Halloween’s origins date back to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain (pronounced sow-in).  This marked the end of summer and the harvest, along with the beginning of the dark, cold winter.

Celts believed that on that night the boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead became blurred, when it was believed that the ghosts of the dead returned to earth.

In addition to causing trouble and damaging crops, Celts thought that the presence of the “other world” spirits made it easier for the Druids, or Celtic priests, to make predictions about the future, giving people a source of comfort and direction during the long, dark winter.

To commemorate the event, Druids built huge sacred bonfires, where the people gathered to burn crops and animals as sacrifices to their gods.

The only way, it seemed, for scared humans to escape this night of demonic activity, was to offer them things the demons might like – fancy foods and sweets. Or, in order to escape their fury, a human could disguise himself as one of them and thus be not recognizable to the demons on that night.

By A.D. 43, Romans had conquered the majority of Celtic territory. In the course of the four hundred years that they ruled the Celtic lands, two festivals of Roman origin were combined with the traditional Celtic celebration of Samhain.

The first was Feralia, a day in late October when the Romans traditionally commemorated the passing of the dead. The second was a day to honor Pomona, the Roman goddess of fruit and trees. The symbol of Pomona is the apple and the incorporation of this celebration into Samhain probably explains the tradition of “bobbing” for apples that is practiced today on Halloween.

By the 800s, the influence of Christianity had spread into Celtic lands. In the seventh century, Pope Boniface IV designated November 1 All Saints’ Day, a time to honor dead saints and martyrs. Many believe the Pope was attempting to replace the Celtic festival of the dead with a related, but church-sanctioned holiday.

The celebration was also called All-hallows or All-hallowmas (from Middle English Alholowmesse meaning All Saints’ Day) and the night before it, the night of Samhain, began to be called All-hallows Eve and, eventually, Halloween. Later, in A.D. 1000, the Church would make November 2, All Souls Day, a day to honor all the dead.

It was celebrated similarly to Samhain, with big bonfires, parades, and dressing up in costumes such as saints, angels, and devils. Together, the three celebrations, the eve of All Saints, All Saints, and All Souls, were called Hallowmas.

You might want to read an interesting article titled, What is Halloween and should Christians celebrate it?

I recently recorded a podcast call, Halloween.  Here’s some of what I shared.

Over the course of history, those ancient ungodly pagan practices have changed and merged with our current western culture. Today costumes take the place of disguises and candy has replaced fruits and fancy foods.  For many, many people it’s just a fun holiday, but its pagan ungodly origins are in honoring death and the devil.

For those who love the One true God, it is very apparent that many of the visuals associated with halloween are not at all godly according to the Bible, His Word.  Witches, demons, sorcery, are an abomination to God.  And oh so many skeletons, which of course represent death. I saw one you could buy at home depot that was at least 14 feet high!  Is it inspiring to you to look at a skeleton?  It represents death, and His Word tells us the devil is the author of death.  Does this celebration promote God’s love, His goodness, or His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Not at all.  Does it lead anyone to receiving God’s free gift of eternal life?  No.  Instead, it very subtly, and sometimes very openly, promotes the work of our enemy, our adversary, the devil.

Some people may not like this podcast – that’s okay. I’m not here to tell you what to do or what not to do – I’m not trying to spoil anyone’s fun.  But here’s what His Word says about some  of these things, from the book of Deuteronomy, Chapter 18.

“…you shall not learn to follow the abominations of those nations.
There shall not be found among you anyone… who practices witchcraft, or a soothsayer, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, or one who conjures spells, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead. For all who do these things are an abomination to the LORD…”

For me, personally, I don’t participate in Halloween – not at all – I don’t even give out candy – my porch light is off that night.  I certainly don’t view it as a holiday – holiday means holy day – it’s far from being holy!  And I don’t judge anyone who does participate  – but, I’m not at all shy to say why I ignore it.

Mike Verdicchio 2023

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