October 21, 2003
Halloween - A Pagan or Christian Tradition?
Spurred on by Jay's recent article on Christmas, I couldn't resist addressing the topic of Halloween especially since I am the mother of twin 3 yr. old boys who are becoming more aware of things in this world. Could someone please answer my question - is Halloween a pagan or a Christian Tradition? How and why did it start? Somewhere in my brain I have the notion that the word Halloween means Hallow Eve because it is the night before All Saints Day. I guess like Christmas Eve is to Christmas - the sacred night of anticipation for our Lord's birth. If this is true, where did the tradition of dressing up and asking people for candy come from? I don't know about most of you but I'm tired of all the gore and horror everywhere. Halloween is no longer a one night affair but rather a full month of satanism it seems. I hope someone can shed some light on this situation for me.
When I lived in Florida last year, I had the privilege of not celebrating Halloween the American way, but rather gathering with various Catholic families to have an All Saints Day Festival. Several Catholic families brought all their children who were required to dress up as a saint and they had activities and games set up pertaining to saints then we had a huge cookout with just good wholesome fellowship and then children got to take home a small goodie bag and a Catholic puzzle. If you homeschool your children, I highly suggest this alternative to Halloween and trick-or-treating. And if kids come to your door, hand out a Christian holy card or pamphlet on a saint or something Christ related.
Posted by Maria at October 21, 2003 11:10 PM | TrackBack |
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Great idea, Maria!
Posted by: Krista at October 22, 2003 01:29 PMMaria,
Just as Christmas is, Halloween has pagan roots and coincided with the celebration of the fall harvest festival. To Christianize the holiday, the feast began being celebrated on all Hallow's Eve (Hence Halloween). The reason people dress us is because there is an old legend that says on the night before all saint's day Satan would send his demons into the world to try and get as many souls as possible for him. To thwart this, people would dress up as someone or something so that the devil could not identify them to possess them. Silly, I know, but this is the tradition. The Holiday is very Catholic in roots, just as Mardi Gras is, but is taken to extremes. I don't necessarily have a problem with Halloween, as long as its done right.
Posted by: Joshua LeBlanc at October 22, 2003 04:26 PMThanks Joshua for the info. However, there still remains one question left unanswered - Where does the tradition of trick-or-treating come from?
Posted by: Maria at October 23, 2003 09:16 AMYou can also purchase various hard candies with scripture quotes on the wrappers at religious bookstores to hand out. Happy Halloween:)
Posted by: Maria at October 25, 2003 11:18 PM
