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CMStrang~
Originof
'
)lallow~~n
Where dld Halloween come from? Should /t be observed?
How dld enllghtened twentleth century man come to
observe such a superstltlous custom?
by
John R. Schroeder
alloween
is
the strangest holiday
ofthe entire year.
On the eve of November
1,
• dúldren in many lands drcss as
goblins
or witcbes, knock on doors, an·
nounce "trick or treat." and soap
win~
dows of schools and stores. Some tear
down mailboxes and give tbe police a
great many beadacbes witb tbeir juve–
nile vandalism. lt
is
a
time when young
people "Jet otrsteam...
Tbe
SlnDge
Oricüa
ola
SlraDge H olklay
ls' this the way in wbich children
should be brought up? Wuv is tbis boli·
day celebratcd aoyway? Wbere did tbe
custom oruuick or treat.. orig.inatc?
Here is the intriguing answer from
history: "The American celebration rests
upoo Scouisb and lrish folk customs
whicb
can
be traccd in direct line from
pre-Christian times" - from paga.nism!
"Ahbough Halloween has become a
night of rollicking fun, superstitioos
spells, aod eerie games wbicb people
take only h?<lf seriously, its
beglnnin~
were quite otherwise. The earliesl Hal–
loween celebratioos were beld" - nOI by
tbe early churcb, but - "by tbe
.oruids
an honor ofSamba
in,
Lord of tbe Oead,
whose festival feU on November
1."
(Halloween Through Twtnty Centuries
by Ralpb Lintoo, p. 4.)
Furtber.
~Jt
was a Oruidic belief that
on the eve of tbis
festiva~
Saman, lord
of death, called together tbe wicked
souls [spirits] that within
tb~
past
12
mooths had been condemncd
~
inbabit
tbe
bodies
of animab"
(Encyclopaedia
Brltannica,
lltb ed., vol.
12,
pp.
8S7·8).
h
was a pagan belief that on one
niS)It of the year tbe souls of tbe dead
retumcd
10
their original bornes, tbere
to be entertaincd with
ro&!.
lf food and
shelter werc nol provided, !bese spirits,
it
was
believed, would casi speUs and
cause havoc toward those failing
10
fui.
filltbeir requests.
11
was
spiritualtrick
or
1reat And lhe
"triclt''
was nol
especially
cute.
"11
was the night for the universal
6
walking about of aU sorts of spirits, fair·
íes,
and gbosts.
al!
of whom had tiberty
on lhat nigbt"
(Highland Super$tlt/ons,
Alexander Macg¡-egor, p.
44).
Literal
sacritioes wcre offered on this nigbt to
the spirits of the dcad, wben, so tbe
belief
wcn~
they visited lbeir eartbly
haunts and tbeir Criends.
Thcre was
a
reason why November
was chosen for that panicular eveo(.
The Celts and other nortbern people
considercd the beginning of November
as lbeir
New Y
ear. This was tbe time
when tbe leaves wcre falling and a gen·
eral seasonal decay was taking place
everywhere. Tbus i1 was a fitting time, so
!bey rea.soncd, fot lbe commernoration
ofthedead.
Since the nortbem nations at tha1
time bogan their day in the evening, lbe
eve
leading up to November 1 was tbe
beginniog of the festival. Aocording to
the Roman calendar, in wbicb days be·
gan at midnight, it was the evening of
October
31 -
hence, Halloween, or
Al/
Sou/s'
E~
was lcept througbout the an·
cient pagan world. The observance was
widespread.
~ere
was
a
prevailing belief
among
a/1
natioiiS
lbat al death the souls of
good men were taken possession of by
good spirits and carried to parad.ise., but
the souls or wickcd men were left
10
wander in the space betvieen \he
earth
and moon. or consigned to the unseeo
world. Tbese wandering spirits were in
the habit of
haunting
the
living .
..
But
thert
,...,,e
•mtans by
whlch
thert
glrosts
might bt txorcúed" (Folklore,
James
Napier, p.
11).
To exorcise tbese ghosts, that is, to
free yourself from lbeir supposed evil
sway, you
would
have
10
set
out food -
give the demaos a treat - and provide
shelter for thern during the night. lf they
were salis6ed witb your offerings, it was
believcd !bey would leave you in peace.
JI
not, they would
~riek"
you by casting
an evil spell on you.
.This·
sort of Halloween festlval was
strenuously observed througboul the
an–
eient world. Pagaos would pray lo their
false gods to prevent "demons" and
"witcbes" from molesting tbem.
In Camboclia people uscd
10
chant:
"O all you our. aooestors, who are de–
parted, deign
10
come and eat what
we
have prcparcd for you. and
10
bless your
posterity and
10
make it happy"
(Notice
sur
le Cambodge,
E. Aymo'1)er, p. 59).
In the
New
World, too, the custom is
round: "Tbe Miztecs of Mexico betieved
that tbe souls of lbe dead carne
back
in
lbe twelflb rnontb of the year,
which
correspomkd to our Novtfmbtr.
On this
day of
AU
Souls the hous.es were deckcd
out to welcome tbe spirits. Jars of food
aod drinlc were
set
on a table in tbe
pri.ncipal room, and tbe farnily went out
with the torchos to meet the ghosu
ánd
invite them
10
enter. Then, retuming
10
the house they knelt around the table,
aod witb their eyes benl on the ground,
prayed the souls
10
accept the olferings"
(Adonis,
Fraur, p.
244).
This, then,
is
tbe way the heathen
world celebrated their Halloween. tbeir
A11
Souú'
Da
y.
Although somo aspects
of the Halloweeo festival varied wilb
each couotry, the overaU pauem and
purpose remaincd lbe same.
H alloween
"Cbrlstlaniud"
But how did the professing Christian
world come lo aceept and keep sucb
a
day?
For nurnerous years prior to the 6tb
century, Rome was invaded and tuled
by barbari<: tribes from the oortb. But in
A.D.
fiJ7
the Roman
Emperor
Phoc:as
defeated lbe barbariaos. The Roman
Pantheon, a pagan ediñce wbich had
been wrestcd from the barbarians, was
given to Pope Boniface fV.
With tbis splendid edifico now falling
into tbe hands of the professing Chris–
tians, the question was, wbat should be
done with it? After severa! ideas were
pul forwarcl tbis is what was tinaUy de–
cided.
Whcreas the pagan dedicatlon had
beco to Cybele and aU lhe gods. tbe
Roman bisbop oow cooseaated itiO tbe
Virgin Mary and all tbe saints of both
sexes. (See
The Mysterits of
A11
Nat/ons,
Orant, p.
120.)
Thus. this pagan build–
ing became a "boly"
structure.
No more
did tbe pagans
use
this edifii:e 10 pray
for tbeir dead.
lt
was now the Christ·
professing Romans who employed the
Paotbeon in praying for their dead.
Tbis
rededication of lbe pagan temple
to Mary and others occurred in A.D.
610.
Now converted into a Christian
shrine,
an annual
festival was institutcd
io
commemorate lbe eveoL The day
eh
oseo
was
M
ay
13.
Tbe Christian-professing populace
now paid bomage lo tbe consecratcd
Pantheon and to tbose for wbom
it
was
dcdicatcd. Tbe
masses
were encouragcd
to pray lo Mary and tbe other sa.ints.
This day beca
me
known as "All Saints'
Day" - a day oo whicb prayers were
otrercd for tbe sools or saints who had
dicd. The more prayers were otrered, the
less tbey would suffer the interim time in
~purgatory."
La
ter, even money
was
so–
licitcd for expiation purposes, thus cur·
tailing tbe samts' sufferings.
Tbis
commemoratioó of the dead
saints, going by the name of "All Saints'
Day," continued to be beld in May
wilhin tbe empite until
A.D.
834. Al tbis
time, tbe
name
and
date
were cbanged.
"The time of eelebratioo was altered
10
tbe
fint of No1'e171Mr,
and it was tbeo
cal.led
al/ hallow"
-
from wbere we gel
the name Halloween
(all hallow
merely
meaning
al/
holy
and the "een" Crom a
contractioo of "evening")
(Folklo~
p.
177).
Tbus
in
A. D.
834
the cjturcb at large
kep1 Halloween on the first of Novem·
ber for tbe
first
time. And yet. this was
the very same day tbe Oruids in Britaio,
the Norsemen in Sesndinavia, and the
pagan Oermans amóng others were
keeping lbeir festival of
All
Souls'
E
ve,
in commemoration of Saman, lord of
deatb and bis demons.
Reasoo
for
Otange
11
was a general praet.ice ol' the Chris–
tianized Roman Emp1re and the churcb
at Rome
10
convert 1he pagans within
the émpire as quickly and on as large a
scale
as
possible.
E
ver since tbe time of Constantino -
wbo made Catholicism the state religion
- the Roman ernperors realized bow
esseotial it was to have a unificd empire,
wbere as many as poasible would be of
· one mind. The civil and rcligious leaders
saw how importan! it was for thc salce of
unity to allow only one religion within
the Roman domain.
lt
became, lberefore, a stringent stale
poliey to force all noo·Christians 10 ac–
cept the orthodox faith. Tbe condition
for
44
oonversion." of course, made
it
very
easy for tbe pagan population of Rome
and dsewbere lo accept Christianily. lf
"acceptance" or Christianity was made
simple, refusal was made diJiicult. Tbis
plan of action led vast numbers of tbe
heathen population within the empireto
ftock into the fold ofthe churcb.
Wbcn the Gerrnan Frankish king
Charlema¡ne invadcd a:nd conquercd
parts ofEastem Germany, be compellcd
the conquered Gerrnan Saxon king,
Wittekind, to be baptiud and
10
accept
Cbristianity.
Winekind's Gennaos, now professing
Christians, and otber conquered pc:o–
ples, had
a
profound inftuence on tbe
ecclesiastical
atrairs
of the cburcb in tbe
early
800's.
These unculturcd people
brought with tbem many outright pagan
practices and celebralions, Halloween
merety bemg one of them.
Wbat was the cburcb to do? Excom–
municate them and tbus reduce ber
membership?
Tbis
she would not do.
Was sbe to force them into discarding
1heir heathen practices and adopting
ltalian or Roman ones?
Tbis,
as she bad
leamcd in past times, was nol possible.
There remained only one Olher way.
Let the recently convened pagaos
keep oertain of tbeir beatben festivab,
sucb as Halloweeo or All Soub' Day -
but label it "Christian.'' Of course tbe
Germans were asked notiO pray to tbeir
ancient pagan gods
00
tbis day. They
must now use lhis day to commernorate
the death of"saints."
lf a pagan practice or festival could
not be forbidden. i1
was
reasoncd. "Jet it
be tamed.." Tbus many were persuaded
10
transftr
devotion from lbeir former
go<b lo IIIQ
CIJristian
God. So
il
was
with the festival of All Souls' Evt. No–
tice: "Tbus, at lbe fint promulgation
oC
Cbristianity lo the Gentile nations
WEEK ENDINO NOVEMBER 1, 1975