All Hallow's Eve - A Geeks of Faith Devotion

(The Origins of Halloween)

In the first few centuries of the church many Christians (or saints) were killed for their faith.  The church often took time to say prayers of thanks for the saints that went before them.

As early as 270 AD there are records of holding all night prayer vigils in memory of those who died in the faith.

November 1 was set as the official All saints Day under Emperor Charlemagne in the 800s.  Yes, they did place it to coincide with a Celtic pagan festival known as Samhain.  The Celtic people believed that the night of October 31 through the evening of Nov.1 the boundary between worlds was thinner and Spirits from the otherworld could walk in ours.  The church often set it’s early holidays to coincide with pagan celebrations, so that the new Christian converts would not miss their old traditions.  In this case they equated the thought of traveling Spirits with remembering the dead.

Many people are critical about the early church setting our celebrations to coincide with pagan festivals in the area where the church was spreading.  This doesn’t  bother me.  Think of it like this:  You are an avid Star Trek Fan.  You meet someone who is really into Anime.  You want to share the joy of being a Trekker with them.  They say, “That’s all well and good, but I love my Anime conventions and our binge watching parties and the Anime chat rooms.”  Is it wrong to say, “Hey, we have conventions, and watch parties, and chat rooms, too!  Why don’t you join me for the next one.”  That is basically what the early church was doing.  “Oh, you have a big party in the spring celebrating the world coming back to life.  So do we, it’s called Easter and it celebrates God raising Jesus from the dead!  In the middle of winter when the days start getting longer again, you celebrate the hope that spring and longer days will return.  We celebrate the hope that came when Jesus was born.  And when you celebrate spirits walking about in our world, we remember those who have died and gone on to heaven.”  Maybe the church was being practical, maybe it was to make converting less traumatic, but I don’t think that it invalidates what we are celebrating.

OK, so back to the early celebrations.  As time went on there were fewer and fewer martyrs.  Thus, today, All Saints Day (Or All Saints Sunday, the Sunday Closest to November 1) we remember all of the our Christian brothers and sisters who have gone to join the Lord in the “Church Triumphant” in the past year.  (In other words, we remember those Christians who have died in the past year.)  We often say prayers of thanks for those who meant a lot to our own journeys of faith.  All Christians are considered saints.  It has nothing to do with how “good” you are.

Halloween is just a common name for “All Hallows Eve” (The Day before All Hallows Day, All Saints Day).  The traditions we celebrate are actually Medieval superstitions relating to saying the names of the dead.  Some of them probably are bleed overs from “baptizing” Samhain into All Saint’s Day for our Celtic forefathers and mothers.  In the Middle Ages people believed that the evil spirits got agitated knowing that the “good” souls were going to get prayed for and they were not.  So people dressed up as ‘evil” spirits to fool the restless spirits that were roaming about feeling jealous about the holiday to come.  That is where the tradition of dressing up as ghosts and goblins came from.

The church has always asserted that the dead cannot harm you.  When you die, your soul goes immediately to either heaven or hell.  There is no lurking around to bother the living.  But it can be hard to convince superstitious people to give up their beliefs.

There are some churches that feel that dressing up as “evil spirits” leads to evil acts.  Many of them may not know the origin of wearing the costumes was actually to protect against evil.  But today I think the only evil temptations are to eat too much candy, or if you are feeling really naughty TP-ing trees, smashing pumpkins, or egging houses.  My problem with them, is that damaging property is NOT the way to love your neighbor, which is the second greatest commandment.

The Presbyterian Church as well as many others find no harm in trick-or-treating or dressing up for Halloween.  We just want people to remember that it is all in fun.  It is a good chance to get to know your neighbors.  Our HOA is throwing a Pre-trick or treat pizza party for the whole neighborhood so that we can get to know each other better.  I would also encourage you, as you enjoy Halloween, to take a moment out of your November 1^st sugar rush, to say a prayer of thanks for all of the people in your life who have made a difference in faith journey, especially those who have passed away and are now with the Lord.