In Defense Of Halloween

It's my favorite time of year again. There is a crisp sting to the weather that is invigorating after the heat of summer. Beautiful splashes of fiery reds and oranges appear in the foliage, as the trees prepare for their descent into winter hibernation.

Along with autumn comes my birthday, Halloween. Yes, I was born on the day that fundamentalists rail against as being somehow demonically derived. Every year, I listen as some panic stricken person details the evils that this wonderful holiday is supposed to promote.
Does Halloween actually have pagan origins or is this connection to paganism an urbane myth?

The Christian Fundamentalists state that Samhein was the Celtic God of Death, and that he demanded human sacrifices on the night of Halloween. Yet according to The Dictionary of the Gaelic Language the word Samhein-or samhuin-only means summer's end. Samhein was neither the Irish nor Celtic god of the dead.

Because neither of these groups left written records, we aren't even certain how they celebrated summer's end. Was it a wild, uncontrolled celebration, or a dark, somber one? All that we know for certain is that like almost every agricultural society world wide, the Celts had some sort of harvest festival. The truth is that any claims about what occurred at this time, are purely speculative. Most of the ideas that have sprung up among both Christian and NeoPagans as to what occurred during the Celtic end of year festival are not based on any archeological evidence.

Many of the activities surrounding Halloween have a medieval, not pagan, basis. "In this way the opening of the season of darkness and cold had been made into an opportunity to confront the greatest fear known to humans, that of death, and the greatest known to Christians, that of damnation," writes Ronald Hutton, Professor of History at the University of Bristol and in his book Stations of the Sun.

Trick-or-Treat for example, originated in the British Isles, when the poor would travel door to door-called souling- and receive food in exchange for a promise to pray for the dead on All Souls day. In Shakespere's Two Gentlemen of Verona the practice is refrenced when the servant Speed accuses his master of "puling [whimpering, whining], like a beggar at Hallowmas.

Even if a pagan connection can be found with the Halloween, my response is, So what? Christianity, of course, did not invent culture from scratch. Instead the first Christians built on the culture about them. We still have many reminders of our pagan past incorporated into our lifes. The days of the week and months of the year are named for Greek and Norse Gods. Yet, we seem to have enough common sense to realize that being thankful that Friday has rolled around is not the same as worshipping the Norse Goddess, Freya. Wedding rings were used by pagan Romans and are still a symbol of marriage today.

Another common fear is that on Halloween Satanists run amuck, determined to sacrifice innocent children and virginal maidens. According to Kenneth V. Lanning, a Supervisory Special Agent at the Behavioral Science Unit at the National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime, he has been unable to document one satanic ritual murder committed on Halloween in the United States. Agent Lanning narrowly defines ritual satanic murder as involving more then one individual who can rationally plan the crime and whose primary motivation is to fulfill a prescribed satanic ritual.

Ironically, to a modern day Satanist, the most important day of the year is not Halloween but his/her individual birthday. October 31rst is not the important date for Satanists that Christians assume that it is.

Catholics have long reserved a day, All Saints Day, to celebrate Christian Saints who had died, both known and unknown. Originally the day was celebrated on May 13, but in the 8th century Pope Gregory IV moved the day to November 1. The night before All Souls day was an important Catholic holiday and was called All Hallowed Eve. The word Hallowed means sanctified.

A portion of the Halloween panic is has its roots in Catholic bashing. The concept of purgatory, the belief that the living could assist the condition of the dead by praying for them, and the notion that saints could function as intercessors between humans and Christ or the Christian god, were all doctrines condemned by Protestants, and so this complex of rituals was bound to run into trouble as soon as the latter took control, says Professor Ronald Hutton. Halloween and Christmas were both banned by the Puritans because these holidays appeared too Catholic.
Ironically, one of the reasons that the pilgrims broke with the Church of England to begin with was that they believed Anglicism had not completely purged itself of its Roman Catholic roots.

Halloween was not widely celebrated in the United States until the potato famine forced the Irish to immigrate to America. At that time the new arrivals brought their traditions and holidays with them.

It is no coincidence that the more extreme websites denouncing Halloween also link to web pages dedicated to disparaging Roman Catholicism. The cartoon pamphlets by Jack Chick are a classic example. In one tract entitled, The Trick, ancient Druids are drawn leaving a jack-o'-lantern fashioned from human fat on a doorstep in exchange for a child or virginal woman. This salacious and completely imaginary event is reported as historical fact. Never mind that pumpkins were unknown in England until the discovery of the New World, or that human fat would make a lousy candle fuel. These truths do not get in the way of Mr. Chick's bizarre assertions about Halloween. Equally telling is that his website exhibits tracts and comics containing offensive and sick accusations against Roman Catholics.

In this article I have attempted to dispel some of the widespread urbane legends that have tenaciously taken hold of the both the imagination of the American Fundamentalist Christian and the greater public at large. Far from being a diabolical conspiracy, Halloween is a positive holiday: a time to connect with our neighbors and enjoy the merriment of childhood. And on a much deeper level, it is the holiday when we are allowed to symbolically confront and defeat our fears.

References:The Dictionary of the Gaelic Language
Gentlemen of Verona by William Shakespeare
Halloween Errors and Lies by Isaac Bonewits
Halloween History Hysteria by Jennifer Emick
Religious Tolerance.org
Signs of the Sun by Professor Ronald HuttonWikipedia.
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