October 10, 2001

#1 The History Of All Hallow's Eve

Many present-day Halloween customs are directly descended from the Celtic peoples of the
British Isles and France. From 200 B.C. to 200 A.D., these tribes shared an organized religion
- Druidism. Druid priests were shamans and necromancers, who foretold the future and taught
that souls did not die, but that those of the good passed at death into new-born children,
while sinful souls were relegated to live in the bodies of animals. Well versed in astrology,
magic, and the mysterious powers of plants and animals, the Druids gathered in oak forests or
by lakes and rivers to conduct their rituals. Among their gods were Cernunnos (the horned
god), a Sun god, the god of the cauldron, and Sanheim (Lord of the Dead).

October 31st, a joint feast honoring Sanheim and the Sun God, was the most important religious
event of the Celtic year. The new year began on November first, and on its eve, time appeared
to belong neither to the old year nor to the new. The Druids believed that sins of the evil
dead could be expiated through gifts and sacrifices to Sanheim, who had the power to decree in
what form their existence would continue, as animals or humans. The sacrifices were grisly.
Horses were burned, as they were sacred to the Sun God. Black cats, which were either friends
of witches or transformed into witches themselves, were also thrown into the fire. But for
Sanheim, Lord of the Dead, humans were sacrificed. Men were imprisoned in wicker and thatch
cages built in the shapes of animals or giants, and put into the fire. By observing the way
they died, the Druid priests saw and pronounced omens of the future.

Besides the sacrificial fire, other huge bonfires were built, on hilltops and in the villages.
These fires were kindled to rejuvenate the sun, and to guide the good spirits on their journey
as well as banish the evil ones. Tables of food were prepared for the spirits, in hopes that
they would be pleased and help with the magical spells and curses invoked during the feast.
Afterwards, villagers wearing masks and costumes led the ghosts away from town. Secular
researcher Richard Cavendish writes,

"The singers and dancers went from house to house in blood-curdling masks and costumes which
may have been meant to protect them against evil and which were probably also tangible
representations of what lurked unseen in the night.

"It is these masks and disguises which have descended to children, who visit the neighbors for
the offerings which once belonged to the dead and play small malicious tricks on those who
refuse them" (The Powers Of Evil).

Although the formal Druid religion eventually died down, its beliefs and rites were continued
by groups of people throughout the centuries. One of these, worship of the horned god, was
continued by the wicca, or witches, across Europe. Witches' Sabboths were held several times a
year, with the main celebration on October 31st. During the Sabboth, the participants dressed
in animal skins and heads and danced frantically in a circle. Some danced naked, and
straddling branches or broomsticks, invoked the horned god for an abundance of crops and an
increase in the fertility of animals. Magical potions were brewed in cauldrons, and a horned
animal was sacrificed and eaten. Interestingly, some of the witches actually thought they
could fly, as they rubbed their bodies with a "sacred flying ointment" before the dancing
began. The ointment, absorbed through the pores, actually contained drugs which speeded up the
pulse rate, confused the mind, and numbed the feet. These sensations, probably exaggerated by
previous fasting, convinced the witches of their flying ability when astride their
broomsticks.

Although Julius Caesar conquered Gaul and the British Isles in 58-52 B.C., the "civilizing"
effect of the Roman Empire on the barbarian Celts took another two or three hundred years.
During this period, many of the Roman festivals were incorporated into Celtic worship. The
feast of Pomona, the goddess of orchards, was moved to coincide with the celebration of
Sanheim, and the Roman Feralia, a festival for the dead, was also absorbed into the worship.
One of the goddesses worshipped at Feralia was Mania, who became an ogress who frightened
small children. In the same spirit of accomodation, many of the old Druid rites were willingly
accepted into the religious system of Rome. According to the New Larousse Encyclopedia of
Mythology, the Romans, being a practical, unimaginative people, embraced many of the gods of
the people they conquered:

"This utilitarian spirit which they had shown in constructing their own religious system led
them without effort to build on their own soil the temples of the peoples they had defeated.
These foreign gods whom they had installed in the family circle, as it were, were new
protectors who joined those who already stood guard over the Roman family and city."

The Roman Empire continued in its paganism for another three hundred and fifty years after
Caesar's conquests. But during the fourth and fifth centuries A.D., Christianity was at first
tolerated, then officially established as the religion of the Empire. All pagan sacrifices
were forbidden and temples were closed, and in the sixth century, the emperor Justinian the
Great denied all civil rights to the unbaptized. Unfortunately, these forced, mass conversions
failed to change hearts. The new converts brought to their new religion many of the beliefs
and traditions of the old. John Brand, in his Popular Antiquities, writes,

"Thus, at the first promulgation of Christianity to the Gentile nations, they could not be
persuaded to relinquish many of their superstitions, which rather than forego altogether, they
chose to blend and incorporate with the new faith."

Worse still, in the spirit of syncretism, the church accommodated these "superstitions" in the
hope that the nations would eventually "remove error from their hearts." In a letter to his
missionaries in England, Gregory the Great advised that the temples of the idols not be
destroyed along with the idols:

"If those temples are well built, it is requisite that they be converted from the worship of
devils to the service of the true God ... and because they are used to slaughter many oxen in
sacrifice to devils, some solemnity must be given them [the people] in exchange for this ...
[therefore, on the saints' days, they should go to the former temples and] ... kill cattle and
glorify God in their feast, and return thanks to the Giver of all things ... there is no doubt
that it is impossible to cut off everything at once from their rude natures."

This advice was given in the year 601; six years later, the Emperor Phocas gave to Pope
Boniface IV the second-century Pantheon, where the pagan Romans had prayed for their dead.
Boniface reconsecrated it to the Virgin Mary and the Christian martyrs, and the church began
using this former temple to pray for their own dead. Then in the year 834, the major
celebration in the Pantheon, All Saints' Day, was deliberately moved from May to November
first. It seems there were more rude-natured former pagans who'd just been conquered and
converted, and their traditional festival for the dead was celebrated on October 31st. So for
the sake of these Norsemen and Saxons, keepers of the Druidic/Roman cults of Sanheim, Pomona,
and Feralia, the "Christian" feast for the dead was substituted for the pagan rites. But not
really. The old cult lived on among the people, and by the Middle Ages, the eve of All Saints'
Day (All Hallows E'en) was not only still celebrated, but had become a favorite of witches and
sorcerers.

Halloween didn't arrive in America in full force until the 1840s, when thousands of Irish
families fleeing the potato famine arrived. By this time, the beliefs and practices of the
Druids had been kept alive for over two thousand years, and they were readily accepted anew by
the inhabitants of Christian America. As the traditions caught on, Halloween's connection with
All Saints' Day wore thin. But its close relationship with the occult, downplayed at first as
"just pretend," has recently pushed its way to the forefront. Satanism, real sacrificial Satan
worship, is practiced by kids who, twenty years ago, would have been stealing pumpkins.
Witchcraft, magic and sorcery have come out of the closet to meet the company. And embracing
it all under its protective wing is the New Age Movement. For those too civil for cauldrons of
witches' brew, the New Age offers a "sacred pseudonym ointment": Spiritism can be called
channeling; witchcraft, visualization; and amulets, energizing crystals. Blinded by technology
to the spiritual realities of life, 20th century America has come almost full circle. Sanheim,
the Lord of the Dead, will still be honored this October 31st, but Christians, who should know
the truth and be able to discern the darkness, don't have to be a part of it. Instead, let us
honor the Lord Jesus Christ, who conquered death and has been raised far above all rule and
authority, principalities and powers and is the head of His body, the Church.

#2 Halloween Traditions And Superstitions

Rituals associated with Halloween have spread throughout the world, changing in form and
detail but remaining essentially superstitious. The fear of evil spirits and the absence of
truth concerning death are two themes which link these modern Halloween practices:

In Czechoslovakia, families remember the dead by eating special cakes and drinking cold milk
"to cool the souls roasting in Purgatory."

In Mexico, parents hold festivals at home for children who have died. They arrange tables with
toys, skull candies, funeral cakes, and other treats for the departed children.

In Scotland and Wales, people still set blazing bonfires near their homes to keep the evil
spirits from their doors. Inside, each family member drinks a special "brew" blended from
cinnamon, nutmeg, Drambuie and the yolks of eggs, which is believed to ward off spirits that
may have snuck past the blazes. In our local area, some people still carry out the family
tradition of burning fires as late as midnight on Halloween.

Marked stones tossed into embers of a bonfire on Halloween were used to divine the future in
North Wales. Praying, the family marched around the fire, and then retired for the night. It
was believed that if a person's stone was missing in the morning, he would be dead within the
year.

Some believe that a child born on Halloween will have supernatural powers, such as the faculty
of perceiving and holding conversations with spirits of the dead.

The number thirteen was avoided like a plague because that was the number of attendants at the
Last Supper. It is common belief that witches' covens always have thirteen members: 12 witches
and Satan.

In Europe, horseshoes were placed over doors to scare off witches that may come calling, since
witches were very much afraid of horses.

A black cat crossing one's path is supposedly bad luck, because cats were witches' companions,
or "familiars." The spread of The Black Plague was greatly intensified because of this
superstition, as cats were destroyed and the rat population increased, spreading the Plague
throughout Europe.

One didn't walk under a ladder leaning against a wall because of the triangular shape (a
sacred symbol of religion). If a person did so, he had to knock on wood, because the wood
represented the cross.

Though God did not speak of Halloween traditions in His word, they do nullify the word of God,
breeding fear and manipulation of the spiritual realm through rituals. God, in His word, has
given us the truth and that truth sets us free not only from such pagan traditions, but the
fear and manipulative tactics they breed to control the spiritual realm.

God also spoke of superstitions, though not those specifically of Halloween. Of superstitions,
He said,

Isa 2:6 You have abandoned your people, the house of Jacob. They are full of superstitions
from the East; they practice divination like the Philistines and clasp hands with pagans.
(NIV)

Later, He said to Isaiah,

Isa 8:19 And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and
unto wizards that peep, and that mutter: should not a people seek unto their God? for the
living to the dead? 20 To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this
word, it is because there is no light in them.

Our fellowship is with the Father, Jesus Christ His Son in the Holy Spirit who has brought the
truth of eternal life and the peace and joy of His kingdom to us as believers.