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Halloween and Halloween have deep religious overtones, each increasing with the emergence of new cultures.
Settlers brought various celebrations to the United States, but Halloween became popular in the 1800s when large numbers of Irish and Scots immigrated to the United States.
The earliest major roots of Halloween are the Celtic festivals honoring the Celtic king of the dead, Savin. This marks the beginning of winter, the season of cold, darkness and decay. The Celts believed that Samhain allowed the dead to return home on the last night of their year: October 31st. Bonfires and costumes can be traced back to this celebration.
The Romans conquered the Celts in 43. People combine two Roman autumn festivals with Samhain. The Romans marked Feralia in late October, again emphasizing the dead. The second festival honors Pomona, the Roman goddess of fruits and trees. Apple has become a tradition at this point.
With the development of Christianity, pagan holiday customs were brought into the celebration of Halloween. Hallows comes from the Old English “haligor”, meaning saint or saint. All Hallows’ Eve is usually pronounced All Hallow E’en.
In 834, the observance of all Christian saints, especially those without festivals, was postponed from spring to November 1.
The fourth layer of Halloween comes mainly from the Middle Ages. It is believed that the devil and his followers will come out the night before to mock Halloween and do evil deeds.
Armed with this historical knowledge, some people choose to keep their children out of the October festivities. They felt the connection between paganism and witchcraft was too strong.
Despite their religious roots, many Christians ask if they should celebrate Halloween, such as focusing on family (www.focusonthefamily.com/parenting/should-christians-celebrate-halloween/).
“It’s not a sin to wear a costume to hand out candy on October 31,” the Focus Family website says. It goes on to say that Christians should remember that they represent Jesus, so their clothing and behavior should show that.
For example, some churches encourage members to start on Halloween and dress up as saints.
Regardless of how you choose to participate or not, please stop by on October 31st and remember how deeply the holiday has its roots.
Sources: Christian Dictionary, JC Cooper; World Books; HarperCollins Dictionary of Religions, Jonathon Z. Smith, editor; World Religions, John Bowker
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