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Sinclair'
Statislirs of Sco1land
for
1793 shows tha t in Pcrthshi rc on the
eve of Novcmbcr
l.
bonfires we re
li t in every vi ll agc. ln lreland. the
custom of di playing lighted candles
in the windows of the house on this
nigh1 was common praclicc as late
as the nin cteenth century.
This , then. is the way the Western
world celcbra tcd their Ha lloween .
th ei r All Saints' Day. Alt hough
so rne aspects of thc Ha lloween festi–
va l varicd with each coun try, the
ovc ra ll pattc rn and purpose re–
mained lhe same. But how did the
professing Christian world come lo
acccpt and ob ervc such a day as
Ha lloween?
Halloween Becomes "Christianized"
Whcn Cha rl emagne invaded and
conq uered Saxon Germany early in
the nineteenth century. he com–
pelled Lhe conquered German king,
WiLLekind. to be baptized and lo ac–
ce pL ChrisLianiLy.
Wittekind 's Germans. now pro–
fcssi ng ChrisLians, and oLher con–
quered peoples soon began
to
exert
a profound inOuence on Lhe eccle–
siasLical aJfairs of the church. These
conq uered people bro ughL wiLh
them outrighL pagan practices and
ce lebrations. Halloween being one
of them. They were fervenL in cling–
ing to their past ceremonies and ob–
served th em openly, th ough they
we re supposedly converted to Chris–
tianity.
What wa the church to do? Ex–
communica te Lhem and thus reduce
its membership? This it would not
do. Should it force them in to dis–
card ing thei r heathen pract ices and
adopting Reman ones? This. as the
ehurch had learned in past times,
was impossible.
There rema ined only one oLher
way. Let the recently converted pa–
gans keep certain of the ir heathen
fesLiva ls, buL call them ·'Christian."
Halloween was one of these fest i–
va ls. Of course the masses were
asked not LO pray to their ancient
paga n gods on Lhis day. They were
told to use Lhis day to commemorate
th e dea th of"sa ints."
Originally , the Cat ho li c All
Sa ints' Day was observed in May,
and only later (A.D. 834) wa it
tra nsferred to the beginning of No–
vember since Lhe northern nations
38
The Bible reveals a
purposeful way of life for
both now and the future.
Man's ultimate destiny
and the way to prepare
for that destiny
has absolutely no room
for superstitious
festivals that are
embellished by heathen
practices and concepts.
were already observing Lhcir Ha l–
loween in ovember.
Many other pagan fesLi vals were
Christianized in a imila r way. a–
tice just such a n admission:
"Thus, at the ñrst promulga tion
of Christian iLy to th e Gentile na–
t io ns ... they could no t be per–
suaded Lo relinquish many of their
uperstitions, which, ra ther than
fo rego altogeLh er, they chose to
blend and incorporate wiLh Lhe new
fa ith"
(Popular Antiquities,
John
Brand. p. xi).
Halloween Today
Now come down to the twenLi eth
century. You might be surprised to
whaL extent our "civil ized" world
has inherited outright pagan rites
and ceremonies from our fore–
fa Lhers. so obvious in Lhe celebra–
Lion of Ha lloween.
Wha t about you and your chil–
dren? What comes to your mind
when thinking about Halloween?
You probably picture weird and
fr igh tening masks , pe rsons por–
trayed as wi tches and demons, and
pumpkins and turnips hollowed out
in the shape of eerie-looking faces
with lighted candles placed inside to
he lp bring ou t the more frightful
side of these carvings.
The
Good Housekeeping Book of
Enterlainmenl,
on page 168 has a
section on wha t Lo do on Halloween.
No tice th e advice given: "Orange.
black and red , the
devil's
colors. a re
the colors associated with Ha llow–
een and this scheme should be car–
ried out as far as po sible.... Have
paper streamers and lanterns hang-
ing from the ceiling. or, if you would
like to have somethi ng less usual,
you could make a giant spider's web
with black and orange strings, or in
narrow strips or crepe paper coming
from the four corners of the room,
complete with a la rge spider - one
of th e
devil's
favorite followe rs."
No ti ce further th e aspects of
black magic associated wiLh this fes–
tiva l: "To decorate the walls, make
large silhouettes of ca ts, bats, owls
and witches on broomsticks.... For
the supper table ma l! witches with
broomsticks can be made by using
lollipops on 4-inch sticks."
The Origin of Our Ideas
Halloween and other common fcst i–
vals which people observe in Lhe
Christ ian-professing world have no
bíbl ica ! basis and often origina ted
in rank paganism. You ought to sit
down and ask yourself how many
other formerly pagan ceremonies
have received a Ch ristian dressing
and ecclesiastical sanction. lt's time
we questioned the origin of the
practices we follow a nd the be liefs
we adhere to. As for Halloween , the
tes timony of history stamps it a hea–
th en fest ival.
Of course. right he re many people
might say, "Well , what difference
does iLmake? We don' t worship spir–
its. !t's al! harmless fun for the kids."
The Bible reveals a purpose ful
way of life now and in the future.
Man 's ultirnate destiny and the way
to prepare for that destiny has no
room for superstit ious fest ivals em–
bellished by hea then pract ices and
concepts. As professing Christ ians,
we should opt for the true religion
and not be sidet racked by super–
stiLious a nd meaningless practices.
True Christianity must always have
its bas is in the di vinely inspi red
Word of God. The spiritual con–
cepts and religious practices of Jesus
Christ - so often ignored and often
wholly discarded - must not be
minimized if we are to lead a mean–
ingful and rewarding li fe.
O
Gerhard O. Marx is a free–
lance wriler and lec/urer on ec–
c!esiastical history, as we/1 as a
Jreq uent contributor to The
Plain Truth. He is now residing
in L ondon.
The
PLAIN TRUTH October 1976