Sunday, November 3, 2013

Christianity and Halloween

Did you know that Halloween has roots in Christianity?

Halloween is basically an abbreviated form of the phrase All Hallows Eve.  Hallow, as a verb, means "to make holy".  But as an old English noun, it means Saint.  Thus, Halloween is really the eve before our All Saints Day.

That part, you may have known.  

But did you also know that earlier Christians believed that there was less separation between purgatory and earth at this time - thus increasing the odds that we could see spirits - or ghosts.  Therefore, we owe some of the traditional costumes to these beliefs.  (We can thank commercialism for Power Rangers, Princesses, Minions, and the like.)

Over time, however, these roots have been lost.  For most people, there is almost no connection between All Saints Day and Halloween anymore.  In fact, Halloween is probably a day more associated with devils and evil than Holiness.

Which got me thinking  ...

What if more people dressed up as Saints?  Wouldn't that be great?  Can you imagine  answering the door, asking "And what are you dressed up as?", only to hear "St. John!" or "St. Therese!"

What if, instead of giving kids their 50th Snickers bar, we handed them a card with a Saint and a prayer on it?

Wouldn't that be refreshing? 

God Bless.


4 comments:

Mike said...

This is pretty cool post. It was interesting to read this post-I learned something new!

It is a sad reality how Halloween doesn't mean holiness anymore but rather evil and scary.

This year I dressed up as a priest. I believe this is my calling from the Lord-so I decided to dress up as one. I'm not a young kid, it was for highschool. I plan on Going has pope next year!

Anyways Great Post! It would be awesome to see more kids dressed up has saints. It's a sad reality, that the world we live in is to worried about offending others, and have banned traditions and says. IE Merry Christmas ect..

Mike
Pray To God Today

Victor S E Moubarak said...

Great idea Michael. At least we could teach youngsters to behave like Saints at an early age.

Speaking of Halloween and scary costumes. There's a neighbour down the road who always looks like a scary monster - she doesn't need a costume at all. I'd be scared to meet her in the street on a dark night !!!

God bless you.

Janice said...

Thank you for your encouraging word for me and prayers. Love this post about Halloween. Love the idea of passing out saint cards. Maybe I will do that next year!
Blessings,
Janice

Michael said...

Mike: I think that is great that you dressed up as a priest! Thanks for stopping by and commenting.

Victor: Exactly. (and I have a few neighbors like you describe as well!)

Janice: That's great - you can be the trend setter!

God Bless.