by Jedediah McClure | Mar 12, 2017 | Halloween
Halloween is, without a doubt, my favorite holiday. Bonfires, hay rides, haunted houses, scary stories, horror movies, and kids dressing up like their favorite monster or hero. And lets not forget all that gloriously-wonderful, tooth decaying candy. I actually spend months planning my yard decorations and every spooky detail of my costume for those three hours spent sitting on my porch scaring innocent kids and handing out gobs of candy. But where did this largely secular holiday, with its emphasis on imaginary spooks, come from, and does it have anything to do with Christianity. Well, in fact, it has a great deal to do with Christianity. Halloween is an ancient holiday known as All Hallows’ Eve, which over time was shortened to Hallowe’en and then to our modern Halloween. The word “eve” is an Old English abbreviation for evening and “hallow” refers to something that is holy. In this instance it refers specifically to the saints. In other words, it is sometimes rendered as “All Saints’ evening.” Celebrated on October 31st, All Saints’ Evening preceded All Hallows’ Day, also known as All Saints’ Day. This was the day to celebrate all the righteous people, holy saints, who were granted reprieve from the after life and allowed into heaven. But, before it became All Saints’ Day, November 1st was a day of pagan religious celebration originating with the Celtic festival, Samhain (pronounced Sah-wen), which celebrated the end of the harvest season. This was a time of death for the Celtic people as the summer came to an end and the winter season began. Food stores that would sustain the people...
