Thoughts on Halloween, etc.

It's "that time of year" again! Makes me just crazy when I hear those folks of the religious right proclaim that Halloween is "the devil's birthday" and hand out tracts to children who come to the door looking for "treats". What kind of nonsense is that!! A little reading of church history would inform our ultra-religious cisterns and brethren that what we celebrate today is a remnant of religious practice by some very committed Christians and others. What we now do for fun, was once done by both children and adults in deadly earnest!

The history goes like this: Named “All Hallows Eve,” the festival was first celebrated by the ancient Celts in Ireland in the 5th century, BC. October 31 was the official end of summer and Celtic households extinguished the fires on their hearths to deliberately make their homes cold and undesirable to disembodied spirits. They then gathered outside the village, where a huge bonfire was built to honor the sun god for the past summer’s harvest and to frighten away spirits.

The Celts believed that on Oct. 31, all persons who had died in the previous year assembled to choose the body of the person or animal they would inhabit for the next 12 months, before they could pass peacefully into the afterlife. To frighten roving souls, Celtic family members dressed themselves as demons, witches and goblins to make themselves undesirable for the spirits to inhabit. At this point a poor (living) soul, who was deemed to be possessed by appearance or mannerism, would be sacrificed on the bonfire as a lesson to any spirits contemplating human possession. Not very "nice" of them -- that's for sure -- but remember, these were very primitive people and superstitions gave them a sense of hope and control over a world that was very mysterious! Sound like anyone you know today?

The Romans adopted Celtic Halloween practices in 61 AD, but forbade the sacrifice of humans, substituting instead, effigies. In time, the belief in spirit possession waned, and Halloween became an amusement.

Christians celebrated All Soul’s Day (November 1) beginning in the 9th century. They would walk from village to village begging for square biscuits made with raisins called “soul cakes”. The “beggars” promised to offer up prayers for the dead relatives of the donors, the number of prayers to be proportional to the donors’ generosity with the raisins in the cakes. It was believed at that time, of course, that limbo and purgatory were the initial stopping place for all soul’s bound for heaven, and it was believed that a prayer, any prayer from any person, could shorten that stay.

All Saints’ or All Souls’ Day: November 1 is the actual day, but is recognized on the first Sunday of November within the present Christian calendar. It commemorates all Christian people of all time and place who have gone on to "Glory" and the “communion of the Saints” both living and dead...to recognize the common bond between the church on earth, which, unfortunately is termed "the Church Militant" and the "Church Expectant" (those who have "gone on to their reward") and the "Church Triumphant" (the gathering of the church upon Christ’s return). These are all "terms of the church" -- and if you are from a Catholic background, you probably learned them, and their definitions, in your confirmation class. The "Church Militant" referring to the living church today (YIKES!) means that we Christians are supposed to be "fighting the powers of evil" in the world. Gosh, I wish we really were!

All Souls’ Day was vigorously objected to by the Reformers (Calvin, Luther and Zwingli, among others) because it continued the “veneration of the saints.” Ironically, many denominations today use All Saints’ Day to remember and “venerate” the Reformers! They would be appalled!

So -- go tricking and treating!! Dress up and have fun! Hand out safe snacks to the children and ignore the "hype" from the right! It's just a fun day with an unfortunate past.... which makes it just like so many of us!

Pastor Nan