Halloween is fun, if you're evil

Halloween is fun. It makes for a great excuse to dress up, and maybe even act a fool. Children go trick-or-treating and adults, we either find something else to do or live vicariously through our kids. I’ve grown up with this almost meaningless tradition (for regular Americans that is) all my life. Yet some people aren’t as enthused about this not-so-sacred holiday.

            I’ve noticed that some people, mainly religious leaders, don’t want us to celebrate Halloween so vigorously. They attest that the festivities have pagan origins and that it is a celebration of evil. Where do these sentiments come from? Where does Halloween come from, originally? Let’s take a look at some of the history.

            It’s true, Halloween does have pagan origins. But is it really evil? It began as the pagan festival of Samhain in pre-Christian England. Celtic Brits in what is now England, Ireland, Scotland and Whales celebrated what, according to their calendar, was the “end of summer.” It is the day when the bright part of the year ended, and winter began. It was also believed that on this night of the year, that spirits of the dead returned to visit the living. Some of these spirits could be evil, or vengeful, and could bring harm to the living. The Celts often sought to appease these spirits, which is where we get the term “trick-or treat.” Also, the word bonfire actually means bone fire which was originally a burnt animal sacrifice prepared on the day of the festival. It is these origins which have garnered a lot of negative attention from Christian leaders for more than a millennium.

            All Saints Day, or All Hallows Day was celebrated by the Roman Catholic Church in April of every year until the mid 800’s. It was then, that Pope Gregory IV moved this Holiday to the day after the Samhain festival, on November 1^st, hence the term Hallows eve. This was an attempt to replace the meaning of the festival with a Christian meaning. It is one of the many tactics used by the church to eradicate paganism from Europe, a tradition championed by Emperor Charlemagne in the previous century.

            The holiday wasn’t even celebrated in America until the waves of Irish immigration into the United States in the late 1800’s. And even though most of the original meaning of Samhain has been lost in our modern-day version of Halloween, there are still those who would seek to destroy our senseless, overly-commercialized tradition. I know. I was shocked as well when I first became a Christian and began watching TBN like all good Christians do. I was equally shocked to hear certain preachers and televangelists blasting Harry Potter films for “teaching children witchcraft.” Maybe if we shelter kids enough, they might grow up and not know anything at all. Wouldn’t that be grand?

            But seriously, Halloween is harmless. Maybe if Islamic fascists started celebrating Halloween, the bombings would stop for a day or two. Because they’d be too busy having fun.