Halloween has becomes such a huge, and almost integral, part of our American society that it is difficult to go into any store without being berated by either cartoon like ghosts or ghoulish zombies. Carved pumpkins, vampires, and skulls line the shelves in my favorite stores. I can't take my daughter into the party store to purchase items for her birthday party, because the entrance and exit are littered with scary, and quite literally, evil looking figures.
Why is Halloween so associated with the things we see in the stores: ghosts, carved pumpkins, and witches? Let's take a step back and look at the history of Halloween.
Halloween has it's origins in the Celtic festival of Samhain, where they would light bonfires and make sacrifices to their Celtic deities. They would then dance around the bonfires in costumes to remember those who were being released by the Lord of the Dead as well as to ward off the evil spirits and hide from their tricks.
Divination was popular on this day because they considered this one of two days where the veil between this world and the spirit world was at it's thinnest. They carved turnips and lit a candle within to ward off any evil spirits that may be lurking around while the veil was thin.
Halloween hasn't changed much in the eyes of modern pagans. They still follow most of the Celtic traditions of old. They still try to contact the dead through divination. They now light candles instead of a bonfire, and they leave food on their doorstep for their spirit ancestors that may stop by. Pumpkins are carved (instead of turnips) to ward off the evil spirits that lurk the earth while the veil to the Otherworld is thin.
There really is so much more to the history of Halloween, but what I've presented here is enough for the remainder of my post. If you would like to do more research on your own, I highly suggest you do. (One thing worth researching is that the Pilgrims and the Puritans actually banned Halloween.) I've put the links where I got the above information from at the bottom of my post. However, I think it is safe to say that Halloween is, and has always been, a pagan holiday.
After I began walking with the Lord again (see my testimony here), I didn't need to research Halloween because I had been celebrating Samhain for the previous seven years. So when October rolled around, and it was time to dress my then three-year-old up for trick-or-treating, I had a really hard time doing it. I decided we would "participate" but not "celebrate."
Over the next year, I was convicted even more that we shouldn't even participate in Halloween. A lot of Christians struggle with what to do around Halloween. It is so much a part of our culture and tradition. What should we do? What led me to my decision? Scripture.
One of the things that I had found in scripture is what the Lord thought of paganism, witchcraft, and their practices.
Deuteronomy 18:9-12 - When thou art come into the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not learn to do after the abominations of those nations. There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch. Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer. For all that do these things are an abomination unto the LORD: and because of these abominations the LORD thy God doth drive them out from before thee.
Galatians 5:19-21 - Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
I could see through the Word of God that witchcraft, and their practices, are an abomination to the Lord. What was I to do with that fact? What did that mean? I wasn't a witch anymore. I wasn't using divination. When I carved my pumpkin, it wasn't to ward off evil spirits. Couldn't I continue to do these things as long as my heart was for God?
As I questioned these things, I continued to read scripture, and found my answer.
I Thessalonians 5:21-24 - Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. Abstain from all appearance of evil. And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it.
Ephesians 5:7-12 - Be not ye therefore partakers with them. For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light: (For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth;) Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord. And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret.
1 John 2:3-5 - Hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him.
My heart was so convicted that if I was to even participate, I was being part of something that God found to be an abomination. As a friend of mine wisely said, "The human heart has a way of rationalizing anything." And rationalize I did.
I thought, "Well, the Halloween that I celebrate isn't the pagan Halloween. It's the Americanized one." However, more conviction came with the following verse:
Isaiah 5:20 - Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!
I was trying to rationalize that Halloween wasn't evil. I was trying to make it good, but I couldn't do that. What God has called evil, is evil, no matter how much I think in my own mind, that it is good.
Most of us are familiar with Proverbs 3:5-6 - Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths."
It's not often that we read the next verse: Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil.
Scripture was clear. Halloween was evil in the eyes of the Lord, even if I tried to make it good. God commands us, through His word, to stay away from all things evil. My fear of the Lord was greater than my desire to continue in the tradition of Halloween.
It's been many years since I decided to stop participating in Halloween. It hasn't always been easy, mostly because of the reactions of others. However, whenever things get hard, or I'm confronted with their ideas, I always go back to scripture. I can't argue with scripture. It is the Word of God. Jesus Christ is the Word of God. Though I may fail (and often) I try to live my life in obedience to the Word. And that, as my kiddo says, is why we don't celebrate Halloween.
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http://www.paganspath.com/magik/samhain-history.htm
http://www.history.com/topics/halloween
http://www.chalicecentre.net/samhain.htm
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33532948/ns/technology_and_science-science/t/why-we-carve-pumpkins-not-turnips/
http://www.theholidayspot.com/all_souls_day/history.htm
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