the truth about halloween

**jaimethepooh** · 09-30-2003, 05:17 AM

Don't let common stereotypes about this holiday fool you

To most people, Halloween is a fun holiday to dress up and eat candy. Well, even Pagans like to eat candy on Halloween, but we consider it to be a very important holiday in a more spiritual sense as well.
The proper name for the occassion is Samhain (pronounced Sow-en or Sow-een).
It's sometimes referred to as the Witches New Year, because our religious year starts/ends with Samhain. The holiday began being called "Halloween" because the Catholic church created All Saints Day (or All Hallows Day) on November 1st, in an attempt to turn people away from the original Pagan holiday. The night before became known as "All Hallows Eve", which then got shortened up to Halloween.

If you are concerned about the Pagan nature of October 31st, then you should probably stop celebrating Christmas and Easter, too. Though those holidays have been thoroughly adopted by the Christian religion, they were both originally Pagan celebrations (Yule and Ostara). Halloween is the only holiday that has kept most of its Pagan meanings, without the Christian overtones.

Many fundamentalist Christian groups stand against the celebration of Halloween because they feel it is associated with demons and Satan. Unfortunately, most (if not all) of their 'facts' are incorrect.

The most common error, is that Halloween is celebrated to honour the Celtic God of the Dead, Samhain. The Celts had no such God. The word "Samhain" more likely came from "samhuinn", which is the Gaelic word for "summer's end". A fitting name, since that is precisely what this holiday is celebrating.

There is nothing Satanic about Halloween, either in modern times, or in the early history of the festival. Of course, there is nothing Satanic about any aspects of Wicca, witchcraft or Paganism, but that's another story altogether. We don't celebrate black masses, conduct sacrifices or cast hexes on Halloween (or any other day!)

So now you know what Halloween isn't, but what does Halloween mean? Well, to Pagans who celebrate Samhain, it is the third and last of the year's harvest festivals. The crops are in, and it's time to relax and prepare for the long winter ahead. Samhain is a time to reflect on the events of the past year, and to remember those who have passed away. It's at this time of the year that spirits travel from this world to the next. Both good and evil spirits.

Part of the mythology of the holiday is that the God dies at Samhain, and the Goddess mourns Him until His rebirth at Yule. It is Her mourning that brings about the shorter, cold days of winter. After His birth at Yule, the days begin to get longer again.

Many of the symbols and traditions that we see around Halloween today can be traced to earlier times. Carving of jack-o-lanterns probably started with turnips rather than pumpkins, but the idea is the same either way. With the spirits of the dead travelling on this day, people would carve faces into turnips (or gourds or whatever) in order to scare away any evil spirits. The dressing up in costumes was also done to scare off bad spirits.

The idea of playing tricks was not done maliciously, but just as a way of having a bit of fun before the long dark winter settled in. The original gathering of treats was done to provide offerings to the Gods, in thanks for the harvest.

Personally, I leave a candle lit in the window along with a food offering for the spirits that might pass my way.

One last word. Many fundamentalist Christian groups have a strong negative bias towards any religion that is different from their own. Please keep this in mind when reading their websites for more 'truth' about Halloween.

~ Terri Paajanen

**Advertisement** · 09-30-2003 05:17 AM

***Willow*** · 09-30-2003, 06:15 AM

I knew this girl who was a Christian and she would let her kids celebrate Halloween but she would not let them believe in Santa Claus. I thought that was a little odd. lol Thanks for posting the article. Maybe it might clear up some common misconceptions.

**jaimethepooh** · 09-30-2003, 06:17 AM

that is odd.

yw

**miccit** · 09-30-2003, 07:23 AM

My mom and I were just discussing this the other day. Her husband and his family do not celebrate Halloween. They think it is evil and of the devil.

It makes me so mad. My mom used to love Halloween when I was little. She always dressed up with us kids and went trick or treating with us.

She says it has changed. She says when we were younger we all knew witches didn't exist. Now, she thinks everyone is trying to cast spells. I tried to explain to her that there have been witches around for a very very long time. Of course when I was little I knew the witches they showed on tv weren't real. I still know that. How many witches do you know fly on brooms and chase Bugs Bunny? (I am not making fun of anything just trying to make my point).

And what really floors me is. My Great Aunt did a family history of my Grandmother's family. We had family members burned in Salem for suspected Witchcraft and my mom wants to act like Witches are something new.

I know most of what I have typed makes no sense. Sorry I am not thinking very well this morning.

**jaimethepooh** · 09-30-2003, 07:32 AM

you made sense to me
maybe your mom is trying to make her hubby and family happy, i wouldn't be mad at her. do what i do to my mom when she don't make sense, nod and smile.

***Willow*** · 09-30-2003, 07:48 AM

Originally posted by miccit
My mom and I were just discussing this the other day. Her husband and his family do not celebrate Halloween. They think it is evil and of the devil.

It makes me so mad. My mom used to love Halloween when I was little. She always dressed up with us kids and went trick or treating with us.

She says it has changed. She says when we were younger we all knew witches didn't exist. Now, she thinks everyone is trying to cast spells. I tried to explain to her that there have been witches around for a very very long time. Of course when I was little I knew the witches they showed on tv weren't real. I still know that. How many witches do you know fly on brooms and chase Bugs Bunny? (I am not making fun of anything just trying to make my point).

And what really floors me is. My Great Aunt did a family history of my Grandmother's family. We had family members burned in Salem for suspected Witchcraft and my mom wants to act like Witches are something new.

I know most of what I have typed makes no sense. Sorry I am not thinking very well this morning.

Actually no witches were ever burned in Salem. Witches were burned in Europe but in Salem they were hung. 19 people were hung and 1 man named Giles Corey was stoned to death. I live about two hours from Salem and my son and I go there at least twice a month during the warmer months. We are going again for Halloween/Samhain. We always go on the trolley tour because my son loves riding around town. We've actually become friends with a couple of the tour guides. At some point during the tour the tour guide always asks the people how many accused witches were burned. It's a trick question because none of them were. The people accused back then were not actual witches. If you didn't like your neighbor all you had to do was accuse them of being a witch and they would be arrested and brought in front of the judge.

**mom2cvam** · 09-30-2003, 11:00 AM

Thank you for posting the article. I'm going to print it out! I know some people who could use to read it! And thank you Patchouli for clarifying about the Salem witch trials. You both had very interesting info!

**Njean31** · 09-30-2003, 01:13 PM

I am a Christian, but I absolutely love Halloween. the way i see it is its a fun day for the kids, they get to dress up (fantasy), and you get to mingle with your neighbors. i don't even consider it to be evil at all.

***Willow*** · 09-30-2003, 02:13 PM

Originally posted by mom2cvam
Thank you for posting the article. I'm going to print it out! I know some people who could use to read it! And thank you Patchouli for clarifying about the Salem witch trials. You both had very interesting info!

You're welcome mom2cvam!

I'm lucky enough that I live close enough to Salem that I can go there quite frequently. It's an interesting place to visit even for those that aren't Pagan. There is a lot of history there.

**MsSaveALot** · 09-30-2003, 05:21 PM

I believe you need to refer to the rules of this part of the board. We have MANY religions on this forum, and no one has the right to tell ANY of them which is wrong and which is right. If you do not stop harassing members who are not christian, I will revoke your posting privilages. This will be the only warning, as we have had these problems in the past, and as stated in the top thread, it will NOT be tolerated by anyone any longer. I hope you wish to remain a member of the boards and will respect the other members as they have done you, by not bashing. If you cannot do that, I wish you all the luck in finding a board more to your liking.

Katt

**jaimethepooh** · 09-30-2003, 05:56 PM

Thread: the truth about halloween

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