"History of Holloween" Check out this sight!
I have many very strong feeling about this time of year. I was raised by the descendants of the KKK who also practiced their own sick distorted Satanic Rituals. So how could I not have very STRONG FEELINGS.
However recently I was lovingly compelled (provoked, in that I was so charged over the feelings and I did not want to do it :) to examine this holiday from other than "Feelings". I have investigated history, myth and fictional concepts that have now left me better educated.
When one is raised bred and groomed in fear it can leave a pretty bad psychological limp. One that has been crippling to me all of my life. I recently told about a childhood event that was pulled out of me over the anger I felt having to face these hard feeling verses fact. I sought fact. If I am to overcome the fear that is so frustrating and divisive I must pursue knowledge.
The above reference gave me an open view of reality. It taught me about the HISTORY.
Everyone and everything has a history. Our history will effect how we see things as well as the view we pass down to future generations.
The following is a synopsis of the two part research paper that is founded is history. Very good read!
Occult and Satanic Elements:
Deuteronomy 18:11 says: "There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, one who uses divination, one who practices witchcraft, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, or one who casts a spell, or a medium, or a spiritist, one who calls up the dead."
One of the present realities we must be aware of is that in recent decades, pagan, cultic groups, and some Satanists have claimed Halloween as a "holy day." As Christians we must avoid any action forbidden by our Lord. We should never seek to know the future through horoscopes, divination, or astrology. We should not seek to talk to or call up the dead (necromancy). We should not pray to other gods. We should not seek "power" over other people by the use of spells or supernatural forces. The practice of pagan witchcraft is specifically prohibited in both the Old and New Testaments (Leviticus 19:31; Acts 19:18-20; Galatians 5:19-21; Revelation 22:15). Witchcraft (whether pagan or Satanic) is dangerous and harmful. We are to submit to God and resist the devil; not form alliances with him (James 4:7). The Bible certainly makes it clear that we should not participate with pagans in speaking to the dead on October 31 (or any other day)!
2. Non-Satanic elements:
Although some devil worshipers have adopted Halloween as their "holiday," the day itself did not grow out of Satanic practices. Halloween has some weak connections to Celts celebrating a new year, but most of present day Halloween customs are neither pagan, nor Satanic. Here is a table of practices and dates as they are connected with Halloween:
| practice | divination | necromancy | black cats, spiders | tricks & pranks | costuming | pumpkin carving | trick or treat | slasher movies |
| earliest date | ancient | ? | Middle Ages | ? | early 1900s(?) | after 1750s | 1930s | 1950s |
| original intent | pagan religious practice | pagan religious practice | fear & easy labels | "those nasty fairies" | stop pranks(?) | ward off evil | stop pranks | make money |
| Biblically forbidden | yes | yes | no | if destructive | no | no | no | yes - Phil 4:8 |
| pumpkin carving | trick or treat | slasher movies |
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Earliest date:after1750s, 1930s, 1950s
Source: Irish, Boy Scouts & others, Hollywood
Original Intent: ward off evil, stop pranks, make money
Biblically forbidden:No, No, yes-Phil 4:8
He also writes,
What I have tried to show is that much of the association with witchcraft and Satanic elements has actually come from Christian misinformation attempting to "demonize" this holiday. There is no evidence that the original Celtic celebration was Satanic. Much of the information on Halloween that Christians preach and write about is plainly based on shoddy research. While Christians should absolutely avoid pagan practices, Christian hype tends to make us overreact to benign folk elements of Halloween. We appear like zany buffoons to the world when there is no necessity for doing so. Furthermore, our groundless retreat from all elements of Halloween leaves a vacuum that wicked elements delight to fill.
I also found this paragraph very interesting"By the turn of the century, Halloween had become an ever more destructive way to “let off steam” for crowded and poor urban dwellers. As Stuart Schneider writes in 'Halloween in America' (1995), vandalism that had been limited to tipping outhouses; removing gates, soaping windows and switching shop signs, by the 1920’s had become nasty -- with real destruction of property and cruelty to animals and people.
Perhaps not coincidentally, the disguised nighttime terrorism and murders by the Ku Klux Klan reached their apex during this decade. Schneider writes that neighborhood committees and local city clubs such as the Boy Scouts then mobilized to organize safe and fun alternatives to vandalism. School posters of the time call for a “Sane Halloween.” Good children were encouraged to go door to door and receive treats from homes and shop owners, thereby keeping troublemakers away. By the 1930’s, these “beggar’s nights” were enormously popular and being practiced nationwide, with the “trick or treat” greeting widespread from the late 1930s."
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This was during my mothers youth and then it became a part of my youth, as the generations grew into the events of my youth. This helps me a lot in knowing how it came about. My Mothers youth was post depression. The times were waxing Evil as even the Nazi were recruiting the youth of our country in the very late 1920's as my own mother reported to me.
So I still have strong feelings, but I have a better understanding and knowledge base to form my beliefs. I stand corrected to be basing my views only on feelings was counter productive. To any one I may have offended I stand corrected.
Evil is a real and present danger. Fear that is crippling is also a real and present danger. The gift of fear is wisdom. I have unwrapped my fear and will now base my choices in a place of knowledge. I must follow my heart so as to NEVER sin against my own conscience. I will do so however in freedom not the bondage of fear.
Originally posted 10-17-07
