Halloween Has Roots That Go Beyond Ghouls
After Easter, Christmas and Pentecost, what is the fourth most important holiday for Christians on the liturgical calendar?
The answer might surprise you. It is All Saints’ Day, Nov. 1. Also called All Hallow’s Day, it honors those who died for the church and those who were imprisoned for their faith.
The evening before this special day is called Halloween--a contraction for “All Hallow’s Eve.” As with many holidays, our current celebrations of Halloween and All Saints’ Day are a blend of pagan and Christian customs, and are still evolving today. The origin of Halloween can be traced back to Celtic lore.
Nov. 1--the Celtic New Year--marked the end of the long summer days of harvest, and the beginning of the cold, dark winter months that were favored by spirits of the underworld. Accordingly, it was believed that on Oct. 31 the spirits of all those who died the previous year assembled to roam the Earth.
In order to frighten away these wandering spirits, gourds were hollowed out and lighted candles glowed through fierce carved faces. Food offerings were set out for the spirits, who did tricks if they were not appeased. This is probably the origin of “trick or treat.”
Children were eventually encouraged to collect these food offerings, so they began to dress up as spirits in the form of skeletons, ghosts, and witches. They also costumed themselves as nocturnal creatures, such as bats and owls, who were believed to have special powers to communicate with the world of the dead.
European countries began to adapt the holiday to their calendar. Nov. 1 was ideal because the busy months of summer and harvest were over and there was time to celebrate. In fact, Nov. 1 was the traditional day of the opening of stores put away in the summer and was a natural occasion for a feast.
In the Mediterranean region, Nov. 1 fell on the Roman harvest festival for Pomona, the goddess of fruits and gardens. Corn sheaves, pumpkins and scarecrows, along with the long-lasting apple, were adopted as traditional harvest symbols. People believed the apple could drive away evil spirits and bring good luck. This is probably why we eat caramel apples and bob for apples on Halloween. It’s the likely origin of the phrase “An apple a day keeps the doctor away.”
Costumes, too, have changed over the years. The Bible, in Deuteronomy 18:10-11, calls detestable the one “who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead.” Christians deem these related themes unsuitable for celebration. Numerous churches now offer “pumpkin patch” parties--alternatives to scary spirits in haunted houses. At these fall-themed festivities, children can dress up as angels or their favorite Bible character.
Culminating the three-day celebration is Nov. 2, All Souls’ Day or Dia de los Muertos in the Latino community. Dead relatives are remembered by special processions in cemeteries, the decoration of tombs and graves, and by the creation of special home altars adorned with candles, flowers and skull/skeleton motifs. This provides an opportunity to unify the clan by remembering the death of its members.
Rather than having a macabre atmosphere, however, this family fiesta is characterized by humor, joy, and a strange gladness. Community parades, art exhibits, and school programs also embrace this bittersweet ritual that recognizes dying as an integral part of living. During one year’s celebration, I visited an art museum along Los Angeles’ famed Olvera Street. Pictures, prayers, poems and treasured mementos were artfully arranged to express unique and moving expressions of family love. The family intimacies displayed in the children’s artistic efforts were most poignant.
All generations can find tremendous religious significance in this three-day celebration affirming that the dead and the living are all one great family in Christ. This belief--worded as “the communion of saints” in the Apostles’ Creed--is an illustration that eternal life begins on Earth with a relationship with Christ and continues for all eternity.
Only Christians believe that history has a beginning and an end. As described in 2 Peter 3:10: “The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the Earth and everything in it will be laid bare.” If that’s the bad news, what’s the good news?
“For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.” (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17.) In the light of so many national and personal tragedies during the past year, this is truly a comfort to those who believe.
In the end, God is not mocked. “When the perishable has been clothed with imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: ‘Death has been swallowed up in victory.’ ” (1 Corinthians 15:54.) For believers in every generation, what a grand victory celebration that will be!
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On Faith is a forum for Orange County clergy and others to offer their views on religious topics of general interest. Submissions, which will be published at the discretion of The Times and are subject to editing, should be delivered to Orange County religion page editor Jack Robinson.