What the (1): What the Hall is Halloween?

A couple of days ago, you would have heard the quite knock at the door with the voice of a youngster calling out “Trick or Treat”! Halloween has become an annual celebration, if you would call it that. But do you have any idea what “Halloween” is all about? Is it evil, or anti Christian or super spiritual, or just another day and excuse to eat lots of delicious junk food?

In Australia, we have many annual celebrations, which most people have no idea what they are celebrating. I am one of these people, so I have made it my mission to reveal the true meaning behind Halloween, Christmas, Easter etc.

Halloween is big business

The name “Halloween” is short for “All Hallows’ Eve”, which celebrated the evening before “All Hallows’ Day”, or ‘All Saints Day’. On ‘All Saints Day’, Christians would gather to remember the lives of famous Christians who served as good role models.

Today Halloween is big business in the U.S. with more than 75% of families giving treats to trick or treaters. There are costume parties, masks, lollies and any other fancy product that goes with this day. For adult, it is another excuse to party and drink away the night.

All Saints Day

As I explained before, ‘All Saints Day’ was about remembering the saints of the past. But, who are these saints? Just recently, we saw Mary Mackillop recognised as a saint, but who are these saints and what do you have to do to be recognised as a saint? The bible, which I hold to be the literal word of God (2 Timothy 3:16) explains that saints are those who believe that Jesus is God, who died on the cross to pay for all their sins (Romans 8:27, 15:25, 1 Corinthians 1:2, 6:1-2, Ephesians 1:1, 15-16, Philippians 4:21-22, Colossians 1:2-4, Philemon 1:5-7, Revelation 5:8). Anyone who loves and follows Jesus is a saint!

Remembering past brothers and sisters in Christ is an awesome thing. If you pick up the bible, a great deal of it is historical narrative detailing the lives of many believers, or saints in Jesus (who is God). However, there is another side to the ‘Halloween’ story.

Pagan ritual

Halloween also represents the underbelly of the spiritual world. The bible explains that there are good spirits (angels who worship God and are his messengers) and evil spirits (who follow Satan). Halloween also includes parts of Pagan ritual, which delve into witchcraft and ghosts – Satanic practice. This arose from the practices of ancient Celtic priests who lived in Western Europe around 300 BC. These priests worshipped the god of death, a celebration which commenced on the 31st October- the Celtic New Years Eve. On this evening, the Celt priests believed that they had the opportunity to connect with the spirits of dead people (demons according to the bible). To protect them from demonic persecution, the priests wore grotesque costumes to trick the evil spirits.

Door to door knocking and pumpkins

The Celtic priests would burn bonfires to ward off evil spirits. Each priest would travel from door to door requesting fuel for their bonfires. Today, this is why people go door knocking asking for candy.

I hated eating pumpkins growing up. This would scare off anyone surely, and this is why the Celtic priests placed candle sticks in these horrible vegetables. Pumpkins with horrible carvings, according to the priests would scare off the evil spirits. Additionally, modern day witchcraft symbolizes the pumpkin as an important and powerful symbol – interesting if you consider this information!

There are many good resources that answer these myth, two that I recommend: What You Need to Know about Halloween and The Facts On Halloween.

Conclusion

I’ll conclude by saying that we live in a world that has a spiritual realm, with both good and evil. Any spirit that confesses Jesus at God and saviour is a good spirit (1 John 2:23, 4:2). Halloween has roots in Christianity, which is good and witchcraft and the a-cult, which are evil. There are Christian roots in the celebration of the saints, so I recommend that if you love Jesus, then reclaim this day for the Lord. I’m dressing up as King David, and my wife is dressing up as Bathsheba. Go with your conscience and honour God with all that you do- amen!