I as surprised to find a Christian friend of mine admitted to thinking Halloween as ‘the devil’s holiday’. I had to push aside offense, being I’m sure her church teaches her this, so I simply added a quick comment to her blog post with a concise history of Halloween.
Halloween, known as Samhain tous, originally a Celtic holiday, celebrating a ‘day of the dead’ to honor those who passed from this world to the next. Its also the ‘New Year’, to the old calendar, to which the day belongs neither to the old year or to the new year. The Veil between the worlds of mortals and the those who are mortal is also thinnest, therefore allowing for communing with spirits.
Its not necessarily a somber occasion, being we see Death as part of the great cycle of Life, Death, and Rebirth, and we don’t fear the dead.
We do not pray over candy to curse it.
We don’t summon devils.
We don’t cast nasty spells on others.
We don’t kidnap children or animals to perform nasty rituals.
We don’t cackle…ok, well maybe some cackle.
But please, learn about what you’re talking about before complaining about ‘the devil’s holiday’.
So true