayers for the dead are recited. All Souls celebrates people who have died and not yet made it to Heaven. They are either in Limbo or Purgatory (which is like hell but not permanent) - I don't really believe all this I just thought you'd like a little bit of the history surrounding the Christian religions esp. the RC's
ReplyDeleteI had no idea this was your favorite holiday!
ReplyDeleteWhat are the kids going to be for trick or treating?
Luke is going to be a clone (Star wars)
ReplyDeleteLily is going to be tinkerbell and
Caiti is going to be a pirate, so is John
I am either going to be a gypsy or a belly dancer.
What about your kids ?