‘Tis that time of the year when children everywhere dress up in costumes of all types, some funny, others cute, and many spooky. Most will embark on a special mission, one fraught with peril and adventure. Many will endure the bright sun and heat, while others will brave the dark night and cold temperatures. Yet, they will not be denied their treasure which has tempted kids for centuries. What is this booty I speak of? What could motivate millions of children to hike great distances often times in inclement weather? Well it’s sweet tasty delicious scrumptious candy of course. But wait, it’s not that simple my friend. Many decoys line the path, such as rotten old popcorn balls, petrified candy corns, or those gross unearthly candies in the brown and orange wrappers.  But most kids are well adept at identifying these trivial decoys and will succeed in obtaining the holy grail of candy, the full size chocolate candy bars, pixie stix, and even candy cigarettes (politically incorrect now of course ;) ).

This, mostly American pastime, has left millions of kids (myself included) with fond memories. Not so for the many kids who have to endure the ignorance of their Christian freak parents as seen here. They believe Halloween to be satanic by nature and riddled with witchcraft. While the roots of Halloween are very interesting, I will refer people here for an appropriate education as I could not possibly do a better job. I will be happy to summarize though, via the History Channel for our lazy readers:

The Celts, who lived 2,000 years ago in the area that is now Ireland, the United Kingdom, and northern France, celebrated their new year on November 1. This day marked the end of summer and the harvest and the beginning of the dark, cold winter, a time of year that was often associated with human death. Celts believed that on the night before the new year, the boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead became blurred. On the night of October 31, they celebrated Samhain, when it was believed that the ghosts of the dead returned to earth. In addition to causing trouble and damaging crops, Celts thought that the presence of the otherworldly spirits made it easier for the Druids, or Celtic priests, to make predictions about the future. For a people entirely dependent on the volatile natural world, these prophecies were an important source of comfort and direction during the long, dark winter. During the celebration, the Celts wore costumes, typically consisting of animal heads and skins, and attempted to tell each other’s fortunes. When the celebration was over, they re-lit their hearth fires, which they had extinguished earlier that evening, from the sacred bonfire to help protect them during the coming winter.

So other than a few animal sacrifices it’s seems on the level to me. Besides, the bible has it’s share of animal sacrifices, just read Luke 2:21-38. So what’s all the fuss about? Honestly, I believe it’s ignorance. Halloween is now an American tradition that has evolved so far from it’s roots as to be unrelated.  It’s like that 4th cousin you see once a year at funerals, sure he’s family, but you have nothing to do with him.

Honestly, if I were a good Christian I would be more concerned with the direction Christmas is taking and less about where Halloween came from. Christmas has evolved into a giant shopping orgy for parents where kids judge the quality of their Christmas by the amount of crap they get. More on that in December.

If you found this article interesting, whether you liked it or not, please take the time to comment.  I’d love to hear your feedback  :)

No related posts.