Naya Jeevan

Over the years Halloween celebrations in America have been a time of fun for children. However, in recent years many Halloween activities have become dangerous. Halloween is a holiday that comes from several mysterious religions that joined together. Europeans brought these traditions to America. A summary about their history and customs follows.

One Halloween tradition comes from the Druids of England, Scotland and Ireland. The Druids were priests who taught a religion of many gods. One of their chief gods was named Saman (pronounced Sah WEEN). The Druids said that Saman would tell the spirits of dead people to visit the earth on October 31st, the last day of the year according to their calendar. Leaves fall in the autumn season when people prepare for winter. The Druids said that autumn was a symbol of dying, and that winter was the season of death. Therefore, they believed that the earth and the spirit world were very close to each other, especially during the night of October 31st. This date was their New Year’s Eve. On that night they believed these spirits would visit people on earth.

Keep the evil spirits away from people, Druids told them to make an animal sacrifice on Druid altars. The priests used the organs of these dead animals to do two things. First, they told the future. Second, they helped make peace with angry evil spirits nearby. Happy spirits would leave them alone. Later the dead animals were burned in “bonefires,” or bonfires. The priests told the people that fires scare away evil spirits that didn’t like all the light coming from the flames.

Other customs began over the years. If the spirits caused no problems for a family, that family celebrated later that night. Parents sent the children out to collect food from friends and neighbors. To help them stay away from evil spirits, parents dressed up the children as ghosts and other figures that looked like evil spirits, trying to scare away the real spirits! As children were outside, they heard what people said the evil spirits were doing – kicking over garbage cans, taking gates off fences, letting farm animals loose and spilling paint on houses. So they began doing these things themselves. They would visit a house and call out, Trick or Treat! If they did not receive what they wanted (a treat), they would cause problems for that family (the trick). Some families cut out scary faces in large turnips and put them around the edge of their property. They thought this would help keep evil spirits away.

Another event was “bobbing” for apples. People thought the apple was a sign of protection. They would bring a large bucket into their home, fill it with water, and put the apples into the water. Then one by one, each person would try to pick up the floating apples using only their teeth. They believed that those who got an apple with their teeth were safe from the evil spirits that night.

American Halloween customs also came from Central Europe. Hundreds of years ago many people there believed in witchcraft, a religion of evil power. This is also called Black Magic. Witches (females) and warlocks (males) usually wore black clothing and acted like priests for the Devil. In the Bible the Devil is God’s enemy and the center of all evil in the world. Black represents darkness and death to these priests. People were very afraid of witches and warlocks because they talked with the Devil and used his power. They believed these evil priests could change themselves into black cats, bats and spiders. They also thought witches could fly on brooms.

Witches have several days of the year that are their special religious days. One of them is May 1st, a day called May Day in many countries. The last special day of the calendar year for witches is October 31st. They believe that any spell they had made earlier in the year that had not yet occurred would occur that night. Because of this, witches and warlocks celebrate on this day with feasts and noisy partying. Part of the celebration is cutting out pumpkins with scary faces that look like the evil spirits they contact.

Halloween celebrations also have a connection to the Roman Catholic Church (RCC). It seems the Church wanted to change the holiday, not add to the its tradition. One Catholic Church practice, praying to or with dead “saints,” seems to be similar to Halloween’s attention to the spirits of dead people. The RCC says “saints” are persons who were chosen by the church to be honored after their death because of their good works. Many of the early saints were killed because of their faith. The Pope, leader of the RCC, chose dates that would be named for their saints. After many centuries, the number of RCC saints grew very large. There were saints for safe travel, financial success, healing, children, families, etc. The calendar did not have enough days to honor all of them. So someone suggested the idea of an “All Saints Day,” a day when all saints could be honored.

The church first celebrated All Saints Day in the springtime. Then in 732 AD Pope Gregory III moved the holiday to November 1st. They called it “Allhallowmas” (All = every; hallow = saint; mas = RCC worship service, called a “mass”). The RCC then told their members they could begin celebrating All Saints Day the night before November 1st. The name of the service therefore was changed. The “all” was dropped, the “mas” was changed to “een” (a shorter form of the word “evening”), and it became Halloween (meaning “saints’ evening”). Church members attended this service and prayed to or with their favorite saints to help them in their prayers. This change in the Catholic holiday caused their members to think more about dead saints on the very same night that others were celebrating evil spirits and powers!

The real question is, Why did Pope Gregory III move Allhallowmas to November 1st, and then change it to October 31st? He probably did this to stop people from celebrating evil and death and to start honoring saints in a special church service. Many people think this change did not help. People became more interested in the evil celebrations because RCC members were going out to church services that night when evil activities were happening.

Another important event occurred on October 31st. On that date in 1517 AD, a Roman Catholic priest named Martin Luther nailed a list of 95 complaints on the door of the Wittenberg Church in Germany. After studying the Bible for several years, he believed that the RCC was teaching many things that were different from what he read in the Bible. A short time later he left the church and started a movement called the Reformation, trying to change the RCC. Luther wanted to correct the Church’s teaching and practice. This created the Protestant part of Christendom. Those who joined Luther believed the Bible was the authority over the church. Catholics believed Protestants turned away from their faith and church.

Traditional Halloween activities still include haunted houses, bobbing for apples, and children going “trick-or-treating” – when they dress up as ghosts, monsters, animals, etc., and ask for candy from their neighbors. Traditional colors for Halloween are orange and black. Many churches have different activities on Halloween night. They replace witches, Black Magic and other evil themes with costume parties, harvest festivals or activities with Christian themes that are safer for kids. They usually include candy, games, contests, and other fun things to do for children and families.

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